South Carolina had four players sign with the Gamecocks on Wednesday, and Shane Beamer’s first class as coach in Columbia was ranked No. 76 by the 247Sports Composite rankings.

The small class was not a surprise to Beamer, who explained that it was by design in order to be selective. What the recruiting rankings don’t factor in are the players who transferred into the program since the coaching change from Will Muschamp.

“We were selective with guys we brought into this program,” Beamer said. “I could have gone out in December and signed a bunch of players for the heck of it, gotten 20 players, had a higher ranking, but I didn’t want to do that. For me, it was important to take a deep breath, get these coaches in here, figure out what fits us and our offensive and defensive schemes and then go recruit to that.”

“… no one talks about when you talk about the signing class, the guys that transferred in that are fantastic football players.”

The daunting task Beamer walked into only doubled down on Wednesday as South Carolina opponents like Georgia, Clemson, Texas A&M, Florida and Tennessee finished in the top 16 in recruiting this year.

“Let’s go. It is what it is,” Beamer said. “You want to play against the best. One of the core values of this program is competition, and we get to go compete against the best each and every week. It’s nothing that I would consider daunting. Is it a challenge? Yes, but we’re working every day to go attack that challenge.”