It’s less than 24 hours before National Signing Day, an unofficial holiday (really it is!) especially in the Deep South, when thousands of high school prospects across the country will sign their John Hancock’s on the dotted line with their chosen institutions. The University of South Carolina is expected to bring in a full class of 25 freshmen (no JUCO’s) even though only 22 high school freshmen will sign Letter-of-Intents (LOI’s) because three players (OL Brock Stadnik, OL Clayton Stadnik and TE Kelvin Rainey) have already enrolled at USC for this semester and did not sign LOI’s. There will be wall-to-wall coverage of NSD on ESPN and ESPNU starting at nine o’clock Wednesday morning. For guys like me who salivate 24/7 over football recruiting, the first Wednesday of every February is hopefully a time when new gridiron talent will continue to bolster the football depth chart at the University of South Carolina.
Leading up to National Signing Day, there is usually some sort of drama around every college football program. This year to coin a cliché, “the hay is already in the barn” accurately depicts the situation at USC. Steve Spurrier Jr., USC Recruiting Coordinator, and the rest of the Gamecocks staff have done a remarkable job of nailing down a very talented class. Spurrier Jr. took a different strategy this year in his inaugural season as recruiting coordinator and really got after securing verbal commitments early in the recruiting process versus past practices at South Carolina. Since the calendar turned to 2012, the Gamecocks were only pursuing five to eight high school prospects. As of January 1st the Gamecocks have secured five verbal commitments (Running Back Mike Davis, Safety Jordan Diggs, Corner Back Chaz Elder, Kicker Nick St. Germain and Corner Back Chris Moody) with more than likely the last verbal commitment coming yesterday when McDonough, GA Henry High School athlete Chris Moody de-committed from Vanderbilt and verbally committed to USC.
Now the Gamecocks coaches are still communicating with a couple of prospects, DE Tyriq McCord (committed to Miami) and DB Elijah Shumate (committed to Notre Dame). I do not expect any Signing Day drama for South Carolina, good or bad, but you never know when you are dealing with 17 and 18-year-old kids. The USC coaches will begin receiving LOI faxes tomorrow around seven o’clock in the morning. A lot of the Gamecock commitments will hold Signing Day ceremonies at their respective high schools in front of the student body and local media. Usually the recruit will sign his LOI to the school along with a signature of a parent or legal guardian. USC has sent out 22 LOI’s (remember three players have already enrolled and did not sign LOI’s) to its verbal commitments to abide new SEC rules that went into effect this year to eliminate “over signing” at all 14 SEC member schools. If Carolina or another SEC institution is expecting a Signing Day surprise, then a Letter-of-Intent must have been sent to the football prospect and would count against the 25-man signing limit if the student athlete chooses “said” SEC institution.
Here is a list of 22 USC verbal commitments on National Signing Day Eve that are expected to sign Letter-of-Intents:
Shaq Roland
Mike Davis
Jody Fuller
Chaz Elder
Kwinton Smith
Kaiwan Lewis
Jerrell Adams
Joe Harris
Darius English
Jordan Diggs
Cody Waldrop
Brendan Nosovitch
Jhaustin Thomas
T.J. Gurley
Kyle Fleetwood
Chris Moody
Rico McWilliams
Carlos Hood
T.J. Holloman
Kendric Salley
Nick St. Germain
Mason Zandi
*Note: Brock Stadnik, Clayton Stadnik and Kelvin Rainey are already enrolled in school and therefore do not sign LOI’s.
Starting tomorrow morning SPURspective will be monitoring all of the signing day action bright & early and will bring you any breaking news on USC’s recruiting front.
I’ll breakdown the Gamecocks Signing Day haul with plenty of analysis and let you the fans know what coaches on USC’s staff really have made a difference on the recruiting trail this year and which signees we can expect to make an immediate impact on the gridiron in 2012.
Go Gamecocks!
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