When Shane Beamer and his staff were talking to recruits, the talk focused less about the home opener against Eastern Illinois but a game three weeks later.

That is when Kentucky was coming to Williams-Brice for the Gamecocks’ home opener and a date South Carolina’s circled as one of the biggest recruiting weekends of the year for South Carolina.

“Over the summertime we were targeting this game anyway with it being the home SEC opener hoping it would be a night game, which it is,” Beamer said. “I know what an amazing environment it’ll be in Williams Brice Saturday night. We started talking to recruits over the summer about this game and making sure they were aware of it.”

Also see: List of expected visitors for this weekend against Kentucky

The Gamecocks made a big emphasis to get some of their biggest targets over the next three or four recruiting classes on campus to watch the game against Kentucky, which is a night game on ESPN2 and approaching a sellout.

So far the visitor list hasn’t disappointed.

There are multiple top 250 prospects over the next few classes scheduled to be in Columbia over the weekend, headlined by top 150 quarterback Dylan Longergan, the No. 7 pro-style quarterback in the 2023 class, along with a few priority targets on the 2022 board.

“It seems like every single day when I get the updated list of the recruits who are going to be here on Saturday it gets better and better. It’s unreal the amount of talent we’re going to have on-hand. Not just seniors but juniors and sophomores and freshmen as well who are fantastic players,” Beamer said.

“I know it’ll be a great environment in that stadium and we have to make sure we do our part as a football team to make it an even better night for the kids who are visiting.”

Also see: Getting you ready for a massive recruiting weekend

This is just the second time the Gamecock staff is able to get prospects on to watch a football game at Williams-Brice, the first being the opener against Eastern Illinois.

It’s imperative to get prospects on campus, specifically for games, Marcus Satterfield said to get guys in front of the coaching staff and experience what a game day is like at South Carolina compared to watching it on television.

“It’s one thing to watch a team play on TV then come to a game and feel the energy of coach beamer, feel the energy of this staff, feel the positivity in our organization, amongst our players,” Satterfield said. “When you get within this group of gamecocks in our football organization and football family, it feels totally different than a lot of places we’re recruiting against.”

The Gamecocks are off to a 2-1 start on the field and a solid start on the recruiting trail with a top 25 class at the time, No. 18 nationally and sixth in the SEC.

They already have four four-star prospects and three top 250 recruits—Ryan Brubaker, Emory Floyd and Keenan Nelson Jr.—in the boat and this weekend will serve as another jumping off point in recruiting.

Also see: Former player breaks down some key plays from last week against UGA

“It’s going to be huge. It’s huge for a staff like ours. It’s season one. We want to continue to get better, better and better on the field,” Satterfield said. “To get the caliber of guys we have coming in this weekend around us is huge for us.”

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