Muschamp gets first look at transfer receiver: ‘He can be a huge contributor’
Will Muschamp hasn’t had a lot of time working in-person with Jalen Brooks.
The 6-foot-3 wide receiver who transferred to South Carolina after playing last season at Wingate only arrived on campus late last week, and still had to go though some medical testing. It’s not yet clear if he’ll be able to help the 2020 edition of the team, or if he’ll have to sit out the fall because of NCAA transfer rules.
But he’s made an impression thus far.
“In the short time we’ve been him, he runs around extremely well,” Muschamp said. “He’s a big, physical guy. He’s very intelligent. He learns extremely well. So in a very short time he’s made a very favorable impression on our staff.”
The tall, speedy receiver posted 751 yards and six touchdowns on 35 catches last season, regularly speeding past Division II-level defenses. He spent the spring at Tarleton State in Texas, and then made the jump to USC, in part spurred by a recommendation from Blythewood High coach Jason Seidel, who coached Brooks in North Carolina.
Muschamp said the school is putting together an NCAA waiver request to allow Brooks to play immediately instead of sitting out the year.
That process took all the way to just before the second game last year for tight end Nick Muse, who came to USC from William & Mary, and Muschamp wouldn’t venture a guess about when his staff might hear an answer.
“You never know,” Muschamp said. “You never know exactly when.
“Because of what we’re going through, there’s a lot out there. There’s a lot on the NCAA’s plate right now. We do feel good about some family situations that we feel like are real, and we feel like he should be ruled (for) favorably to play this year.”
The Gamecocks currently have a range of question marks at the receiver spot, with Shi Smith as a reliable target and mostly unknowns after that. Four-star quarterback Luke Doty has already been moved to help there, and Muschamp’s top five most reliable receivers included three underclassmen and a pair of former quarterbacks (Doty and Dakereon Joyner).
As a high school senior, Brooks posted 771 yards on 44 catches. He was third on the team in yards, second in catches and touchdowns behind a teammate who ended up at Duke.
How did someone with his skills go D-II? Muschamp said it came down to growing and getting bigger after he left high school.
“His body’s changed tremendously,” Muschamp said. “We know some people that he throws with that all reached out to us and talked about his work ethic, his athleticism, his hand-eye coordination, his ball skills. And his tape is really impressive, and it’s a position that we need some more productive guys and some more dependable guys.
“We felt like he can be a huge contributor to us.”
