South Carolina’s recruiting class is bleeding.
A 7-6 season had recruits worried, but a comment by head coach Steve Spurrier saying he planned to be around for “two or three more [years]” sent recruits into a state of panic.
Spurrier has since attempted to mop up the spill but South Carolina is still feeling the effects. Eight members of the 2015 recruiting class have bolted, including most recently four-star recruit Arden Key.
Several recruits have expressed an interest in flipping to a different school, including four-star defensive end Shameik Blackshear.
“February 4th will its Florida state or USC?” Blackshear said in a tweet. He later said he was kidding and that he remains committed to South Carolina.
Social media remains more or less a fire that high school recruits tend to play around with every once in a while, And that's something that Spurrier addressed Wednesday night during halftime of a men’s basketball game.
“I think every now and then some of our recruits mess around with the media we have learned,” Spurrier said. “Hopefully that’s all they’re doing is messing around, saying one thing and meaning another, but we’ll see. You recruit until Feb. 4 and on Feb. 4, we’ll find out what we’ve got.”
Key has now decommited from the Gamecocks twice. He will visit South Carolina on Jan. 23 but also plans on visiting LSU and Miami before then. Key also has an official visit to Auburn planned for Jan. 30.
Despite the bad news, the Gamecocks have picked up eight mid-year enrollees in Marquavius Lewis, Ernest Hawkins, Sherrod Pittman, Dexter Wideman, Jerad Washington, Christian Owens, Jalen Henry and Darin Smalls. Out of those eight, only two play on the offensive side of the ball.
“I think our defense is certainly going to look a lot different last year,” Spurrier said. “We are in good shape.”
After Jan. 14, programs can once again host official visits, which should prove to be beneficial for Spurrier and the Gamecocks as they try to get their 2015 class back on track.
Spurrier was once again elusive when addressing the possibility of making coaching changes before next season. But apparently the Head Ball Coach is not done adding to his staff.
“A lot of people are asking about our coaching staff,” Spurrier said. “I’ll say the same thing: If there’s a chance to add one or two guys down the road, we’ll do that.”
It seems like Spurrier wanted to get his guy Muschamp and, once that didn't happen, he took his foot off the pedal.
A lot of questions remain unanswered, as there appears to be far more going on behind the scenes than Spurrier lets on. Lorenzo Ward remains the team’s defensive coordinator, though South Carolina was at one point reportedly in talks with former Florida head coach Will Muschamp to replace Ward. It was also reported that LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis pursued the same position with the Gamecocks even though the position was not available.