Recruiting, as Will Muschamp describes it, is the lifeblood of a program, and if that’s true the cardiovascular health of Martin’s program is at marathon-runner levels.

The Gamecocks stacked together two of their best classes ever under Martin in 2018 and 19 and are set to bring in two more guys in Patrick Iriel and Ja’Von Benson, both of which the staff are excited to get on campus and begin molding.

“With Patrick and Ja’Von, they both just turned 18 since the calendar changed. They’re young compared to most freshmen in this day and age. They both play for tremendous high school coaches in Josh Staley and Yerrick Stoneman,” Martin said. “Ja’Von has obviously won three consecutive state championships. They both run; they both have great footwork, they both have great hands. They both have the ability to become very good shooters.”

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Both guys committed during their senior seasons, before the calendar turned to 2020, which means the Gamecocks have had their class in place now for six months.

With Maik Kotsar and Micaiah Henry leaving the program, Iriel and Benson help fill that void with them both listed at 6-foot-8 or bigger the ability to grow and develop into good players.

“Ja’Von reminds me a lot of a guy we had at Cincinnati named Jason Maxiell. He’s in that 6-7, 6-8 range but has tremendous length. He’s like 7-4 in his reach, which I always say matter in basketball,” Martin said. “They’re both going to be 240 pounds when they get around Scott Greenawalt in our strength program. They’re both going to be 240 or 250 pound players who can run and move their feet, which means they fit in our defensive concepts. They’re both shot blockers.”

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Assistant coach Chuck Martin, who helped recruit both players, compares them some to a pair of bigs who came in together last year as part of the 2019 class.

The Gamecocks brought in Wildens Leveque and Jalyn McCreary last year, two freshmen that had their freshmen moments but showed flashes of being really good.

Martin compares the two signees two those two guys as athletic bigs who will struggle at times but still help the team because of how athletic they are.

“Those guys, they’ll be freshmen so there’s going to be a learning curve at some point. The one thing I think they’re going to help, and I think Wildens was able to do it and Jalyn was able to do it,” Chuck said. “When you have size and athleticism, at some point it shows.”

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Iriel saw his stock skyrocket the summer between his senior season, picking South Carolina over Butler, Boston College, Cincinnati, Southern California and Boise State.

Benson picked the Gamecocks over College of Charleston while receiving interest from Clemson and N.C. State before committing in October.

Both come from winning programs with Iriel’s AC Flora team made a deep run in the state playoffs while Benson’s Ridge View squad won its third-straight state championship in front of the entire Gamecock staff.

“That was the one thing that stood out to me: two freshmen that played on a team with a winning season,” Chuck said. “I’m thinking, ‘Well Patrick is legit 6-foot-10 and he can jump and run a little bit. Ja’Von is 6-foot-8 and he can jump and run a little bit.’ It’s going to take those guys some time, but their athleticism and length is going to help them and help us.”