Setting the stage for portal window opening, recruiting contact period

On3 imageby:Collyn Taylor11/30/22

collyntaylor

Shane Beamer sat on South Carolina’s team bus as it motored down interstates 85 and 26 back to Columbia.

Pandemonium likely swirled around him in the post-win revelry, but Beamer sat in the front seat glued to the phone. It was for a good reason. Beamer spent that two-plus hour trip responding to recruits who blew up his phone after a 31-30 win over Clemson. 

Subscribe to Gamecock Central until the 2023 football season for only $10!

“Then the guys who weren’t and watched it on television, you can imagine what my phone looked like after the game,” Beamer said on 107.5 FM. “That was a celebratory bus ride back down interstate 85 and 26 and the majority of that time was spent responding back to high school recruits who had texted me.”

And it’s just a taste of what Beamer and the rest of his staff will get over in a frenzied few weeks coming up. The celebration can only last so long with coaches hitting the road again beginning Friday and the transfer portal window opening Monday. 

But having the previous two wins against Tennessee and Clemson can only help on the recruiting front.

Get South Carolina football alerts and analysis via email  

“There are a lot of guys we’re still recruiting, whether it be the 2023 class or 2024 class that we opened their eyes to things as well,” Beamer said. “There are some young men who are committed elsewhere who have reached out this week as well after they’ve seen what we’ve done the last couple of weeks. I said it last year: there’s never been more excitement for South Carolina football than there is right now. Well, we just topped it. Whatever I said last year it’s at even a higher level.” 

The recruiting calendar this December is a slight departure from the norm. In years past, South Carolina coaches would essentially walk off the field after Clemson and into a waiting car to hit the recruiting trail. 

This year, that contact period starts a week later. So the Gamecocks coaches will be in the office this week before going out Friday. They’ll be on the road the next few weeks before signing day Dec. 21. 

That coincides with the transfer portal window opening Dec. 5 and coaches beginning to recruit out of that as well. 

Become a NIL supporter of your South Carolina Gamecocks!

“It’s not just high school recruiting,” Beamer said on the impact. “The potential as we get going in the transfer portal if there are opportunities to add somebody to our program that fits off the field and on the field we’re very attractive to a lot of people from that standpoint.”

As of right now, On3 ranks South Carolina’s 2023 recruiting class No. 16 nationally and sixth-best in the SEC. 

Ten blue-chip commitments and nine that rank inside the On3 consensus 400 headlines the class. In-state offensive lineman Markee Anders is the highest-rated, No. 122 overall. Desmond Umeozulu (166), Grayson Howard (170), Xzavier McLeod (203), Zavion Hardy (208), Dontavius Braswell (236), Oluwatosin Babalade (276), Monteque Rhames (318) and Trovon Baugh (336) round that out.

Subscribe (for free) to the Gamecock Central YouTube page!

Vicari Swain is No. 545 in the consensus but On3 rates him as the No. 104 player in the country. JUCO offensive lineman Isaiah Jatta is also a four-star prospect. On3 consensus rankings have him as the No. 5 JUCO player nationally.

The Gamecocks still have plenty of top targets still available, headlined by five-star Nyckoles Harbor.

Beamer thinks having these past two wins have certainly given the Gamecocks the recruiting bump as coaches hit the road. 

“You used the word phenomenal,” he said, “and it’s been phenomenal.”

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!

You may also like