Coronavirus has impacted a lot of different impacts on the sports world, but one of the weirder, more unintended consequences is an onslaught of college commitments before the senior season begins.
That’s because, in Will Muschamp’s mind, teams are pressuring guys to commit during the pandemic as a way to hold the spot in the class.
“A lot of those commitments this year are what I like to call reservations. That’s just the facts of where we are. There are a lot of schools saying, ‘Hey, you may not have a spot, just take this spot right now,’” he said. “That’s happening. That’s unfortunate, but it’s happening. I had a conversation with a young man and his parents last night and they had two different coaches tell them he better commit now or he might not have a spot. We’re not doing it that way.”
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But, as of June 9, the Gamecocks only have seven commitments, including one picked up Tuesday afternoon with Caleb McDowell.
The only schools with the same or fewer commitments are Ole Miss (5), Alabama (6) and Vanderbilt (7).
Muschamp said the recruiting numbers might be a little low because they’re not able to get guys on campus mixed with the disappointing record from last season.
“A strength of our staff is number one the relationships we build. We’ve been hurt by that because we haven’t had them on campus. I think another huge advantage for us is Columbia and is our facilities: the Ken and Cyndi Long facility, the Dodie Anderson, Williams-Brice Stadium,” Muschamp said. “We unfortunately have not been able to get them on (campus). We didn’t have the type of year we wanted to have last year. All those things combined have slowed us down on where we want to be right now.”
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Right now they have to rely heavily on a players’ film and recommendations from high school coaches.
They aren’t able to have any camps right now and won’t until at least September, which makes it harder to evaluate some of what Muschamp calls the team’s “critical factors” when it comes to what they’re looking for in a recruit.
“You’re not seeing those first hand unless we’re able to evaluate in the fall. You have to rely on those things and more than anything the high school coaches be able to help you in saying, ‘This guy’s a great worker, he’s extremely bright’ and his football intelligence,” Muschamp said. “Those are the things sometimes in a camp setting you’re able to answer for yourself.”
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The Gamecocks’ current 2021 class is made up of seven players—a running back, two linebackers, a defensive tackle, one defensive back and a quarterback—with two four-star prospects: Trenilyas Tatum and Colten Gauthier.
It’s considered the No. 53 class in the country, but Muschamp’s not worried about that right now.
Prospects will be able to take visits at some point before signing day and he’s confident they’ll be able to put together a good class.
“Signing day isn’t until December and the second signing day isn’t until February. There’s a lot of time to be made up in those situations. I see a lot of those commitments right now are reservations. That’s all those things are from first hand knowledge talking to recruits and parents about how some people are handling the recruitment process. That’s not how we’re going to do it. That’s fine.”
