Two key nuggets Muschamp dropped when it came to planning the rest of 2020 class
As South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp went through his early signing day press conference, he dropped a few key details about what the next signing day — Feb. 5 — might look like.
One cleared up a question that had been lingering and the other pointed to the Gamecocks making a relatively unusual recruiting choice.
The Gamecocks have one more spot than was widely thought
Early in Muschamp’s press conference, he mentioned that the scholarships of long snapper Matt Oliveira and tight end Nick Muse would both count as part of the 2020 class, as they signed in August and could “count ahead” (the blueshirt rule). Notably missing from that list was running back Tavien Feaster.
“That puts us in 19 initials,” Muschamp said. “And so obviously will sign six more as we move forward.”
With 17 signees Wednesday, that would be a class of 23 newcomers rather than the 22 that had been widely expected to be the final number. The reason for that is because Jaquaze Sorrells, who signed last year, never made it in academically and signed with TCU.
That takes him off the books at USC for what’s known as an “initial counter” — USC can have 25 of those counters in a given class. The NCAA instituted new rules about counters that don’t let spots for non-enrollees open up, but the limits from those counters aren’t yet in play because of some creative accounting.
So when Sorrells didn’t sign again, Feaster’s scholarship could count toward 2019’s class, despite originally projecting for 2020.
USC at the moment has five listed 2020 commits. Four-star Alex Huntley and five-star Jordan Burch will take up two of those spots barring any change of heart. N.C. athlete Da’Qon Stewart said he still plans to sign, and a kicker and punter could see their scholarships count ahead to the 2021 class.
USC is still very much in the mix for Northwestern High receiver Ger-Cari Caldwell and has one other position spot it’s looking to fill.
South Carolina is set to add a third body at one position
South Carolina is on the verge of having a three-running back class, something that’s petty rare. Most teams add one or two per class.
We know this because Muschamp came out and said it.
“Obviously we lost the seniors at the running back position,” Muschamp said. “We signed two in this class, still looking to sign another one in his class as we continue to move forward.”
The most likely candidate there is Zaquandre White, a former Florida State linebacker and junior college All-American at Iowa Western. White has said publicly he committed to Gamecocks assistant Thomas Brown, but has not spoken to Muschamp about it, and the head coach has yet to send out his customary #SpursUp tweet acknowledging a commitment.
The Gamecocks had also at one point been involved with former Pitt commitment Henry Parrish, who delivered a monster senior season and won’t sign until February.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 10:24 AM.
