Shane Beamer expects remainder of recruiting class to arrive at Memorial Day

Most of the 2024 South Carolina recruiting class is already on campus, but a few important pieces have yet to arrive.

Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer recently spoke in Charleston at a Welcome Home Tour event about when the rest of the recruiting class will be in Columbia.

“Matthew Fuller literally just texted me right now before I walked up about how eager he is to get to Columbia,” Shane Beamer said. “Michael Smith and Jalewis [Solomon], they will all be there Memorial Day is when they come in. So a couple of days before Memorial Day, actually. So at the end of this month they’ll all be here.”

Fuller is a four-star running back out of Georgia who was ranked as the No. 20 running back in the nation per the On3 Industry rankings.

Smith is another Georgia native who was ranked as the No. 9 tight end in the country, per the On3 Industry rankings.

Georgia native Jalewis Solomon was a four-star prospect who was ranked as the No. 9 athletic in the country, per the On3 Industry rankings.

South Carolina is also still waiting on JUCO transfer Jerome Simmons to arrive, although he will “be a little bit later,” per Beamer.

“And then we’ve got a good group of guys that are walk-ons that are joining the program, as well. They’ll all be there by the middle of June,” Beamer said. “So we should have everybody in Columbia, scholarship wise, before June 1st. Everyone on the roster, except Simmons, by the middle of June. And Simmons will be there shortly thereafter.”

Beamer added that the South Carolina signees who aren’t on campus yet need to show up ready to play. All three of the scholarship players arriving around Memorial Day will get an opportunity to help as freshmen.

“We’re going to try to get them ready to play. We’re excited about all of those guys. Matthew will get an opportunity to compete at running back. Jalewis will have an opportunity to compete for a role at defensive back. And Michael’s a guy we’re really excited about as a tight end. And Simmons, as well,” Beamer said. “We started five true freshmen at times last season, three of them didn’t get here until June. … So we’ve shown that we can get guys ready.

“There’s certainly some things I’ve looked at from last year until now that I feel like we can do even better in order to get those guys ready to play quicker. … Whether it be summer workouts in June and July or the way we do preseason practice, you’re always looking at how to get guys ready to play quicker.”