W
Wes Mitchell
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** I don't expect many of the new college football recruiting rules to have a huge effect on South Carolina as they'll simply adjust their timing of certain recruiting aspects to accommodate for the early signing period and for the earlier official visits. South Carolina will, obviously, also take full advantage of the new 10th assistant when that rule goes into effect.
The change that will likely affect South Carolina's recruiting operation the most, assuming they all go through as expected, is the 10-day cap on the number of days schools can have summer camps. It's a rule that I really don't understand the reasoning for and that most affects the Gamecocks due to the importance they place on their summer camps.
As I've reported before, while camps are a way to make some extra cash for some schools, South Carolina aims to make its camps accessible from both a financial and logistics standpoint. That meant a one-day camp on just about every weekday last June as Carolina wanted to get as many prospects to Columbia in order to evaluate them and it meant charging just $20 per kid, nothing compared to the $50, $60, $70 that some charge. With that type of access, if a kid doesn't make it for at least one camp, then he's probably not really that interested in your program.
This year, South Carolina originally had camps scheduled for June 4-10, 12-17 and July 18-22 which they've effectively whittled down to June 3, 7-10, 14-17 and July 21. That means they'll go from 18 days to 10, certainly manageable, but something to keep an eye on as well.
This spring, Muschamp talked about the importance of the camp season.
"The camp season starts - 26 of our signees, 24 were in our camps - so we know about their work ethic, we know about their athleticism, we know about their coachability, we know about their football intelligence. When you're able to find those four things out, you find out a lot about a player. It does nothing but help you eliminate mistakes in the recruiting process."
** South Carolina's coaches have hit the road this week as the evaluation period began on April 15 and will run through May 31. The evaluation period offers the coaches to make two stops at the school of each prospect, one for an academic check and one for an athletic evaluation. Carolina will drop in on every single one of its targets during this calendar window.
** The Gamecocks continue to make North Charleston (S.C.) Fort Dorchester four-star quarterback Dakereon Joyner a priority in this class and quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper is set to drop in on Joyner on Thursday. South Carolina and N.C. State remain the two biggest players here and I continue to feel good about the Gamecocks' position.
Speaking of quarterbacks, Roper will drop in on Carolina QB target Tyler Shough on May 2. In case you missed it, Shough landed an offer from Alabama earlier this week as the trend of Roper striking early on quarterbacks continue.
The Gamecocks will also check on Myrtle Beach class of 2020 quarterback Luke Doty soon and I still feel he'll get an offer at some point.
** A couple of high school coaches have hit me up following South Carolina's offer to Summerville (S.C.) Cane Bay ATH/S RJ Roderick to talk him up as a player as he could be one of those classic state of South Carolina small school finds. Carolina has been aware of Roderick for a while but wanted to do their due diligence on him.
Roderick was described to me as being "tough as nails." I'm a big fan of getting prospects who play quarterback in high school too as they usually have good leadership qualities. Roderick shows good athleticism on film, is a big hitter and has good size for a safety. He's also one of the more polite kids I've interviewed. Carolina is in great shape with him.
The change that will likely affect South Carolina's recruiting operation the most, assuming they all go through as expected, is the 10-day cap on the number of days schools can have summer camps. It's a rule that I really don't understand the reasoning for and that most affects the Gamecocks due to the importance they place on their summer camps.
As I've reported before, while camps are a way to make some extra cash for some schools, South Carolina aims to make its camps accessible from both a financial and logistics standpoint. That meant a one-day camp on just about every weekday last June as Carolina wanted to get as many prospects to Columbia in order to evaluate them and it meant charging just $20 per kid, nothing compared to the $50, $60, $70 that some charge. With that type of access, if a kid doesn't make it for at least one camp, then he's probably not really that interested in your program.
This year, South Carolina originally had camps scheduled for June 4-10, 12-17 and July 18-22 which they've effectively whittled down to June 3, 7-10, 14-17 and July 21. That means they'll go from 18 days to 10, certainly manageable, but something to keep an eye on as well.
This spring, Muschamp talked about the importance of the camp season.
"The camp season starts - 26 of our signees, 24 were in our camps - so we know about their work ethic, we know about their athleticism, we know about their coachability, we know about their football intelligence. When you're able to find those four things out, you find out a lot about a player. It does nothing but help you eliminate mistakes in the recruiting process."
** South Carolina's coaches have hit the road this week as the evaluation period began on April 15 and will run through May 31. The evaluation period offers the coaches to make two stops at the school of each prospect, one for an academic check and one for an athletic evaluation. Carolina will drop in on every single one of its targets during this calendar window.
** The Gamecocks continue to make North Charleston (S.C.) Fort Dorchester four-star quarterback Dakereon Joyner a priority in this class and quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper is set to drop in on Joyner on Thursday. South Carolina and N.C. State remain the two biggest players here and I continue to feel good about the Gamecocks' position.
Speaking of quarterbacks, Roper will drop in on Carolina QB target Tyler Shough on May 2. In case you missed it, Shough landed an offer from Alabama earlier this week as the trend of Roper striking early on quarterbacks continue.
The Gamecocks will also check on Myrtle Beach class of 2020 quarterback Luke Doty soon and I still feel he'll get an offer at some point.
** A couple of high school coaches have hit me up following South Carolina's offer to Summerville (S.C.) Cane Bay ATH/S RJ Roderick to talk him up as a player as he could be one of those classic state of South Carolina small school finds. Carolina has been aware of Roderick for a while but wanted to do their due diligence on him.
Roderick was described to me as being "tough as nails." I'm a big fan of getting prospects who play quarterback in high school too as they usually have good leadership qualities. Roderick shows good athleticism on film, is a big hitter and has good size for a safety. He's also one of the more polite kids I've interviewed. Carolina is in great shape with him.
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