*** Since the events of yesterday has it so fresh on everyone's mind, let's open this year's Inside the Class series with more on the saga with Maryland signee Jaishawn Barham.
The St. Frances Academy standout first hit the radar when Will Muschamp was still the head coach in Columbia, and staff holdover Mike Peterson carried his recruitment into the Shane Beamer era, keeping the Gamecocks well-positioned to be a factor down the stretch.
Barham took an unofficial visit to Columbia back in June, then followed that with an official visit during the season. His camp kept his recruitment extremely quiet along the way.
Fast-forward to December, and leading up to Barham's scheduled announcement on Saturday it was thought that South Carolina and Penn State were the front runners. Everyone was also wary of Maryland lurking. Based on feedback provided to South Carolina, things looked quite good for the Gamecocks. Bear with us on the next part...
In the hours prior to Barham's initial verbal, we can relay that there was some communication between the staff and the Barham camp that seemed potentially concerning. And, as GamecockCentral.com subscribers already know, both Maryland and South Carolina felt that leading up to Barham's announcement on Saturday, that the Terps had overtaken Carolina.
Yet, the actual announcement arrived and Barham and his family put on Gamecocks gear, giving Carolina a nice pledge that at the time classified as a true surprise.
We can tell you that the following night - on Sunday - we heard a version of the story that Shane Beamer relayed during yesterday's press conference, that Beamer had received a call indicating that Barham was going to flip to Maryland on signing day.
"When this particular young man committed on Saturday, about 10 minutes later, I got a phone call from somebody in the know up there that said 'just so you know, it's all part of the plan, he's going to flip Wednesday and go to Maryland'. So, I can't sit here and tell you that I was shocked," Beamer said.
That, and the surprise nature of the commitment to begin with, surely had the staff on alert in the coming days. Yet, the Barham camp continued giving positive indications to the Gamecock staff all the way up until the night prior to signing day. The next morning, Maryland announced via social media that Barham had signed with Mike Locksley's program.
Said Beamer on Wednesday: "When you're on the phone with the young man as late as 10:30, 11 o'clock last night (Tuesday) and he and the mom are telling you how they're so thankful they found a home, how appreciative they are of how we do things, how they knew that South Carolina was the place for him on his very first visit to South Carolina, and how excited they are for the future, you feel pretty good about things. Certainly with the young man you're referring to, some strange things happened overnight, which that's a story for another day."
Maryland decided to release a video via Twitter capturing Locksley, Barham, and his mother videoconferencing. The social media account implored viewers to "watch until the end", when Barham's mother stated that she liked Locksley's "Go Terps" better than "Go Cocks."
When Beamer was asked by GamecockCentral.com's Mike Uva about the Barham situation on Wednesday, he didn't hold back. At some point after that, Maryland's Twitter account took down the above-referenced video.
The reasoning isn't clear. Maybe some folks at Maryland realized how bad a look it was given that Beamer, instead of saying nothing, decided to expose the manner in which it happened.
Or perhaps someone realized that going 12-23 the last 3.5 years doesn't exactly earn you the right to troll anyone on social media.
*** South Carolina ended up landing Spencer Rattler via the transfer portal (he signed a financial aid agreement on Tuesday) as well as four-star Braden Davis from the high school ranks (he signed on Wednesday). The path that led to both of those acquisitions was certainly an interesting one.
When Beamer was hired in Columbia, he inherited quarterback pledge Gunner Stockton, who had committed to the previous staff with Will Muschamp and Mike Bobo.
Bobo, after agreeing to stay on under Shane Beamer and allowing the university to hire his hand-picked offensive line coach, Will Friend, departed for a job at Auburn on January 7. Stockton reopened his recruitment five days later, eventually pledging to Georgia. That meant the board reset for Beamer and his staff, and some potential targets emerged.
Carolina had a tie to Alabama signee Ty Simpson out of Tennessee; offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield had once worked for his father at Tennessee-Martin. The Gamecocks never got any measure of real traction there, though.
The staff made a big run at Alabama's Tanner Bailey and seemed to have a very good shot at one point. However, Oregon and then-coach Mario Cristobal swooped in and landed a commitment from Bailey. The four-star reopened his recruitment after Cristobal left Eugene for the head job at Miami.
The Gamecocks also offered a couple other impressive talents in Drew Allar (Penn State) and Tayven Jackson (Tennessee).
Prior to South Carolina actually getting involved, it was easy to wonder when the Gamecock should step in for Delaware product Braden Davis. He was an athletic prospect with upside, and a wonderful kid. He also had a prior relationship with Carolina running back Marshawn Lloyd, so there was a natural tie to the program.
Carolina became heavily involved in the spring, and conversations led to an offer during a virtual visit in April. By the end of the month, Davis was verbally committed.
He remained solid throughout the process, helping lead his Middletown team to a state title at the end of his senior year.
*** Shane Beamer's first two recruiting cycles at South Carolina were certainly unique in terms of timing. The 2021 class was finished up during a time span in which in-person, face-to-face contact was still prohibited from the time Beamer was hired in December 2020 until everyone signed in February.
The contact period finally returned back in the summer, allowing South Carolina the chance to host prospects for unofficial and official visits, plus hold camps. The 2022 class was still different because prospects were on accelerated timeframes; guys missed over a year of in-person recruiting visits and camps. Thus, the number of guys USC had in for camps in the summer wasn't as high as we'll probably see in the future.
Beamer noted on Wednesday that the staff had 9 signees in camp this summer. GamecockCentral.com - which covers every camp session in the summertime - can give you those names:
Zavier Short, D'Andre Martin, Demetrius Watson, Bryan Thomas Jr., Nick Emmanwori, Anthony Rose, Kylic Horton, Braden Davis, and Grayson Mains all worked with the Carolina staff back in June during Shane Beamer Football Camp.
Martin, Watson, Emmanwori, and Horton earned their offers directly after their camp performances, while Short's didn't come until later in the process.
Thomas Jr. already had a verbal offer on the table at the time of his workout, but he impressed the staff during that time. Rose had already committed and decommitted from USC at the time of his camp performance, and he would eventually jump back in the class. Davis and Mains were already verbal commitments in June.
*** We'll have much more on the 2022 class in future editions. Thanks to everyone for being a member of GamecockCentral.com!
The St. Frances Academy standout first hit the radar when Will Muschamp was still the head coach in Columbia, and staff holdover Mike Peterson carried his recruitment into the Shane Beamer era, keeping the Gamecocks well-positioned to be a factor down the stretch.
Barham took an unofficial visit to Columbia back in June, then followed that with an official visit during the season. His camp kept his recruitment extremely quiet along the way.
Fast-forward to December, and leading up to Barham's scheduled announcement on Saturday it was thought that South Carolina and Penn State were the front runners. Everyone was also wary of Maryland lurking. Based on feedback provided to South Carolina, things looked quite good for the Gamecocks. Bear with us on the next part...
In the hours prior to Barham's initial verbal, we can relay that there was some communication between the staff and the Barham camp that seemed potentially concerning. And, as GamecockCentral.com subscribers already know, both Maryland and South Carolina felt that leading up to Barham's announcement on Saturday, that the Terps had overtaken Carolina.
Yet, the actual announcement arrived and Barham and his family put on Gamecocks gear, giving Carolina a nice pledge that at the time classified as a true surprise.
We can tell you that the following night - on Sunday - we heard a version of the story that Shane Beamer relayed during yesterday's press conference, that Beamer had received a call indicating that Barham was going to flip to Maryland on signing day.
"When this particular young man committed on Saturday, about 10 minutes later, I got a phone call from somebody in the know up there that said 'just so you know, it's all part of the plan, he's going to flip Wednesday and go to Maryland'. So, I can't sit here and tell you that I was shocked," Beamer said.
That, and the surprise nature of the commitment to begin with, surely had the staff on alert in the coming days. Yet, the Barham camp continued giving positive indications to the Gamecock staff all the way up until the night prior to signing day. The next morning, Maryland announced via social media that Barham had signed with Mike Locksley's program.
Said Beamer on Wednesday: "When you're on the phone with the young man as late as 10:30, 11 o'clock last night (Tuesday) and he and the mom are telling you how they're so thankful they found a home, how appreciative they are of how we do things, how they knew that South Carolina was the place for him on his very first visit to South Carolina, and how excited they are for the future, you feel pretty good about things. Certainly with the young man you're referring to, some strange things happened overnight, which that's a story for another day."
Maryland decided to release a video via Twitter capturing Locksley, Barham, and his mother videoconferencing. The social media account implored viewers to "watch until the end", when Barham's mother stated that she liked Locksley's "Go Terps" better than "Go Cocks."
When Beamer was asked by GamecockCentral.com's Mike Uva about the Barham situation on Wednesday, he didn't hold back. At some point after that, Maryland's Twitter account took down the above-referenced video.
The reasoning isn't clear. Maybe some folks at Maryland realized how bad a look it was given that Beamer, instead of saying nothing, decided to expose the manner in which it happened.
Or perhaps someone realized that going 12-23 the last 3.5 years doesn't exactly earn you the right to troll anyone on social media.
*** South Carolina ended up landing Spencer Rattler via the transfer portal (he signed a financial aid agreement on Tuesday) as well as four-star Braden Davis from the high school ranks (he signed on Wednesday). The path that led to both of those acquisitions was certainly an interesting one.
When Beamer was hired in Columbia, he inherited quarterback pledge Gunner Stockton, who had committed to the previous staff with Will Muschamp and Mike Bobo.
Bobo, after agreeing to stay on under Shane Beamer and allowing the university to hire his hand-picked offensive line coach, Will Friend, departed for a job at Auburn on January 7. Stockton reopened his recruitment five days later, eventually pledging to Georgia. That meant the board reset for Beamer and his staff, and some potential targets emerged.
Carolina had a tie to Alabama signee Ty Simpson out of Tennessee; offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield had once worked for his father at Tennessee-Martin. The Gamecocks never got any measure of real traction there, though.
The staff made a big run at Alabama's Tanner Bailey and seemed to have a very good shot at one point. However, Oregon and then-coach Mario Cristobal swooped in and landed a commitment from Bailey. The four-star reopened his recruitment after Cristobal left Eugene for the head job at Miami.
The Gamecocks also offered a couple other impressive talents in Drew Allar (Penn State) and Tayven Jackson (Tennessee).
Prior to South Carolina actually getting involved, it was easy to wonder when the Gamecock should step in for Delaware product Braden Davis. He was an athletic prospect with upside, and a wonderful kid. He also had a prior relationship with Carolina running back Marshawn Lloyd, so there was a natural tie to the program.
Carolina became heavily involved in the spring, and conversations led to an offer during a virtual visit in April. By the end of the month, Davis was verbally committed.
He remained solid throughout the process, helping lead his Middletown team to a state title at the end of his senior year.
*** Shane Beamer's first two recruiting cycles at South Carolina were certainly unique in terms of timing. The 2021 class was finished up during a time span in which in-person, face-to-face contact was still prohibited from the time Beamer was hired in December 2020 until everyone signed in February.
The contact period finally returned back in the summer, allowing South Carolina the chance to host prospects for unofficial and official visits, plus hold camps. The 2022 class was still different because prospects were on accelerated timeframes; guys missed over a year of in-person recruiting visits and camps. Thus, the number of guys USC had in for camps in the summer wasn't as high as we'll probably see in the future.
Beamer noted on Wednesday that the staff had 9 signees in camp this summer. GamecockCentral.com - which covers every camp session in the summertime - can give you those names:
Zavier Short, D'Andre Martin, Demetrius Watson, Bryan Thomas Jr., Nick Emmanwori, Anthony Rose, Kylic Horton, Braden Davis, and Grayson Mains all worked with the Carolina staff back in June during Shane Beamer Football Camp.
Martin, Watson, Emmanwori, and Horton earned their offers directly after their camp performances, while Short's didn't come until later in the process.
Thomas Jr. already had a verbal offer on the table at the time of his workout, but he impressed the staff during that time. Rose had already committed and decommitted from USC at the time of his camp performance, and he would eventually jump back in the class. Davis and Mains were already verbal commitments in June.
*** We'll have much more on the 2022 class in future editions. Thanks to everyone for being a member of GamecockCentral.com!
