South Carolina’s recruiting class is loaded with wide receivers. A closer look
A year ago, South Carolina touted one of the best wide receivers in America. Even on a 5-7 team, Xavier Legette was Superman, catching 71 passes for 1,255 yards (second in SEC) and seven touchdowns.
And perhaps 2024 showed that having a no-doubt No. 1 receiver isn’t everything. South Carolina is 9-3 and its top wide receiver — Mazeo Bennett Jr. (24 catches, 324 yards) — statistically is barely a Top-50 pass-catcher in the SEC.
In fact, among all wide receivers in the SEC leading their teams in receiving yards, only Oklahoma’s top wideout has tallied fewer yards than Bennett.
Is that a problem? South Carolina’s record would say it doesn’t matter. But the Gamecocks’ recruiting haul in their 2025 signing class would say they are urgently trying to bolster the talent of their wide receiver corps.
South Carolina signed 25 players on Dec. 4, and five of them were wide receivers — the most of any position.
Head coach Shane Beamer gave loads of credit to first-year wide receivers coach Mike Furrey — the former NFL wide-out who was the head coach at Limestone College before taking the job in Columbia.
“He came in on a mission,” Beamer said of Furrey. “I think he said it in here when he got hired: There’s no reason the best receivers in the country shouldn’t come play for the University of South Carolina. And he went on a mission to go do that.”
And there’s a possibility that number jumps.
Irmo High four-star prospect Donovan Murph is still out there, deciding between South Carolina and Clemson before announcing his commitment at the Under Armour All-American Game on Jan. 2. Even without Murph, South Carolina brought in a haul of young wide receivers, including:
- Four-star Malik Clark (6-2, 183, Rock Hill, SC
- Four-star Lex Cyrus (5-10, 170, Harrisburg, PA
- Four-star Brian Rowe (5-10, 151, Concord, NC
- Three-star Jordon Gidron (6-2, 185, Columbia, SC
- Three-star Jayden Sellers (5-11, 165), Florence, SC
Some interesting nuggets in the recruiting class:
▪ Despite almost every recruiting service thinking that Cyrus was headed to nearby Penn State, he shocked everyone by picking the Gamecocks.
▪ Sellers, the brother of USC quarterback LaNorris Sellers, was the first commitment in the 2025 class, making his intentions known last October.
▪ The Gamecocks were actually recruiting Gidron for 2026, but he reclassified to be able to join South Carolina a year early.
▪ The gem of the receiver class is Clark, who is a Top-20 wide receiver in America according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Back in late July, on the same day the coaching staff was playing in the annual Birdies with Beamer golf event, Clark announced a commitment to Florida State.
As Furrey’s golf cart pulled into the fairway, Beamer was sitting in a separate golf cart with a distraught look on his face. Furrey didn’t seem to mind. He took some practice swings and offered some encouragement.
“There’s 132 days until signing day,” Furrey said.
And, well, 132 days later Clark inked with the Gamecocks.
“Like, Matthew McConaughey in ‘Dazed and Confused,’ it’s just patience, patience,’ ” Beamer said Dec. 4 of Clark’s recruitment.
