‘Home was just in my backyard’: Why Joyce Edwards chose South Carolina
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley tried to offer Joyce Edwards a college scholarship after she attended a Gamecocks basketball camp in middle school. But Edwards left before Staley had the chance.
Edwards, on her way back home from an AAU tournament, got a phone call from the Hall of Fame coach a short while later. The Gamecocks were her first Power 5 offer.
Since then, Edwards has traversed the country to figure out which college she wanted to attend — for school and basketball. She visited Florida, LSU, Clemson, Maryland, Stanford, Texas A&M and South Carolina. Her mom, Rasheedah, said she never wanted Joyce to make a decision based on proximity to home.
And she didn’t, despite the fact that she’ll be playing and studying just over 30 minutes up the road this time next year.
Edwards, the No. 2 overall recruit in the class of 2024, announced her decision to sign with South Carolina over Clemson and LSU on Wednesday at the Camden gymnasium. When she grabbed the white-, garnet- and green- brimmed Gamecocks hat, a large roar came from the crowd, which included Gamecocks player and Edwards’ Team USA U19 teammate Chloe Kitts.
“It’s really crazy when I think about it,” Edwards said, reflecting on her recruiting process. “Especially since we traveled across the United States to go to visits, to go to colleges.
“Home was just in my backyard.”
The 6-foot-2 forward is now the third five-star player in USC’s already stacked incoming class. She joins No. 12 overall prospect Maddy McDaniel (point guard from Maryland) and No. 26 overall recruit Adhel Tac (post player from Texas). South Carolina’s class is now tied with UCLA and Southern Cal for the most 2024 five-star recruits in the nation with three each.
Edwards informed Staley of her decision Sunday after the Gamecocks’ 114-76 rout of then-No. 14 Maryland — a game during which the home crowd chanted Edwards’ name: “We want Joyce! We want Joyce!”
Sunday was the first time she said aloud that she wanted to go to South Carolina. She chatted with Gamecock great A’ja Wilson at halftime about transitioning to college and playing for Staley as an in-state product.
“(Staley) was happy,” Edwards said through a big smile of Staley’s reaction to the news. “She just put her head down. She looked like she was kind of about to cry, but I don’t wanna put her on the spot like that. She was really proud. So was the whole coaching staff.”
Edwards has known Staley since her tween days, and their bond has only gotten tighter with each passing year and each South Carolina home game Edwards has attended.
Her orange fingernails — which had internet sleuths convinced Wednesday she was picking Clemson — were pure coincidence. She had them done before Sunday’s game and before she decided she’d sign this week.
She talked about her decision coming down to finding the perfect marriage between athletics and academics. Her high school coach, Natalie Norris, said before Edwards’ commitment that she had a 5.1 GPA. She said South Carolina doesn’t offer her major — environmental engineering — but Staley found a way to appeal to Edwards’ academic ambitions.
One way was through the university’s honors program, where Edwards (whose parents both work in engineering) can customize her scholastic path. Staley has been wearing a garnet hat with the letters “SCHC” (South Carolina Honors College) a lot lately at practice and during media interview sessions.
“I’m like extremely comfortable with my decision,” Edwards said. “I’ve been recruited for a long time, since middle school.”
She’s happy the process is over and to have bookended it with USC: “It’s like a weight lifted off my shoulders.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2023 at 7:16 PM.
