When Muschamp came to USC, the ‘talent’ on the roster dipped ... and bounced back
Will Muschamp arrived to South Carolina’s football program promising recruiting so good he could sell ice to eskimos.
But his first two years, the talent on USC’s roster actually dipped based on the most common measure to rank it. Then it bounced back in a big way.
According to 247’s team talent composite, South Carolina’s roster ranks 19th nationally in terms of overall recruiting talent. According to 247, the metric uses “a proprietary algorithm that pulls the 247Sports Composite prospect rankings for each of the top 85 players on a given team’s active roster.”
The Gamecocks are eighth in the SEC, fourth in their division behind Tennessee, Florida and Georgia.
That USC is back to having a top-20 roster is notable, but perhaps the more interesting facet is how things shifted through the past few seasons.
South Carolina’s 2015 roster (still under Steve Spurrier): 22nd
South Carolina’s 2016 roster: 23rd
South Carolina’s 2017 roster: 27th
The Gamecocks actually fell from having 22 four-stars on the roster in 2015 to 19 in 2017. One reason the “talent” didn’t translate to wins, some of those four-stars weren’t producing much at all (Jalen Christian, Sherrod Pittman, Shaq Davidson, Abu Lamin, David Williams, DJ Park, Connor Mitch), while others were still on the young side (Bryson Allen-Williams, Zack Bailey, Donell Stanley, Chris Lammons).
Some of those young players are now older, and the staff brought in a bevy of talented players this offseason, aiding in the eight-spot jump. Beyond the eight four-stars South Carolina added in the 2018 class, they brought in grad transfer Nick Harvey (a four-star years ago) and a pair of blue-chip transfers in Josh Belk and Jamel Cook.
Muschamp has long said he doesn’t have much time for recruiting rankings, but overall they’ve been shown to be a good predictor of success. And his team, after the natural departures that come with roster transition, appears to be moving up in terms of the roster being built.
This story was originally published September 27, 2018 at 10:21 AM.