How the South Carolina 2020 recruiting class stacks up

Desptite a 4-8 finish last year Will Muschamp put together a recruiting class comparable to some of the better ones in program history.

With the crown jewel of his 2020 recruiting class secured Thursday evening, South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp came away with strong incoming class despite coming off a 4-8 season.

With the addition of new strength and conditioning coach Paul Jackson and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, the Gamecocks look to turn that around this upcoming season and integrate the new talent into that plan.

Here’s a breakdown of where this class ranks in  South Carolina’s program history as well as Muschamp’s coaching history. 

This year’s recruiting class had:

5 stars – 1

4 stars – 8

3 stars – 15

2 stars –

1 star –

SEC ranking*: 8th

National ranking*: 18th

In the context of South Carolina history this year wasn’t the best ever, but is comparable to a few notable classes, most recently USC’s 2010 class.

-The Gamecock’s 2010 recruiting class was ranked 34th nationally and 9th in the SEC and included the all-time winningest quarterback and current Director of Player Development Connor Shaw and former Director of Player Development Marcus Lattimor.

-USC’s recruiting class of 2009 was also a notable one, coming at 14th nationally and 6th in the SEC. That class featured Alshon Jeffery and the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore.

-Going back the Lou Holtz era, the 2003 Gamecock recruiting class was one of the higher ranking ones, coming in at 12th nationally and 5th in the SEC. in that class was Syvelle Newton and Cory Boyd.

Will Muschamp has had no problems recruiting during his head coaching career with most of his classes ranking in the top ten nationally during his four years at Florida. He had two classes at ranked third, both of which were 2nd in the SEC. While Muschamp led one of those top three classes to an SEC East Division Championship in 2012, he ended his tenure with a 28-21 record.

*- all rankings according to 247Sports