With South Carolina representing the closest SEC program to Charlotte, Will Muschamp has said that he and his staff will treat the Queen City area as an in-state territory when it comes to recruiting. The fruits of the staff’s labor are evident not only in Charlotte, but in the state of North Carolina as a whole since Muschamp arrived in Columbia back in December.

USC has had plenty of contributors, if not outright stars, hail from North Carolina. Recent examples include Reginald Bowens, Pharoh Cooper, Chris Culliver, Hutch Eckerson, Melvin Ingram, Travian Robertson, Corey Robinson, Weslye Saunders, J.T. Surratt, and others.

In the 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes, South Carolina did not sign a single prospect from the state of North Carolina. That streak ended in Muschamp’s inaugural class, with Rico Dowdle, C.J. Freeman, Pete Leota, Will Putnam all signing with the Gamecocks out of the state. It is fair to note that two of those prospects (Leota and Putnam) were pledged to the previous staff, with the lone staff holdover Shawn Elliott being key to the Gamecocks landing both. Freeman was also pledged to Steve Spurrier’s staff, and after opening the process back up decided to stick with the Gamecocks as a January enrollee. Dowdle was a prospect the staff went on following Muschamp’s hire.