Two in South Carolina recruiting office named 'rising stars' by On3

Two of South Carolina football’s top recruiting personnel staffers landed on On3’s “rising star personnel and recruiting staffers you need to know” list for 2022.

Gamecock Director of Player Personnel Taylor Edwards and assistant Director of Player Personnel Drew Hixson, two of South Carolina’s most important behind-the-scenes recruiting staffers, landed on the list of 65 which was based on feedback gathered from coaches and personnel officials around the country by On3’s Matt Zenitz.

As Zenitz’s article explains, these are the behind-the-scenes workers with roster-development responsibilities such as scouting prospects, developing recruiting strategies, communicating with players and their families, coordinating recruiting trips for coaches, and organizing and hosting on-campus recruiting events. And much more, of course.

Both Edwards and Hixson joined the South Carolina staff last offseason in Shane Beamer‘s first year with the program.

The Gamecocks currently have a 17-man recruiting class for 2023 that is ranked No. 20 in the country in the On3 Consensus Football Team Recruiting Rankings.

Two others mentioned in the article also have South Carolina connections. Georgia Tech Director of On-campus Recruiting Kyler Grover is a South Carolina graduate who worked in the school’s marketing department as a student and then in the recruiting office for two years.

Arkansas Director of Recruiting Carina Hargreaves spent three seasons in the recruiting department at South Carolina.

Taylor Edwards, South Carolina

Position: Director of player personnel
+ Entering his second year at South Carolina after two years as director of recruiting operations at Maryland
+ Was a key part of the Gamecocks adding one of the nation’s top transfer classes this offseason, a group that included Spencer Rattler and several others expected to be high-level contributors
+ Has helped South Carolina compile a 2023 class that ranks 20th in the 2023 On3 Consensus Rankings
+ Contributed to Maryland finishing with the No. 25 class in the 2021 On3 Consensus Rankings
+ Worked at Arkansas as director of recruiting (2018) and at Alabama as a player personnel assistant (2017) before heading to Maryland

Drew Hixson, South Carolina

Position: Assistant director of player personnel
+ Served as Kansas’ director of scouting for two seasons before heading to South Carolina last year
+ Previously worked in the personnel and recruiting offices at Virginia and Georgia

Kyler Glover, Georgia Tech

Position: Director of on-campus recruiting
+ Hired at Georgia Tech in February after serving as Tennessee’s director of on-campus recruiting last year
+ Was a recruiting and operations specialist at her alma mater, South Carolina, the previous two years
+ Spent time at Charleston Southern as a postgraduate athletics marketing and development intern before taking the job at South Carolina
+ Worked in the athletic department’s marketing office as a student at South Carolina

Carina Hargreaves, Arkansas

Position: Director of recruiting
+ Entering her first year at Arkansas after three years as director of on-campus recruiting at Georgia Tech
+ Spent three years at South Carolina as coordinator of defensive operations (2016-17) and coordinator of football administration (2018)
+ Got her start as a student recruiting assistant and intern at Florida, her alma mater
+ Sister of former Florida All-American and current NFL cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III.
+ Her dad, Vernon Jr., is a 36-year coaching veteran, including as linebacker coach at Arkansas, and currently is special teams coordinator at Howard University

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