South Carolina football hires new player development director from Oregon Ducks

Last week, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer fired player personnel director Taylor Edwards. The move came without much public explanation as Edwards was considered good at his job, but the void left by Edwards' absence required a quick hire to be made as a replacement, and that is exactly what Beamer delivered.

Late on Monday night, the Gamecocks officially announced the hire of Darren Uscher as the new director of player personnel and recruiting.

Uscher, a graduate of the University of South Carolina, comes back to Columbia after stops at several other big-time college football programs, including his most recent job on the recruiting staff for the Oregon Ducks. He previously worked at UCLA, Auburn, Boise State, and Georgetown. He has served as a recruiting director (UCLA, Auburn, Boise State) and as an assistant on two different recruiting staffs at Oregon and one at Georgetown.

Uscher was an important member of head coach Dan Lanning's recruiting staff at Oregon and will look to infuse some additional life into the Gamecocks' recruiting efforts.

So far, the class of 2025 has been decent for the South Carolina football program, but a lack of highly-rated prospects (hurt by the recent decommitment of the top player in the class, cornerback Shamari Earls) leaves a bit to be desired. Some of that is to be expected after a 5-7 season in 2023, but part of Uscher's new job will be to overcome last year's dip so that 2024 and beyond will be part of the program's rise to respectability in the SEC.

Accomplishing that won't be easy in an SEC that is more loaded than ever, but Uscher is well-respected in the recruiting industry, and his ties to the South Carolina football program make him an ideal person to recruit new talent to the school that he loves.