Unranked throughout the season, South Carolina looks like it will be a top-10 team in February.
Loading up on defensive linemen, defensive backs and wide receivers, the Gamecocks expect to tie a bow on a 31-player class recruiting experts are calling one of the best in school history. (Ryan Broadhead has been classified as a member of last year’s signing class).
The Gamecocks’ 2003 class, which was highlighted by Demetris Summers, was ranked No. 8 by Rivals.com USC’s previous best recruiting rating. With the Gamecocks expecting no signing day surprises, Rivals.com Southeast recruiting analyst J.C. Shurburtt predicted USC would finish no worse than No. 9.
Regardless of the final ranking, Shurburtt said this year’s class is in a different league than the top-20 classes signed by Lou Holtz’s staff in 2002 and ’03. While those Holtz classes had the sizzle of five-star recruits (Summers in 2003; Ricardo Hurley and junior college transfers Randy Jackson and Darel Slay the year before), Shurburtt said they lacked the overall substance of this year’s group.
