On3 Roundtable: South Carolina building recruiting momentum with 2024 class

South Carolina landed one of the biggest wins at the end of the 2023 recruiting cycle in signing five-star athlete and two-sport superstar Nyckoles Harbor. But that win doesn’t look to be a fluke for the Gamecocks.

The calendar has flipped to May in 2023 and South Carolina has the No. 6 recruiting class in the 2024 Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings. That’s fourth-best in the SEC and ahead of many bluebloods like LSU, Notre Dame and Penn State.

The question is whether the team can keep that high ranking as the cycle continues to play out. Gamecock Central’s West Mitchell believes that can happen.

“They’ve stuck right there — top five, top six, top seven — for months now and I think they can continue that,” Mitchell said on On3 Roundtable. “The key will be can they close in on some of these final targets. Dylan Stewart, obviously the biggest one for them. Charles Power has him as the number one prospect in the country. Kind of is playing out similarly to the way Nyck Harbor’s recruitment did. A DMV kid. South Carolina’s battling blue bloods and just kind of hanging in there. I think they like their position, though, currently for Dylan Stewart.”

Dylan Stewart is the No. 8 overall recruit in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. However, he ranks as the No. 1 prsopect in the 2024 On300.

Stewart isn’t the only apple in the team’s eye at the moment. Mitchell also named Meridian (Miss.) four-star athlete Daniel Hill and Burlington (N.C.) Hugh M Cummings four-star wide receiver Jonathan Paylor as two players they are chasing.

“If you look at what they already have, there are some guys out there that they, I think, feel good about where they’re at with,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think they’re sort of tapped out yet if that makes sense. I think they have a chance to sort of keep hanging in there. You have to keep adding guys as the process plays along if you’re gonna stay in that top seven range. They have the potential for it.”

The current 2024 South Carolina recruiting class has 10 commits, eight of whom are four-star players. The class is currently headlined by two in-state offensive tackles in Dillon (S.C.) four-star Josiah Thompson and Dorchester (S.C.) Woodland four-star Kam Pringle.

They are the top two players in the state and two of the top four offensive tackles in the country, according to the On3 Industry.

There are definitely multiple factors that have led to Shane Beamer’s success on the trail this cycle, but Mitchell made sure to highlight the success that team had at the end of the regular season beating both Tennessee and Clemson.

“To sort of make it full circle, you mentioned the way they finished last year. Tennessee. Clemson,” Mitchell said. “They have so many of these kids that they’re landing or in on that were on campus for that win over Tennessee last year. I think that game has just proved to be massive for them on the recruiting trail in terms of showing these top prospects what they could be capable of at South Carolina.”