Recruiting Thoughts
- Thread starter treyno2722
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This kind of sums up how I feel we're doing. I posted this an hour ago, had over 120 views but no comments.
Well, we are sitting at #58 for 2026 in 247 rankings, so not so good right now.
In 2025 we came in at #18, #11 in the SEC.
In 2024 we were #22, #11 in the SEC.
High teens, low 20s is about where we fall every year. Top recruits don't really want to go to programs with no real history of winning. Even after Spurriers three year run, our recruiting never took off.
In 2025 we came in at #18, #11 in the SEC.
In 2024 we were #22, #11 in the SEC.
High teens, low 20s is about where we fall every year. Top recruits don't really want to go to programs with no real history of winning. Even after Spurriers three year run, our recruiting never took off.
Yeah, I suspect we'll be about where always have been for recruiting. Was it last year or the year before we started out early with something like a top 5 class, then we settled to our usual range.
After the three year run with Spurrier we had (at least early on) the #2 recruiting class in the nation before his infamous "2-3 years left" quote, That class ended up being around #19 after six 4-star de-commits. So, it appeared we had something going until that self-inflicted wound....
Low numbers both high quality players. We don’t have the funds to procure a large high quality class. We will supplement smaller recruiting class with the portal until we improve the finances around recruiting.
Indeed a swing and miss but when he enters the portal (too much talent at Texas) we might be first consideration.
As I've said many, many times: Carolina football has never been a consistent recruiting juggernaut. To think that will change in the future, NIL or no NIL, is just not being realistic. Some of our better years, pre-Beamer, was with coaches (Carlen, Morrison, Holtz and Spurrier) who could maximize the talent on hand. No, those coaches did not consistently produce nationally-ranked and/or unprecedented seasons. But, they produced some good seasons. It's tough to recruit at SC for football. We are in a relatively small state, sharing it with a (pains me to say this) national brand name program. And we are located just several hours away from other national programs (UGA, Tennessee and Florida).
I'm sure Beamer is recruiting as well as he can. Our best hope is that he is a "chip off the old block". Frank Beamer was never a great recruiter, He was solid, but not great at recruiting. His forte was "coaching" or hiring assistants who could "coach". We have a ceiling at Carolina, imho. That is to be a Top 20 program. With above-average coaching, maybe some years we can sneak into the playoffs.
"We have a ceiling at Carolina, imho." I have always agreed with this. But I will say this, how did Clemson become a National Program? They face the same obstacles as us?
They are a "SEC football program" playing in a "basketball-first" conference. Put them in the SEC, and suddenly, the road becomes way, way different and tougher for them.
I thought NIL would destroy Clemson football by taking away their cheating advantage. NIL devastated Auburn when they could no longer "recruit" at an elite level thanks to Yellawood guy and that banker Lowder.
Clemson has shown that their alumni and fan base are loyal and willing to pony up the money needed to compete in the NIL landscape. As much as I hate to admit it, Clemson has a much larger and more loyal fan base in the state of SC than USC.
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Are there any published records that show they have a lot more NIL money than us?
I think a recruiting advantage they have is that they play in a weak football conference, which pretty much guarantees them a playoff spot. Thus, they can tell prospects, "Come to Clemson where you have a great chance to make the playoffs, go for the national championship and, thus, get great coverage to the NFL guys".
The NFL is going to find the players they want, wherever they might be playing and whether or not they are in the playoff.
Their recruiting rankings lead me to believe they have plenty of NIL money and Carolina's recruiting rankings indicate we may not have as much. Plenty of folks around here are constantly claiming that coming to USC gives a player a chance to play in the best conference in America and that is a reason players should pick USC over Clemson or other teams from outside the SEC.
Clemson has nice facilities, a nice campus in a pleasant little town, a history of winning and, apparently, enough NIL money to compete with pretty much anyone. I think those things give them more of an advantage than playing in a weak conference.
If you look at the recruiting rankings in the past few years, especially when Transfer Portal rankings are factored in, USC and Clemson are not that far apart.
Regardless, I don't know who, if anyone, is responsible for getting USC more NIL money. Is that the Athletic Director or someone else on staff coordinating that? We probably have twice as many alumni as they do. We have many wealthy alumni. SOMEONE has to be coordinating NIL solicitations. It's not a situation where you just snap your fingers and money shows up. If you are right that we are at a NIL disadvantage (and I'm not convinced you are), then someone is not earning their paycheck.
The NIL money is raised and spent by the collectives which are third party entities. The AD and school really have no say over the collective. I'm sure many alumni and fans are like me in that they will not give money to the NIL collectives because they don't want to support turning college sports into pro sports. I know that ship has sailed but I'm not going to support it with my money.
I'm not convinced lack of NIL funds are what are holding Carolina recruiting back. As stated before, gamecock recruiting is about where it has always been so NIL funds, or lack thereof, don't seem to be affecting recruiting.
We really need to string a lot of 9-10 win seasons in a row and make the playoffs some too during that run.
I'm with you about giving to NIL. I can afford to. But, it's not important enough to me to do that. If others want to, by all means, do so.
And I agree, too, that we have never been a recruiting magnet. It's just too difficult to consistently bring in highly rated football recruiting classes to Carolina. Hall of Fame coaches here have not been able to do that. Mediocre coaches (Bell, Woods, Scott and Muschamp) who were reputed great recruiters were not able to do that. That's why I shake my head when people complain about our recruiting, concluding they are not familiar with our history. Of course, I have the advantage of having seen Carolina football for many decades.
I long ago came to the realization that finishing in the Top 20, as we did last season, is about the best we can do. It took some great coaching to beat Texas A&M, Clemson and Oklahoma last season. And player talent-wise, we were not at Alabama's and LSU's level last season. We had those two beaten but, let them get away.
When we have had a couple of better than a typical Carolina football seasons during a Head Coaches time here, it has been because we we have had coaches (Dietzel, Carlen, Morrison, Holtz and Spurrier) who knew a thing or two about X's and O's or had a staff that did. If people deny that, they are arguing with history.
I'm encouraged about Shane Beamer. He has produced one Top 25 team and one Top 20 team here. If he continues doing that, Carolina has a playoff season in its future. When? I don't know. His program is a lot like his Dad's at Virginia Tech in that he won't WOW people with the talent he brings in. But his team will be well-coached and won't make a lot of mental mistakes.
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Our Top 20 recruiting class usually puts us about 10th in the SEC rankings. I laugh when posters say that we can compete consistently with the playoff teams. I wish we had last years defense along with Rocket Sanders and the O-Line grads this year.
If Shane and his staff are as good on the "coaching and game day coaching" as Frank and his staff were, we have hope. That is the way to make up the gap in player talent.
Clemson is living off the past and the gap is closing even though it looks like they are still competing at a high level. We have beaten them in Death Valley the last two times and had a really competitive game in Columbia the last time. Only difference was that bogus lateral call that got them a cheap TD. Recruits are always slow to seeing the change. Dabo is also marketing that he doesn't recruit the portal. Therefore, he has to do well with each incoming class and hope that they develop quickly.
It puts us around 10th in the SEC rankings and last year the playoff committee took the Top 3 from the SEC.
This. Clemsons recruiting has dropped off significantly. I think the NIL landscape has hurt them the same it has us, and will eventually bring us both to the same level.
I've never understood the supposed mystery about why Clemson recruits better than us. Historically they have just been consistently better than us. Players want to play for winners and Clemson has won a lot more than we have.
Yep. Clemson's AD funding raising (and overall) dwarfs ours.
According to reports, Dabo has been forced to change his tune on the NIL/Portal due to performance these last few years.
In addition, as of this year, unversities can now contribute directly to the NIL initiative -- so I would expect them to start surging again soon given their deep pockets and easy path to the playoffs.
Since 2011, Clemson has won at least 10 games every season except 2023, when they won 9. They are 11-7 in post season play during that time period with 9 ACC championships and 2 national championships. They have been in the CFP 5 times since it began. I dislike Clemson as much as anyone but to say they are living off of the past is silly.
I'm no fan of Dabo, I think he's a clown, but he recruits well and keeps the players he signs, which I admire. The fact he is able to keep players around actually means he doesn't have to develop players quickly, he can let them grow over time and he is also able to build depth because his recruits don't leave. The teams that have shown the most success have been ones that recruit and develop talent, not teams that have a fruit basket turnover of rosters every season. No team has won big by taking players from the portal to build their roster. Dabo sees this and he has been successful.
True. Throw in an easier path to playoffs, or bigger bowls (in the recent past), the ability to compete and be a "big dog" in the acc vs being an also ran in the sec.
I see what you are saying. If we count the playoff years, Clemson is rocking. But since that long haired kid left, they have not been the same.
Their recruiting has dropped significantly. Imho, we are seeing the tail end of that massive recruiting haul they had. Classes coming in are not equal to the classes going out.
It also seems like Clemson is competing with UGA, Bama, Tenn, etc. for players and we are competing with Va Tech, NC State, Kentucky, etc. for players. They are competing for blue chips and we are going after "solid" players.
They had a big recruiting run 5-10 years ago but that has definitely slowed down. For 2026, they are currently ranked #10 (Carolina is #31). I don't think they have the NIL money to compete with the big time programs for the truly elite recruits anymore. They are still recruiting light years ahead of anyone else in the ACC so their path to the playoff is still pretty wide open.
That Lawrence girl was a great qb but the real advantage they had back then was their WRs. Those guys could catch anything thrown remotely close to them.
Clemson's recruiting has definitely fallen in recent years. I am certain they sell getting into the playoffs with a chance to be national champion. I am certain we sell playing in the SEC. Playing for a chance to be national champion is the better selling point, imho.
Beamer is at a very important fork in the road for his program. We need a season similar to last season's to compete with the UGAs and UTs of the college football world for upper tier prospects. If that happens, then we are in the game for them because he would have produced 3 nationally-ranked seasons in 4 years. As the old adage goes: one time is luck, two times is a coincidence but, three times is a trend.
I just don't see it, especially on defense. The only way we are good is if we put up 45 per game.
Howdy Botman -
How is having a season like last season going to do anything for "upper tier prospects" in the SEC-world with the NIL around?
The best it could do is enhance our chances to some extent during "matched-offer" environments.
But that's typically not our issue and I'm pretty sure you know this.
Quite the puppet show you have going on this thread.
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I would say you are right. A good thing, though, is that we have Clayton White as DC. He has produced Top 50 defenses here and elsewhere. And he has been nominated for the Broyles Award two or three times. So, there is hope there. I'm still not sold on our offensive line. So, it could be a long season. Beamer and his staff will need to do some great coaching to produce the kind of season we need. And that will always be the case because at South Carolina we are never going to have the talent that matches up with many teams on our schedule, no matter what. That has always been the case here. We did not have the talent that matched up with Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Clemson, LSU and Alabama last season. But, we had "good enough" talent to compete with them. Having "good enough" talent is the best we can hope for.. It has always been hard to recruit in football at South Carolina for the reasons I have stated in the past. The more things (seasons) change, the more they stay the same. As Spurrier would say, "It is what it is".
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