South Carolina recruiting is on a roll. Taking stock of 2022 class on signing day eve
South Carolina is rolling on the recruiting trail.
The good news started Monday when four-star linebacker Stone Blanton — a longtime Mississippi State baseball commit — chose South Carolina over MSU and Texas A&M.
Then came the bomb.
Monday night, former Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler and one-time Sooners tight end Austin Stogner announced their commitments to South Carolina in a move that shocked the college football world.
“We talked about this on the show this morning….. If there was a time to disrupt the power balance in the state of South Carolina, the time is now,” SEC Network host Peter Burns tweeted shortly after Rattler and Stogner’s announcement. “Dunk on ‘em (Shane Beamer).”
As of Wednesday morning, USC’s 2022 class ranked No. 19 nationally and No. 8 in the Southeastern Conference. That, of course, doesn’t factor in Rattler and Stogner’s decisions.
So what all does that mean? Plenty.
Beamer was hired, at least in part, due to his track record on the recruiting trail. He’s been a part of college football’s biggest recruiting machines at Oklahoma and Georgia. He previously helped reel in the players who became major contributors during the glory years of Steve Spurrier at South Carolina.
Now taking over his own program, Beamer has built a layer of momentum USC had lacked over the past two seasons.
Take Blanton’s pledge, for example. Landing a player like the four-star Mississippi product is hard enough. Matters are made more difficult when in-state schools like Mississippi State and Ole Miss are pining after them.
Beamer and his staff — most notably, defensive coordinator Clayton White — stayed on Blanton from the time they got to Columbia. That persistence paid off with Blanton’s commitment on Monday.
“(White is) a great coach, an even better guy. He’s an even better man,” Blanton said recently. “We always love getting to talk to him and getting to sit down with him for that long was super great.”
It’s also been expected South Carolina would hit the transfer portal hard this offseason. The Gamecocks did that and then some on Monday.
Rattler is a generational talent who flamed out at Oklahoma after being supplanted by former five-star signal-caller Caleb Williams. That said, there are few, if any, schools in the country that wouldn’t have lifted mountains to try and ink Rattler. Beamer was simply the man did it.
Stogner, too, is a massive pickup for a team in need of offensive playmakers. The former four-star recruit came to Oklahoma with sky-high expectations. He’s been a bit of a mixed bag, but did earn second team All-Big 12 selection from The Associated Press last season after he recorded 26 catches for 422 yards and three touchdowns in just eight games.
“Long, almost gangly prospect with a frame that can hold plenty more weight,” former 247Sports director of scouting Barton Simmons wrote of Stogner as a prep standout. “Has developed steadily and consistently over the course of high school career.”
Local products DQ Smith (Spring Valley) and Zavier Short (Chapin) both committed to the Gamecocks on Tuesday evening.
Smith has spent his high school career as a quarterback, though the Gamecocks are recruiting him as a defensive back. With Jy’Vonte McClendon no longer part of South Carolina’s 2022 class after he was charged with a pair of felonies in Florida two weeks ago, USC could use another secondary piece.
Short had been committed to Appalachian State since June, but received a South Carolina offer on Dec. 1. The Gamecocks have offered him as an H-back.
South Carolina heads into the early signing period on pace for its best recruiting finish nationally since 2012. Shortly after Blanton announced his commitment Monday in the gym at Madison-Ridgeland Academy, “Sandstorm” blared around him.
South Carolina’s coaches hugged, yelled and celebrated the commitment as a group in the football facility in a video posted by the team’s official Twitter account shortly after Blanton’s decision was revealed.
If Beamer and his staff have their way, there will be plenty more to celebrate during the early signing period.
— Phil Kornblut and Lou Bezjak contributed to this story
South Carolina’s top 3 commitments for 2022
According to 247Sports Composite that factors in all recruiting rankings.
1. Keenan Nelson, DB, Philadelphia, 4 stars
2. Braden Davis, QB, Middletown, Del., 4 stars
3. Stone Blanton, LB, Madison, Miss., 4 stars
South Carolina recruiting Class of 2022
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 9:18 AM with the headline "South Carolina recruiting is on a roll. Taking stock of 2022 class on signing day eve."
