South Carolina football missed on two 4-stars in two days. Is recruiting slowdown a concern?

COLUMBIA — After starting the 2024 recruiting cycle with a cluster of big-time commitments, South Carolina football's momentum has cooled off since the end of spring practice.

Despite being named a finalist for both players, the Gamecocks lost out on 4-star wide receiver Keylen Adams to Virginia Tech on Thursday, then 4-star running back Braylen Russell picked Arkansas on Friday. South Carolina ended a two-month drought with four commitments in June, but that pales in comparison to the seven 4-star players that committed between January and March.

Still, there's no reason for Gamecocks fans to panic yet. Coach Shane Beamer is known as strong recruiter, and his 2023 signing class ranked No. 16 nationally— the program's highest rating since 2012. The class included 5-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor, the first 5-star signee of Beamer's tenure and the only former 5-star currently on the Gamecocks' roster.

What the rankings say

After climbing as high as No. 7 in the national recruiting rankings in April, South Carolina has rapidly fallen down to No. 20. The Gamecocks have yet to land any 5-star prospects, though that isn't unusual considering just eight of the top 20 classes have at least one. The bigger red flag is the lack of new commitments: The Gamecocks have added just one 4-star player since April, plus three 3-stars — one of whom is a punter, and another who ranks outside the top 1,000 nationally in the 247Sports Composite.

Including Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC next season, South Carolina's 2024 class has also fallen from fifth in the conference to eighth. The group is headlined by eight 4-star prospects, including five of the top seven recruits in the state, but Clemson's No. 14 class shows that missing on those players isn't making a major impact on the Gamecocks' upstate rival.

Gamecocks still in the mix

While South Carolina's recruiting hasn't looked nearly as dominant as it did earlier in the year, a lot can change in the months before the early signing period opens in December. The Gamecocks didn't land Harbor until National Signing Day in February. Despite the slowdown, they're still making it onto players' finalist lists, and they were only beat out for Adams and Russell by schools in the players' home state.

The reality is that South Carolina is still in the process of becoming nationally relevant again. The Gamecocks haven't signed a class ranked above No. 15 since 2009, and Beamer inherited a class that contained zero 4- or 5-stars and ranked No. 56 when he was hired in 2021. A regression out of the top 20 in 2024 would be a bad sign, but Beamer has earned the benefit of the doubt to this point.

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Biggest targets left

Missing on Adams and Russell certainly wasn't ideal, but South Carolina has plenty of options left in the 2024 class. Dylan Stewart, a 5-star edge rusher from Washington, D.C., named the Gamecocks to his top five that includes Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Miami on June 23, and they are finalists alongside Penn State and Wisconsin for No. 4 offensive lineman Liam Andrews.

Missing on Adams leaves the door open for 4-star wide receiver Jonathan Paylor, who is strongly projected to South Carolina by 247Sports. The program is also in a battle with Alabama for 4-star athlete Daniel Hill. The Gamecocks are finalists for six 4-star players plus Stewart.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Why South Carolina football recruiting slowdown isn't cause for concern