The South Carolina football program was in a state of disrepair when Will Muschamp took it over but those days are in the rearview mirror for the Gamecocks. Since his arrival in Columbia, Muschamp’s program has only produced one NFL Draft selection and while his program has taken many strides, that is one aspect the Gamecock coach knows has to change if he and his staff are going to successfully manage to sell the program on the recruiting trail.

The good news for South Carolina is that a few Gamecocks could soon be joining Hayden Hurst, who was a first-round selection of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2018 NFL Draft, by the time the 2019 draft is complete and based on the level of recruiting that has been done by Muschamp’s staff, those numbers will only continue to climb in the drafts to come.

According to Muschamp, he and the coaches need to increase those numbers to continue to have success on the recruiting trail and he believes his coaches have the ability to do just that moving forward.

“I would think so. From a standpoint of being around the program that I have been around and having those opportunities, continuing to recruit at a high level is going to be important for us moving forward,” Muschamp said Thursday at South Carolina’s Pro Day event in a video uploaded to YouTube by Gamecock Central. “We need to increase our draft numbers.”

Muschamp’s confidence is based far more on blind faith, as a number of his staff members have had success developing professional prospects at various stops across the nation.

“At the end of the day, a lot of recruits we are recruiting want to play after college and they want to be able to see a track record,” he said. “Our staff has a great track record, not necessarily here at South Carolina so far with only one player being drafted in our first three seasons, but I certainly hope that is going to continue to change as we move forward.”

That’s something Georgia, Florida and Clemson are annually able to sell to recruits and if Muschamp’s group is going to start consistently beating those programs on the field and in recruiting, it’s going to take players capable of one day playing in the NFL. The Gamecock coach is well aware of that fact and that is starts by identifying and landing the right prospects from the high school ranks.