Assessing South Carolina's 2016 recruiting class entering this summer

It’s pretty easy to question whether South Carolina’s window as an SEC East contender has closed, especially when one considers the string of Gamecocks decommitments since late in the ’15 recruiting cycle and coach Steve Spurrier’s eventual retirement.

The state of South Carolina has gone through a two-year drought in terms of prep talent, deepening the challenge this staff faces already. SEC teams, as well as ACC schools like Clemson and North Carolina, surely are telling recruits that they can’t expect Spurrier to hang around until they finish their college careers.

Last year’s four-win decline took some luster off of this program, which got by in recruiting when there was an abundance of in-state talent, Spurrier’s retirement was something to worry about in the future and the team won 11 games every year.

At just four commitments for ’16, South Carolina is ahead of only Vanderbilt in terms of quantity. Four-star quarterback Brandon McIlwain is just 6-foot and 200 pounds, but he’s got promising ability. He recently earned MVP honors at the Elite 11 semifinals competition in California.

Inside linebacker JaCorey Morris is a four-star player according to 247Sports (three-star composite), and receiver Bryan Edwards fills a need.

But this team needs some offensive linemen in a bad way, as it is set to lose Brandon Shell, Mike Matulis and Will Sport just one year after A.J. Cann and Corey Robinson departed. So far it has none in the ’16 class. And the defensive backs remain a bit of a concern after last year’s disastrous pass defense.

Can Spurrier and the Gamecocks rally to add some quality and quantity to this class? There’s plenty of time until February, but not much to sell.

ASSESSING SOUTH CAROLINA’S 2016 CLASS

Current commits or enrollees: 4 (avg. star 3.3; last year: 3.4)
Current big-name targets: WR Kyle Davis, WR Brad Hawkins, DE Jordan Smith, S Eric Monroe
Biggest positions of need: OL, WR, DB
National/SEC rank: 55/12

NOTABLE COMMITS