The South Carolina football program got a needed infusion of talent on Wednesday. The Gamecocks signed 15 high school recruits, 1 junior college prospect, and 8 transfer portal players.
Of those 24 players, 16 are rated as a 4-star or 5-star prospect by at least one major outlet (17 if you count the kicker/punter in the class, Mason Love, who is a 5-star at both positions according to Kohl's Kicking). 2 of the USC signees (offensive tackle Josiah Thompson and EDGE Dylan Stewart) are composite 5-stars according to both 247Sports and On3.
Without considering the specialist, that's good for a 67% blue chip ratio, which is among the best the Gamecocks have ever secured in the modern recruiting era.
But how do those numbers stack up when compared to the rest of the country?
In the modern college football world of the transfer portal and unlimited recruiting class sizes, true comparisons between classes are hard to make, but the recruiting industry still does its best to rank everything they can.
According to 247Sports, the Gamecocks have the 20th-best high school class in the country and the 5th-best transfer class. Based on their own metrics, that puts the South Carolina football program at 17th in the overall team recruiting rankings in the class of 2024. That would be good for 10th-best in the SEC out of 16 teams (Texas and Oklahoma will be in the SEC for the start of the 2024 season).
On3 sees the numbers a bit differently, but they are close. The Gamecocks are also 20th in high school recruiting according to On3 (11th in the SEC), but they are 12th nationally in the On3 transfer portal rankings (On3 creates a weighted score based upon both players brought in and players lost in the portal). On3 does not provide a combined ranking for both high school and transfer recruiting.
Rivals has the Gamecocks much lower. This is mostly because Rivals values quantity of recruits signed very highly. Because of this, Carolina ranks 29th in the country. No other program in the top-56 has fewer commitments (16) than the Gamecocks, skewing their score and putting them 13th out of 16 in the SEC. The company also has the Gamecocks 6th in the nation in transfer portal recruiting.
ESPN is a little higher on the Gamecocks' class. The worldwide leader has Carolina with the 16th-best high school recruiting class in the country. ESPN does not put out a transfer portal class ranking but does have incoming South Carolina football transfer Rocket Sanders (running back, Arkansas) ranked as the 23rd-best transfer player in the country.
Based on average recruit rankings, South Carolina football ranks higher. From a national perspective, the Gamecocks are 11th in 247Sports' rankings, 12th in On3's metrics, and 12th according to Rivals. ESPN does not rate classes in the same way, but Carolina is 13th in America in ESPN top-300 prospects signed.
All-in-all, it was another very solid class for South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer and his staff. The Gamecocks likely aren't quite done adding players, but the same can be said for many other programs, as well, so the numbers shouldn't shift drastically.
Verbal transfer portal commitment Jayden McGowan (wide receiver, Vanderbilt) isn't expected to stick with his pledge, and the Gamecocks are planning to bring in a quarterback, wide receiver, and defensive back before the 2024 recruiting class is complete.