An updated look at South Carolina football's place in national recruiting rankings

During Shane Beamer's time as the head coach of the South Carolina football program, the month of June has been the busiest month on the recruiting calendar. That isn't unique in the modern world of college football recruiting, but because of all of the movement, USC's 2025 recruiting class looks drastically different than it did just three weeks ago.

In June, the Gamecocks have added public commitments from nine players, and based on Beamer's #WelcomeHome announcements on social media, there seem to be another two commitments who haven't come forward to the fanbase yet. Linebacker/defensive back Jaquel Holman, EDGE Kobby Sakyi-Prah, defensive back Chris Hatfield, linebacker AJ Holloway, tight end Preston Douglas, offensive lineman Shed Sarratt, kicker/punter Max Kelley, EDGE Jaquavious Dodd, and the most recent announcement, longsnapper Kyler Farrow, all have made their pledges known in the past 15 days.

The influx of talent into the recruiting class has shifted the South Carolina football program's place in the 2025 national recruiting rankings. (**Of note: the Gamecocks having a kicker committed in the class negatively affects the average ranking of the prospects because of the way the recruiting outlets rate specialists**)

According to On3, the Gamecocks have three 4-star prospects in the '25 cycle, and the 15-commit class is ranked as the 22nd-best in the country. Of all recruiting classes with at least 12 players committed, Carolina slots in with the 15th-best average recruit ranking.

247Sports has four Gamecock commitments rated as 4-star prospects, but the overall ranking for USC in 247's ranking is 26th. South Carolina is 13th in average recruiting rankings among all classes with at least 12 players committed.

Based on Rivals' recruiting rankings, two Carolina commitments are 4-star prospects, and the class is ranked as the 32nd-best group in the country. Among classes with 12 recruits, their average prospect ranking is 29th in the 2025 cycle.

ESPN's recruiting rankings have three 4-star Gamecock commitments, but the outlet does not often update their team recruiting rankings.

In all, there are nine South Carolina football pledges who are rated as a 4-star or better by at least one major recruiting outlet (including Max Kelley's and Kyler Farrow's 5-star ratings from Kohl's Kicking).

Cornerback Shamari Earls, wide receiver Brian Rowe, offensive lineman Shed Sarratt, safety Damarcus Leach, EDGE Jaquavious Dodd, defensive lineman Caleb Williams, EDGE Anthony Addison, kicker/punter Max Kelley, and longsnapper Kyler Farrow are all blue chip prospects according to at least one of the outlets.

Wide receiver Jayden Sellers, defensive back Chris Hatfield, EDGE Kobby Sakyi-Prah, linebacker/defensive back Jaquel Holman, linebacker AJ Holloway, and tight end Preston Douglas are all consensus 3-star recruits. Of those players who do not have a 4-star rating, Holman and Jayden Sellers are just one rating point away from reaching 4-star status by at least one outlet.

All six of the Gamecocks' in-state commitments (Jayden Sellers, South Florence; Damarcus Leach, Abbeville; Jaquavious Dodd, Eastside; Shed Sarratt, Gaffney; Anthony Addison, Sumter; Jaquel Holman, Blackville-Hilda) hold a top-10 Palmetto State rankings by at least one major recruiting outlet. USC also is still involved with multiple well-thought-of in-state players.

With about six months until the Early Signing Period, USC's involvement with other prospects, and a large crop of seniors on the current South Carolina football roster, fans can expect the Gamecocks to be in the mix for a much larger class than last year's group of just 15 high school players.