[SIZE= 24px][COLOR= rgb(178, 34, 34)]Slow and steady the plan for filling Gamecocks’ 2016 football recruiting[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= rgb(178, 34, 34)]April 30, 2015[/COLOR]
South Carolina football coaches are moving full steam ahead on the recruiting trail during the spring evaluation period.
Don’t expect commitments in the coming months, however, to flow fast and furious like they did a year ago.
The filling out of the Gamecocks’ Class of 2016 should happen at a slower pace, according to recruiting coordinator Steve Spurrier Jr.
“We’re trying to temper it a little bit more,” Spurrier said. “We’ll recruit a little bit longer this year. This year it will go into January and February where we’re continuing to recruit a larger number of players. That’s our plan. It might work that way. It might not.”
USC last year added 19 commitments from May through August. The 2015 class – including 2014 holdovers Dante Sawyer, Darin Smalls and Dexter Wideman – totaled 28 before the Gamecocks played a down of football.
With a 2016 group expected to number in the low 20s, USC coaches don’t intend for the class again to be all but full in August.
“It wasn’t the goal last year either, but we had a bunch of good players,” Spurrier said. “It wasn’t a big deal one way or the other. I would hope we don’t have 20 by the end of the summer.”
The Gamecocks’ in-progress class includes five members, headlined by four-star, nationally regarded quarterback Brandon McIlwain and wide receiver Kyle Davis.
Having five in the boat in late April is on par with recent years. A plan to recruit a larger number of prospects in January and February represents a departure from the last four cycles, when USC targeted fewer players for fewer spots over that final stretch.
“We just think it’s the best thing to do,” Spurrier said. “Continue to evaluate guys all the way through and try to evaluate guys more into their senior year. There are all kinds of reasons to just slow down just a little bit. Guys can get hurt. Some decommitments will be an issue. The biggest reason is making sure we go into signing day with the best group we can get into our class.”
The Gamecocks had four or five January-February commitments each year from 2012 to 2015. Back in 2011, USC had 12 pledges those final months, including Jadeveon Clowney, Rory Anderson, Damiere Byrd and the Dixon brothers.
Early commitments will remain the norm across the country, said Adam Friedman, Mid-Atlantic recruiting analyst for Rivals.
“They may be trying to figure out who their main targets are going to be and make sure they recruit them the best they can before they really fill out their class and take lots of commitments,” Friedman said. “They’re also set up for a couple big things down the line, from some of the things that I have heard.”
The pool of available prospects toward the end of the recruiting cycle will include:
▪ high-profile players who take things all the way to signing day because they have so many options;
▪ players who want to keep their options open as long as possible, maybe because they don’t have the offer they want;
▪ those whose recruiting stock soars because of a strong senior season; and
▪ players committed elsewhere who are taking visits and looking around.
Nine decommitments, most of them late in the process, created some uncertainty for the Class of 2015, but the USC staff was able to add 10 new pledges from November to signing day and closed with a full group.
Those lost pledges factored little into how USC approached the next class, Spurrier said.
“It’s part of the process. It happens to everybody,” he said. “People tried to make a big deal of that last year. That happens everywhere. We took a couple guys that were committed to other schools, and I’m sure those schools were mad at us, too. That’s part of it. We’ll continue to recruit guys committed to other schools.”
The Gamecocks’ five-pledge total ranks near the bottom of the conference, ahead of Vanderbilt (3) and Missouri (1).
However, USC’s average rating per player is fifth in the SEC, according to 247Sports’ Composite index, which factors in all networks.
The Gamecocks are expected to add commitments this spring and summer, but they’re unlikely to come at the double-digit clip that marked the same period in 2014.
“We've gotten a few really good players committed to us, which helps make some noise out there,” Spurrier said. “We’re recruiting a pretty good core of guys and we know who those guys are. The guys that eventually sign with you are the guys that really want to be in your program and want to be Gamecocks, and those are the guys we want here.”
Class of 2016
South Carolina’s five commitments for the upcoming recruiting class.
▪ QB: Brandon McIlwain, Newtown, Pa.
▪ RB: CJ Freeman, Greensboro, NC
▪ WR: Kyle Davis, Lawrenceville, Ga.
▪ WR: Bryan Edwards, Conway, SC
▪ LB: JaCorey Morris, Grove Hill, Ala.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-recruiting/article19943289.html#storylink=cpy
[COLOR= rgb(178, 34, 34)]April 30, 2015[/COLOR]
South Carolina football coaches are moving full steam ahead on the recruiting trail during the spring evaluation period.
Don’t expect commitments in the coming months, however, to flow fast and furious like they did a year ago.
The filling out of the Gamecocks’ Class of 2016 should happen at a slower pace, according to recruiting coordinator Steve Spurrier Jr.
“We’re trying to temper it a little bit more,” Spurrier said. “We’ll recruit a little bit longer this year. This year it will go into January and February where we’re continuing to recruit a larger number of players. That’s our plan. It might work that way. It might not.”
USC last year added 19 commitments from May through August. The 2015 class – including 2014 holdovers Dante Sawyer, Darin Smalls and Dexter Wideman – totaled 28 before the Gamecocks played a down of football.
With a 2016 group expected to number in the low 20s, USC coaches don’t intend for the class again to be all but full in August.
“It wasn’t the goal last year either, but we had a bunch of good players,” Spurrier said. “It wasn’t a big deal one way or the other. I would hope we don’t have 20 by the end of the summer.”
The Gamecocks’ in-progress class includes five members, headlined by four-star, nationally regarded quarterback Brandon McIlwain and wide receiver Kyle Davis.
Having five in the boat in late April is on par with recent years. A plan to recruit a larger number of prospects in January and February represents a departure from the last four cycles, when USC targeted fewer players for fewer spots over that final stretch.
“We just think it’s the best thing to do,” Spurrier said. “Continue to evaluate guys all the way through and try to evaluate guys more into their senior year. There are all kinds of reasons to just slow down just a little bit. Guys can get hurt. Some decommitments will be an issue. The biggest reason is making sure we go into signing day with the best group we can get into our class.”
The Gamecocks had four or five January-February commitments each year from 2012 to 2015. Back in 2011, USC had 12 pledges those final months, including Jadeveon Clowney, Rory Anderson, Damiere Byrd and the Dixon brothers.
Early commitments will remain the norm across the country, said Adam Friedman, Mid-Atlantic recruiting analyst for Rivals.
“They may be trying to figure out who their main targets are going to be and make sure they recruit them the best they can before they really fill out their class and take lots of commitments,” Friedman said. “They’re also set up for a couple big things down the line, from some of the things that I have heard.”
The pool of available prospects toward the end of the recruiting cycle will include:
▪ high-profile players who take things all the way to signing day because they have so many options;
▪ players who want to keep their options open as long as possible, maybe because they don’t have the offer they want;
▪ those whose recruiting stock soars because of a strong senior season; and
▪ players committed elsewhere who are taking visits and looking around.
Nine decommitments, most of them late in the process, created some uncertainty for the Class of 2015, but the USC staff was able to add 10 new pledges from November to signing day and closed with a full group.
Those lost pledges factored little into how USC approached the next class, Spurrier said.
“It’s part of the process. It happens to everybody,” he said. “People tried to make a big deal of that last year. That happens everywhere. We took a couple guys that were committed to other schools, and I’m sure those schools were mad at us, too. That’s part of it. We’ll continue to recruit guys committed to other schools.”
The Gamecocks’ five-pledge total ranks near the bottom of the conference, ahead of Vanderbilt (3) and Missouri (1).
However, USC’s average rating per player is fifth in the SEC, according to 247Sports’ Composite index, which factors in all networks.
The Gamecocks are expected to add commitments this spring and summer, but they’re unlikely to come at the double-digit clip that marked the same period in 2014.
“We've gotten a few really good players committed to us, which helps make some noise out there,” Spurrier said. “We’re recruiting a pretty good core of guys and we know who those guys are. The guys that eventually sign with you are the guys that really want to be in your program and want to be Gamecocks, and those are the guys we want here.”
Class of 2016
South Carolina’s five commitments for the upcoming recruiting class.
▪ QB: Brandon McIlwain, Newtown, Pa.
▪ RB: CJ Freeman, Greensboro, NC
▪ WR: Kyle Davis, Lawrenceville, Ga.
▪ WR: Bryan Edwards, Conway, SC
▪ LB: JaCorey Morris, Grove Hill, Ala.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-recruiting/article19943289.html#storylink=cpy
