Hot streak: Sizing up what South Carolina’s unprecedented recruiting run means
South Carolina is on a heater.
On Wednesday, it was landing 2023 five-star recruit Nyckoles Harbor from the D.C. area. Thursday, it included adding four-star 2024 receiver Mazeo Bennett out of Greenville.
Next up? We’ll see. But doubt Shane Beamer and his staff at your own risk.
“He’s really enhanced their profile. It’s a program that you didn’t really think about a lot in the SEC,” ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg told The State. “He has been visible. I think they’ve had certainly some wins to back it up. Their two-week stretch (beating No. 5 Tennessee and No. 8 Clemson) is about as good you can have for that program, and that’s important.”
South Carolina is on a recruiting run — both in volume and talent-level — that’s rare around these parts. There are moments where the Gamecocks have recruited well. The program averaged a finish of No. 23.5 nationally in the 247Sports team rankings since 2017, outside of a 2021 transitional class that slotted in at No. 79.
But never in the modern recruiting era has South Carolina landed five four-star recruits this early in a single class (2024), per Rivals’ recruiting database. That, along with Harbor’s commitment through a process filled with legitimate uncertainty until the 11th hour, feels like a seismic shift.
“It resonates not just here in South Carolina but across the country,” Beamer said Wednesday following Harbor’s announcement on ESPN. “It’s great publicity, so much positivity and energy out there about South Carolina football right now. I’ve got a ton of text messages from recruits, family, friends. I don’t think you can put it into words.”
Harbor represented a crown jewel of this latest recruiting cycle. He was down to perceived finalists Oregon, South Carolina, Michigan, Maryland and Miami. All but the Hurricanes were legitimately in it until the moment Harbor plucked a Gamecocks hat out of his Under Armour backpack.
There have been rampant rumors of massive name, image and likeness deals that were purported to try and sway Harbor one way or the other. One can imagine why. He’s the No. 1 athlete in the class for good reason, possessing an ability to play either side of the ball — though he told The State on Wednesday the plan is to line up at receiver in college. He’s also a world-class sprinter who just this year ran a 10.28-second 100-yard dash. That’s Olympics-level good.
Harbor, too, is a long-game win for Beamer and his staff. He was offered by the Gamecocks’ head coach when Beamer was still coaching tight ends for Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma. That relationship blossomed, along with help from assistants Sterling Lucas and Jody Wright.
“It’s the place I want to be,” Harbor told The State. “It was hard (coming to a decision), but it finally wasn’t hard at the end of the day.”
Where Harbor was a massive coup in the 2023 class, Bennett is something a bit different. He’s a one-time Tennessee pledge who previously spurned South Carolina. Time came and went, and now he’ll don garnet and black at his home-state school.
Bennett’s commitment represents, among other things, the latest effort by South Carolina to command attention from the top-flight talent in the Palmetto State. Such has been the formula for success in past years, when Steve Spurrier landed Jadeveon Clowney, Marcus Lattimore, Stephon Gilmore and others.
The 2024 cycle is barely off the ground, but it’s hard to overstate the work Beamer and his staff have already done. They’ve secured commitments from two of the top four players in the state in Bennett and the class’ No. 1 prospect, offensive tackle Kam Pringle. It’s a good bet the Gamecocks, too, eventually net pledges from five of the top seven players in South Carolina when four-star tackle Josiah Thompson, three-star lineman Blake Franks and three-star safety Kelvin Hunter make their decisions.
This all, of course, is after South Carolina landed four of the top five players in the state during the 2023 cycle.
“He has strength, work ethic, academics, hard worker on and off the field,” Greenville high school head coach Greg Porter said of Bennett. “He is a good blocker, selfless, great competitor, game-day speed, has toughness, great hands and leadership.”
South Carolina still has a ways to go, and the fruits of their labors in 2023 and 2024 will take time to actually show up on the field. That said, the Gamecocks are quickly positioning themselves as the hottest team in America on the recruiting trail.
The last week is just the latest run that should have those inside and out of the Long Family Football Operations Center overjoyed.
The State’s Lou Bezjak contributed reporting to this story
Class of 2024 hot streak
Four-star QB Dante Reno (Windsor, Conn.) committed to the Gamecocks on July 2, 2022. The four commitments since then , all made in the last two weeks, are also four-star prospects.
Jan. 22: OT Kam Pringle — Dorchester, SC
Jan. 24: TE Michael Smith — Savannah, GA
Jan. 27: LB Wendell Gregory — Marietta, GA
Feb. 3: WR Mazeo Bennett — Greenville, SC
