Grading the recruiting situations: South Carolina Gamecocks
In the coming weeks, SDS will grade each team’s current state of recruiting based upon the factors listed below. Today we continue the series with one of the SEC East’s lower-rung teams, South Carolina.
South Carolina Gamecocks
HOME-STATE TALENT: C
South Carolina has held its own in its home state, hauling in top recruits like Marcus Lattimore, Alshon Jeffery, Stephon Gilmore and Jadeveon Clowney, but it certainly hasn’t dominated like most SEC schools do in when they’re the only SEC school in town. Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks have to deal with Clemson on the other side of the state, as well as a host of schools in states bordering and nearby coming in to poach talent. The Gamecocks have signed, on average, about three of the top-10 prospects in the state in each of the last five years, nabbing the state’s top player twice in that span. South Carolina has had nearly as much success going into neighboring Georgia as it has in its own state.
RECENT SUCCESS: C
Even as South Carolina rose to become one of the best programs in the East from 2010-13, the recruiting classes didn’t quite match up. The 2009 class, featuring current NFL stars Gilmore and Jeffery, ranked 14th in the nation and sixth in the SEC, and the 2007 class (seventh and fourth) made up the bones of the 2010 SEC East title team, but the latter is the only to crack the top-10 nationally and top-five in the SEC in the Spurrier era. Even Jadeveon Clowney’s 2011 class was ranked 17th and seventh, respectively. In the last five years, South Carolina has averaged an 18th-ranked class in the nation — solid in the grand scheme of things — but eighth in the SEC. The latter figure will keep them in contention, but when it comes down to knocking off teams like Georgia, LSU or Alabama, good luck.
FAN SATISFACTION: C-
Spurrier, the greatest coach in school history, has drawn the most ire of his career in recent years at South Carolina. Coming off of three straight 11-win seasons, the thinner recruiting class of 2013 and 2014 — the latter of which had a slew of players not qualify academically — caught up to South Carolina, as there wasn’t enough talent ready to replace all the upperclassmen the team had lost. The nine decommitments from the 2015 class didn’t help matters, either. Fans are getting restless with the all of the decommits, especially when compounded with the fear that the window for the Gamecocks to win the East again may be closed.
COACHING STABILITY: D
Part of the Gamecocks’ struggles in holding onto commitments, specifically this past year, is tied to Spurrier waffling on how long he plans to coach. This winter, after years of saying he had four or five years left, Spurrier dropped that number to “two or three.” After another couple of decommitments, the HBC inked an extension, but the damage was done. The Gamecocks found a way to upgrade their defensive staff while keeping on Lorenzo Ward as co-defensive coordinator, holding onto their pipeline to the Atlanta area. Until he announces his retirement, every year could be Spurrier’s last, which is a problem for South Carolina as they attempt to sell prospects on the program.
SUM IT UP: While South Carolina rose up as an SEC and national contender in the first half of this decade, those 11-win seasons have borne out somewhat of an uptick in recruiting (South Carolina dropped to 36th nationally in 2008), that uptick hasn’t thrust them into the nation’s elite. Until Spurrier either picks an end date or chooses a head-coach-in-waiting (which he may or may not have tried to do with Will Muschamp this offseason), South Carolina may be stuck in a middle-of-the-pack holding pattern in the SEC.
Editor’s note: Any reference to recruiting ratings in this series – team or individual – are to 247Sports.com’s industry composite ranking.
At the end of the series we will rank the SEC’s recruiting situations from 1-14 based on the grades we assign each program. Here are last year’s recruiting situation rankings:
