It’s been a very tough six days for South Carolina on the recruiting trail, and it might not be over.

Since the middle of last week, the Gamecocks have lost six commitments in the 2021 class, watching their recruiting rankings plummet as the fallout from Will Muschamp’s firing continues.

After Muschamp was let go, it’s fallen on interim head coach Mike Bobo and the remaining staff to keep it together.

“Encourage the kids to be patient. See who they’re going to hire here. You chose South Carolina for a lot of reasons, but if you’re sure you don’t want to come here no matte what then go ahead and de-commit. If this is where you want to go to school be patient and see who the coach is."

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Receiver Rodarius Thomas was the first to back off his pledge, six days ago, followed by Simeon Price, Jayden Johnson, Bryce Steele and George Wilson.

It hit a low point Wednesday night when Trenilyas Tatum, the highest-rated commitment in the class, flipped to Georgia Tech.

South Carolina’s recruiting ranking has gone from being a top 50 class nationally to the No. 91 in the country, the lowest-ranked class in the SEC.

“It’s tough. Coach Muschamp was the main recruiter for all those guys,” Bobo said. “They are committing to the University of South Carolina but the main connection is the head coach. You have assistants who try and continue that recruiting. The thing we do is try to be honest with these kids and tell them what we know, which is not a lot in this situation.”

Since Muschamp was fired Bobo and the rest of the staff have spent their time on the recruiting trail trying to talk with the committed players, encouraging patience and to see what happens whenever a coach is hired.

He’s even enlisted the help of some of the higher ups in the athletic department.

“We’ve got our administration involved as well,” Bobo said. “Coach (Ray) Tanner and Chance Miller have reached out to kids to give them some of the direction they’re headed and the same message of being patient and waiting to see who we hire as a football coach.”

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South Carolina is in the process of hiring a new head coach now, with interviews ongoing.

The plan, Tanner has reiterated multiple times, is to try and have a coach sooner rather than later with the ideal timetable to hire a head coach before the early signing period starts Dec. 16.

When it happens, then it’ll be up to the new head coach to hold together what’s left of the 2021 class.

“If I’m a kid or a kid’s parent, I want to make sure that coach really wants me. I don’t want him to take me just cause I was a commitment,” Bobo said. “If they take you just because of that and didn’t like you or didn’t think you could play at this level it’s going to be a miserable experience for you."