How Shane Beamer's 3rd Full Recruiting Class Compares To His Predecessors
The early national signing period has come and gone for the 2024 class, and while some minor movement could take place on the February National Signing Day, things are largely settled for this cycle. Regarding the South Carolina Gamecocks' class, Shane Beamer and his staff continue to stock the cupboard at two of the most important positions, offensive line and linebacker and have landed multiple box defenders that can help change the narrative surrounding their defensive unit.
Of course, in sports, everyone eventually works their way toward making a comparison, whether it involves teams, coaches, or individual players. So I did some research to see how Beamer's third full recruiting class (one he had at least a year to work on) compared to his predecessors, Steve Spurrier and Will Muschamp.
*For the sake of uniformity, 247Sports' Composite Player & Team Rankings were used for each respective class*
Steve Spurrier's 3rd Full Recruiting Class (2008)
Final National Composite Ranking: 35th
Number Of Blue-Chippers (2): C.C. Whitlock, and Eric Baker
Other Notable Enrollees (9): Devin Taylor, D.L. Moore, Kenny Miles, T.J. Johnson, Akeem Auguste, Shaq Wilson, Tori Gurley, Antonio Allen, and Jarriel King
Will Muschamp's 3rd Full Recruiting Class (2019)
Final Composite Ranking: 21st
Final SEC Ranking: 8th (out of 14 teams)
Number Of Blue Chippers (6): Zacch Pickens, Ryan Hilinski, Joseph Anderson, Cam Smith, Keveon Mullins, and Jammie Robinson
Other Notable Enrollees (2): Kevin Harris and Xavier Legette
Shane Beamer's 3rd Full Recruiting Class (2024)
Final Composite Ranking (before February National Signing Day): 20th
Final SEC Ranking (before February National Signing Day): 10th (out of 16 teams)
Number Of Blue Chippers (11): Dylan Stewart, Josiah Thompson, Michael Smith, Wendell Gregory, Kam Pringle, Mazeo Bennett, Jalewis Solomon, Kelvin Hunter, Fred Johnson, Dante Reno, and Matthew Fuller
Josiah Thompson trying to protect his quarterback in the 2023 Shrine Bowl Of The Carolinas (16th Dec., 2023)
Ken Ruinard | The Greenville News
While Spurrier found many diamonds in the rough in his third recruiting class as the Gamecocks head coach, the overall quality doesn't match up with Shane's third class. Muschamp's third class is similar in how it stacks up to the competition, but the quality of prospects don't match up with what Beamer is bringing in.
Overall, Shane's third class is better than both of the respective classes each of his predecessors brought to Columbia. Much like each of his predecessors at this point in their tenure, Beamer finds himself in a position where progress must be shown on the field next Fall, or else his job could hang in the balance the following year.
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