South Carolina Football: 10 times that star ratings didn’t matter for the Gamecocks
By Kevin Miller
The most rankings-busting recruits in South Carolina Football history:
Safety DJ Swearinger
DJ Swearinger (2009-2012) was considered just the 14th-best player out of the state of South Carolina in the 2009 recruiting class. Players like Alshon Jeffery, Stephon Gilmore, and Devonte Holloman were all higher-rated in-state prospects than the Greenwood High School product.
However, just like Jeffery, Gilmore, and Holloman, Swearinger would go on to have a legendary career at the University of South Carolina. The All-SEC safety may have been just a 3-star recruit, but he was the leader of a defense that was loaded with 4-star and 5-star talent.
As good as Swearinger was, his leadership ability and penchant for…well…memorable moments are what made him one of the most beloved Gamecocks to ever don a block C on his helmet. From upending Andre Ellington and flexing over him in the 2012 victory over Clemson to getting three penalties and a touchdown in three plays and thirty seconds of game action against Arkansas, #36 would have been a viral sensation had he played a decade later.
A 9-year NFL career followed JungleBoi’s Carolina tenure, and he would have played even longer, but he was allegedly blackballed for his critical comments about several NFL owners.