South Carolina’s 2021 recruiting class has only 7 commits. Why that’s not a big deal
When South Carolina’s football program landed the commitment of Caleb McDowell on Tuesday, it ended a streak of sorts.
The Gamecocks since late April were sitting at six pledges, a number that had caused consternation among some USC fans as SEC East rival Tennessee surged past 20 commitments and border foe North Carolina reached 15.
Getting to seven still leaves USC’s 2021 class ranked No. 59 nationally. But in a world where recruiting has been both disrupted and seen a large-scale uptick in total commitments made, USC coach Will Muschamp is far from concerned.
There were more than 900 commitments from rising senior recruits to FBS schools as of June 1, according to 247Sports — that’s more than double the 396 at the same time a year ago. The Gamecocks had a dozen or so pledges at this time each of the last two years.
This year’s surge nationally comes in the midst of a pandemic that cut short or erased spring practice visits, wiped away countless trips to campus, took away a six-week evaluation period and will prevent the on-campus camps from happening.
Muschamp had some strong words about what’s happening behind the scenes.
“So a lot of those commitments out there are what I call reservations,” Muschamp said. “And that’s just the facts of where we are because there’s a lot of school saying, ‘Hey you may not have a sport. Just take a spot right now.’ That’s happened. So it’s unfortunate that’s happened. I had a conversation with a young man and his parents last night. And they had two different coaches tell him, ‘You better commit now or you’re not gonna have a spot.’”
USC’s coach said that’s not the approach his staff takes. They want players to see the city and campus, to meet the staff face to face and then make a decision.
At some point in camp season or a little before, the team usually goes on a small run of adding commitments.
For the 2020 class the Gamecocks had eight commits as of June 2, but they added four players from June 7-8. A year earlier, they had 14 commits by June 2, the result of a run of four pledges between May 24 and June 2. (One of those 14 didn’t make the final class.)
Steve Wiltfong, director of recruiting at 247Sports, pointed out there’s a bit of a divide when it comes to class volume.
“If you’re South Carolina, you just hope it’s the right seven, right?” Wiltfong said. “They’re not the lowest in the conference. Vanderbilt only has seven. Ole Miss has four. Alabama six. A lot of them have 10 or under. So it’s not like they’re lagging behind.
“For South Carolina, recruiting right now takes a back seat to the product on the field this year. Hopefully the hiring of Mike Bobo gets the needle moving on offense, and if they have a good year, they’ll be able to maybe revisit some top targets they saw go elsewhere.”
He pointed out that factor of some players trying to reserve spots in a class, while some schools are trying to create buzz by loading up — even if they might not sign everyone when all is said and done. When asked about the possibility of a run of commits for USC, Wiltfong said many of the players the Gamecocks are after simply aren’t ready to make a college choice.
That’s not so surprising given the inability to see campuses for more than three full months.
Some of the higher echelons of the recruiting rankings are dominated by teams who are ahead in filling their classes. The rankings are determined in part by a team’s total number of commitments as well as by the star rating of each player.
No. 1 Ohio State has 19 commits. Tennessee at No. 3 has 23. Minnesota has climbed to No. 9 with 18 commits, despite only five considered blue-chippers.
Rutgers sits in the top 20, with 19 of its 20 commits at three or fewer stars. Alabama (six commits) sits all the way down at 43.
The specter of a 4-8 campaign last season looms for South Carolina. The chance to bounce back in the fall and perhaps revisit some of the players who went elsewhere will be there. But for a staff that relies on the camp process and on selling the place around its university, losing the chance for both is a speed bump.
The class should be filled in the end, and there’s a long way to go.
“I think all those things combined has slowed us down a little bit on where we would want to be right now,” Muschamp said. “But signing day is not until December.”
South Carolina’s 2021 class:
▪ QB Colten Gauthier
▪ RB Caleb McDowell
▪ LB Trenilyas Tatum
▪ DB Marcellas Dial
▪ DT Nick Barrett
▪ WR Sam Reynolds
▪ LB Bryce Steele
