South Carolina football: a deeper dive into the 2021 recruiting class

South Carolina football filled out the ’21 class this week.

Shane Beamer has now completed his first recruiting cycle with the Gamecocks as National Signing Day came to a close Wednesday night. On paper, the class may seem a bit underwhelming, but when taking a deeper dive, there are many positives moving forward to the offseason.

The Gamecocks lost nearly half of its class after the firing of then head coach Will Muschamp, meaning Beamer had to both assemble a new coaching staff and hit the recruiting trail hard in just two month’s time. South Carolina signed the smallest class of any Power Five program, bringing in just 10 high school players, and a trio of JUCO signees. Most FBS programs signed upwards of 20 players this cycle.

But what the class lacked in size, Beamer made up for in the transfer portal. The Gamecocks’ class ranks last in the SEC and 77th in the nation, but those numbers don’t include the seven transfers that South Carolina was able to bring in over the last few months. Those seven transfers were the most of any team in the conference, and included the nation’s 2020 sack leader, an all-ACC performing wideout, and an honorable mention All-American quarterback.

Another positive is that the Gamecocks were able to recruit in immediate positions of need, specifically at wide receiver, linebacker, and defensive back.

The secondary lost six players from last year’s team, but Beamer was able to bring in two JUCO players and a transfer from Georgia Southern that will factor into the rotation as soon as they step foot on campus. They also landed La’Dareyen Craig, a coveted incoming freshman that was garnering serious interest from Mississippi State and Auburn.

At linebacker, the Gamecocks brought in two big time transfers in Jordan Strachan and Debo Williams, while also landing a commitment from four-star junior college prospect Tavareon Scott.

And at wideout, Beamer landed transfers Ahmarean Brown and EJ Jenkins, while also scoring signatures from incoming freshmen O’Mega Blake and Sam Reynolds. Brown was an all-conference performer at Georgia Tech in his freshman season, while Jenkins hauled in 13 receiving touchdowns last season at St. Francis College.

Here’s what coach Beamer had to say about his incoming group during his press conference yesterday.

"“When you look at our signing class number and ranking, yes, it’s small and it’s low and that was on purpose. When you talk about signing class rankings no one talks about the guys that transferred in that are fantastic football players that will help this team immediately… When you talk about being able to add a quarterback (in Jason Brown) that was an honorable mention All-American, a wide receiver (in EJ Jenkins) that scored 13 touchdowns last season, another wide receiver (in Ahmarean Brown) that was his team’s best receiver at Georgia Tech and tied some of Calvin Johnson’s receiving records, a defensive back in (David Spaulding) that has experience at a high level program like Georgia Southern, an edge rusher (in Jordan Strachan) that led the nation in sacks, a defensive lineman (in Jahkeem Green) that has played at Nebraska and a linebacker (in Debo Williams) that was the player of the year in the state of Delaware coming out of high school, it’s an impressive group.”"

The group is small, and without digging deep, many will leave unimpressed by the recruiting rankings, but Shane Beamer did exactly what he needed to do in his first cycle. Many of the players brought in over the last two months will been seen making big impacts in Williams-Brice Stadium this fall.