Transition classes often tricky, but Muschamp, South Carolina doing well
Jan. 25, 2016
HIGHLIGHTS
First step was holding onto previous commitments
Staff’s regional background helped them hit the ground running
Last two weeks will go a long way to defining group
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-recruiting/article56464358.html#storylink=cpy
Reality is, these first recruiting classes will be a hodgepodge.
There are the kids who were already committed, now having to meet a new coach and chose all over again. There are the prospects an incoming staff already knows, maybe a flip from the last school or a longtime target. And then there are the finds, athletes that come on a staff’s radar and get offered faster than football coaches prefer.
The transition classes that bridge a coaching change are, by nature, a scramble, a pulling together of odd parts. A staff, like Will Muschamp’s at South Carolina, inherits something, but has to run the gamut of evaluating, retaining and completing the class while under the gun.
Thus far, the Gamecocks’ new head man has held his own.
“He was able to hit the ground running at South Carolina from that standpoint, being a previous head coach and being a guy that knows the lay of the land,” said Steve Wiltfong, National Recruiting Director with 247Sports. “Being a guy that’s been through it before.”
Transition classes are extremely dependent on situation. A new coach doesn’t necessarily want everyone committed. Some classes come in relatively full, some were still partially completed and some atrophy between the departure of one coach and arrival of another.
“You have to decide how many of those guys you want to keep,” said ESPN recruiting analyst Gerry Hamilton, noting Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall is aiming to keep the full class intact. “Now they’re going to lose a few out of that, but they’ve attempted to keep every single commitment in the fold. That doesn’t always happen. You have to fill needs when you come into a program.”
Muschamp said a big challenge was maintaining the commitments already in place, and that fed into filling a need. Hamilton pointed out, South Carolina was woefully short on offensive talent last season, and getting quarterback Brandon McIlwain to forgo a chance at the baseball draft, plus securing Bryan Edwards’ recommitment, drew strong reviews from both recruiting experts.
Then came the challenge of building forward, and the background of the staff helped on that front. Since much of the staff came from other SEC schools, they already had inroads in talent-rich areas with regional recruits (a staff such as Mendenhall’s has to play far more catch-up).
That helped in nabbing Keir Thomas (one-time Florida State commit), Kobe Smith (ex-Kentucky commit) and Jamarcus King (former Auburn pledge).
“Getting on kids at the end of December and early January and just building a relationship with those kids is something that can be challenging,” South Carolina defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson said. “I think with the relationships that we built from other schools that we were at, we kind of knew some of the kids and did our due diligence. I don’t see many challenges, just the relationship part of it.”
USC wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon noted while the staff has ties across the South, especially Florida, building the instate relationships was where the most work was needed at the start. On that front, they added wide receiver Diondre Champaigne, a tall, late bloomer Hamilton called a solid find.
This is a process the Gamecocks haven’t gone through in more than a decade, and the landscape is a far cry from what it was when Steve Spurrier took over ahead of the 2015 recruiting class. Back then, more of the final choices happened in December and January, with players making their choice close to signing day.
Now the process is accelerated, and most classes were well on their way to completion by the time Muschamp was hired.
“Social media changed the game,” said Hamilton, noting the Spurrier name carried considerable weight when he arrived. “The recruiting process being accelerated the way it has, where getting kids on campus as freshman and sophomores, before they even play a varsity football game in some cases.
“It’s caused a lot of issues.”
The class, which ranked in the 70s nationally when Muschamp was hired, is now No. 27 in the 247Sports Composite ranking that factors in all networks.
With where the Gamecocks sit currently, they could add up to seven or eight more prospects, even before accounting for any commits that leave. That means the emphasis now turns to closing.
The Gamecocks staff did the first two parts, retaining key players and adding a few more pieces. They have less than two more weeks to try to tap into the late-in-the-game talent market. The staff won’t be in this spot again. Next year, they’ll have the groundwork in place well before this. They’ll have even more when 2018, a class the experts expect big things from, rolls around.
Hamilton suggested another few linemen and perhaps a safety to round things out, but when piecing together a transition class, Muschamp and his staff have to work fast to grab who they can.
“You still have two weeks until signing day,” Hamilton said. “You’ve still got to battle on some kids. You’ve still got to add to that class, but he’s done a really good job.”
How the 2016 class was built
Player
Committed to/Lead recruiter
Brandon McIlwain
Spurrier Staff (Roper/Mangus)
Rico Dowdle
Muschamp Staff (Elliott/Bentley)
CJ Freeman
Spurrier Staff (Elliott/Bentley)
Tyren Jones
Muschamp Staff (Bentley)
Diondre Champaigne
Muschamp Staff (Elliott)
Chavis Dawkins
Muschamp Staff (Bentley)
Bryan Edwards
Recommitted to Muschamp Staff (Elliott)
Tre Jackson
Spurrier Staff (Mangus)
Akeem Cooperwood
Spurrier Staff (Joe Robinson)
Lloyd Cushenberry
Spurrier Staff (Joe Robinson)
Pete Leota
Spurrier Staff (Adams)
Will Putnam
Spurrier Staff (Elliott)
Griffin Gentry
Interim Staff (Botkin)
Sadarius Hutcherson
Muschamp Staff (Elliott)
Cecil Stallings
Spurrier Staff (Ward/T.Robinson)
Keir Thomas
Muschamp Staff (T.Robinson)
Dennis Wonnum
Muschamp Staff (McClendon)
Kobe Smith
Muschamp Staff (T.Robinson)
Darius Whitfield
Interim Staff (Botkin/T.Robinson)
T.J. Brunson
Muschamp Staff (Hutzler)
Jacorey Morris
Spurrier Staff (Botkin)
Jamarcus King
Muschamp Staff (T.Robinson)
Chris Smith
Spurrier Staff (Ward)
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-recruiting/article56464358.html#storylink=cpy
THE STATE
Jan. 25, 2016
HIGHLIGHTS
First step was holding onto previous commitments
Staff’s regional background helped them hit the ground running
Last two weeks will go a long way to defining group
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-recruiting/article56464358.html#storylink=cpy
Reality is, these first recruiting classes will be a hodgepodge.
There are the kids who were already committed, now having to meet a new coach and chose all over again. There are the prospects an incoming staff already knows, maybe a flip from the last school or a longtime target. And then there are the finds, athletes that come on a staff’s radar and get offered faster than football coaches prefer.
The transition classes that bridge a coaching change are, by nature, a scramble, a pulling together of odd parts. A staff, like Will Muschamp’s at South Carolina, inherits something, but has to run the gamut of evaluating, retaining and completing the class while under the gun.
Thus far, the Gamecocks’ new head man has held his own.
“He was able to hit the ground running at South Carolina from that standpoint, being a previous head coach and being a guy that knows the lay of the land,” said Steve Wiltfong, National Recruiting Director with 247Sports. “Being a guy that’s been through it before.”
Transition classes are extremely dependent on situation. A new coach doesn’t necessarily want everyone committed. Some classes come in relatively full, some were still partially completed and some atrophy between the departure of one coach and arrival of another.
“You have to decide how many of those guys you want to keep,” said ESPN recruiting analyst Gerry Hamilton, noting Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall is aiming to keep the full class intact. “Now they’re going to lose a few out of that, but they’ve attempted to keep every single commitment in the fold. That doesn’t always happen. You have to fill needs when you come into a program.”
Muschamp said a big challenge was maintaining the commitments already in place, and that fed into filling a need. Hamilton pointed out, South Carolina was woefully short on offensive talent last season, and getting quarterback Brandon McIlwain to forgo a chance at the baseball draft, plus securing Bryan Edwards’ recommitment, drew strong reviews from both recruiting experts.
Then came the challenge of building forward, and the background of the staff helped on that front. Since much of the staff came from other SEC schools, they already had inroads in talent-rich areas with regional recruits (a staff such as Mendenhall’s has to play far more catch-up).
That helped in nabbing Keir Thomas (one-time Florida State commit), Kobe Smith (ex-Kentucky commit) and Jamarcus King (former Auburn pledge).
“Getting on kids at the end of December and early January and just building a relationship with those kids is something that can be challenging,” South Carolina defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson said. “I think with the relationships that we built from other schools that we were at, we kind of knew some of the kids and did our due diligence. I don’t see many challenges, just the relationship part of it.”
USC wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon noted while the staff has ties across the South, especially Florida, building the instate relationships was where the most work was needed at the start. On that front, they added wide receiver Diondre Champaigne, a tall, late bloomer Hamilton called a solid find.
This is a process the Gamecocks haven’t gone through in more than a decade, and the landscape is a far cry from what it was when Steve Spurrier took over ahead of the 2015 recruiting class. Back then, more of the final choices happened in December and January, with players making their choice close to signing day.
Now the process is accelerated, and most classes were well on their way to completion by the time Muschamp was hired.
“Social media changed the game,” said Hamilton, noting the Spurrier name carried considerable weight when he arrived. “The recruiting process being accelerated the way it has, where getting kids on campus as freshman and sophomores, before they even play a varsity football game in some cases.
“It’s caused a lot of issues.”
The class, which ranked in the 70s nationally when Muschamp was hired, is now No. 27 in the 247Sports Composite ranking that factors in all networks.
With where the Gamecocks sit currently, they could add up to seven or eight more prospects, even before accounting for any commits that leave. That means the emphasis now turns to closing.
The Gamecocks staff did the first two parts, retaining key players and adding a few more pieces. They have less than two more weeks to try to tap into the late-in-the-game talent market. The staff won’t be in this spot again. Next year, they’ll have the groundwork in place well before this. They’ll have even more when 2018, a class the experts expect big things from, rolls around.
Hamilton suggested another few linemen and perhaps a safety to round things out, but when piecing together a transition class, Muschamp and his staff have to work fast to grab who they can.
“You still have two weeks until signing day,” Hamilton said. “You’ve still got to battle on some kids. You’ve still got to add to that class, but he’s done a really good job.”
How the 2016 class was built
Player
Committed to/Lead recruiter
Brandon McIlwain
Spurrier Staff (Roper/Mangus)
Rico Dowdle
Muschamp Staff (Elliott/Bentley)
CJ Freeman
Spurrier Staff (Elliott/Bentley)
Tyren Jones
Muschamp Staff (Bentley)
Diondre Champaigne
Muschamp Staff (Elliott)
Chavis Dawkins
Muschamp Staff (Bentley)
Bryan Edwards
Recommitted to Muschamp Staff (Elliott)
Tre Jackson
Spurrier Staff (Mangus)
Akeem Cooperwood
Spurrier Staff (Joe Robinson)
Lloyd Cushenberry
Spurrier Staff (Joe Robinson)
Pete Leota
Spurrier Staff (Adams)
Will Putnam
Spurrier Staff (Elliott)
Griffin Gentry
Interim Staff (Botkin)
Sadarius Hutcherson
Muschamp Staff (Elliott)
Cecil Stallings
Spurrier Staff (Ward/T.Robinson)
Keir Thomas
Muschamp Staff (T.Robinson)
Dennis Wonnum
Muschamp Staff (McClendon)
Kobe Smith
Muschamp Staff (T.Robinson)
Darius Whitfield
Interim Staff (Botkin/T.Robinson)
T.J. Brunson
Muschamp Staff (Hutzler)
Jacorey Morris
Spurrier Staff (Botkin)
Jamarcus King
Muschamp Staff (T.Robinson)
Chris Smith
Spurrier Staff (Ward)
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-recruiting/article56464358.html#storylink=cpy
THE STATE