Auditing the talent on South Carolina football's roster (defense)

South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer has presided over a pretty impressive rebuild. The USC roster was not where it needed to be when Beamer took over the job in Columbia back in 2021. However, because of three top 20 recruiting classes in a row and some strong work in the transfer portal, the Gamecocks have added enough talent to win nine games in 2024 and be a College Football Playoff hopeful again heading into 2025.

But how much talent does South Carolina actually have? Using the On3 industry rankings—a weighted composite average of the player rankings from On3, 247Sports, ESPN, and Rivals—what would an audit of the roster reveal?

We’ve already looked at the offense, and you can read that audit here. Now, let’s move to the defense.

In all, based on their high school ratings, South Carolina’s defense has a total of two 5-star, 17 4-star, 19 3-star, and 4 unranked players. Of the 11 transfer portal additions, one of them also was a 4-star portal prospect. That means that 19 of the 42 scholarship players on defense were blue chippers coming out of high school, and 20 of the 42 earned 4-star or better ratings out of high school/junior college and/or out of the transfer portal.

Here’s how that breaks down by position for the South Carolina defense.

*This audit will only include players on scholarship. Every player’s high school rating will be included. For transfers and junior college additions, both the high school rating and the most updated rating from junior college or the transfer portal will be used.

**Players from both the cornerback and safety rooms could play nickel, too

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Defensive Tackle

1 5 star, 2 4 stars, 4 3 stars; 1 4-star junior college addition; 3 3-star transfers

Nick Barrett: 3 star (82.83) in class of 2021

Monkell Goodwine: 4 star (95.22) in class of 2022; 3 star (87.84) in transfer portal class of 2024

Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy*: 5 star (98.15) in class of 2022; 3 star (88.00) in transfer portal class of 2025

Davonte Miles*: 3 star (83.85) in class of 2022; 3 star (84.00) in transfer portal class of 2025

Zavion Hardy**: 4 star (89.48) in class of 2023; 4 star (92.49) in junior college class of 2025

Christian Ingram***: 3 star (88.95) in class of 2025

Caleb Williams***: 3 star (88.01) in class of 2025

*Incoming transfer portal addition
**Incoming junior college addition
***Incoming true freshman

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Defensive End/EDGE

1 5 star, 4 4 stars, 4 3 stars; 2 3-star transfers

Dylan Stewart: 5 star (98.32) in class of 2024

Bryan Thomas, Jr.: 3 star (84.30) in class of 2022

Desmond Umeozulu: 4 star (93.05) in class of 2023

JT Geer: 3 star (82.85) in class of 2021; 3 star (86.00) in transfer portal class of 2023

Jaylen Brown*: 4 star (90.64) in class of 2024; 3 star (90.34) in transfer portal class of 2025

Wendell Gregory: 4 star (91.98) in class of 2024

Jaquavious Dodd**: 4 star (92.02) in class of 2025

Anthony Addison**: 3 star (88.67) in class of 2025

Kobby Sakyi-Prah**: 3 star (86.96) in class of 2025

*Incoming transfer portal addition
**Incoming true freshman

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Linebacker

4 4 stars, 3 3 stars, 2 Unranked; 3 3-star transfers

Fred “JayR” Johnson: 4 star (92.15) in class of 2024

Justin Okoronkwo*: Unranked in class of 2024; 3 star (86.06) in transfer portal class of 2025

Shawn Murphy*: 4 star (95.44) in class of 2022; 3 star (85.67) in transfer portal class of 2025

Jaron Willis: 4 star (91.62) in class of 2022; 3 star (89.26) in transfer portal class of 2023

Ronnie Porter: Unranked in class of 2021

Donovan Darden**: 4 star (92.47) in class of 2025

Taeshawn Alston**: 3 star (87.68) in class of 2025

AJ Holloway***: 3 star (86.52) in class of 2025

Josh Smith****: 3 star (86.67) in class of 2025

*Incoming transfer portal addition
**Incoming true freshman rated as an EDGE in high school
***Incoming true freshman
****Incoming true freshman who earned a 4-star ranking from On3

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Cornerback

3 4 stars, 2 3 stars, 1 Unranked; 1 4-star transfer, 1 3-star transfer

Vicari Swain*: 4 star (92.04) in class of 2023

Judge Collier: 3 star (84.83) in class of 2023

Brandon Cisse**: 3 star (88.94) in class of 2023; 4 star (91.73) in transfer portal class of 2025

Myles Norwood**: Unranked in class of 2021; 3 star (86.42) in transfer portal class of 2025

Jalewis Solomon: 4 star (90.36) in class of 2024

Emory Floyd: 4 star (89.01) in class of 2022

*Rated as an “Athlete” in class of 2024 before moving to cornerback with Gamecocks
**Incoming transfer portal addition

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Safety

4 4 stars, 6 3 stars, 1 Unranked; 1 3-star transfer

DQ Smith*: 3 star (84.41) in class of 2022

Jalon Kilgore: 4 star (90.77) in class of 2023

Peyton Williams: 3 star (88.86) in class of 2022

Kelvin Hunter: 4 star (89.94) in class of 2024

David Bucey: 3 star (84.92) in class of 2024

Gerald Kilgore: Unranked in class of 2022; 3 star (85.22) in transfer portal class of 2024

Zahbari Sandy: 3 star (87.80) in class of 2023

Jaquel Holman**: 4 star (89.64) in class of 2025

Kendall Daniels***: 4 star (90.56) in class of 2025

Damarcus Leach***: 3 star (87.50) in class of 2025

Chris Hatfield***: 3 star (85.88) in class of 2025

*Rated as an “Athlete” in the class of 2022 before moving to safety with the Gamecocks
**Incoming true freshman rated as an “Athlete” in high school
***Incoming true freshman

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