Roster building is in full flow for college football and teams are putting the finishing touches on their team for 2024. With early signing day passing, we can compare Clemson’s efforts with a bitter rival while the dust settles.
The work isn’t done, as there’s still potential losses or additions through the transfer portal that could come for both teams. In today’s landscape, you have to look at both the transfer portal and high school recruiting to get the full picture on where both teams stand.
With that said, let’s compare the off-seasons so far for Clemson and South Carolina.
Clemson Transfer Losses – 8
-S Andrew Mukuba
-RB Domonique Thomas
-DL David Ojiegbe
-CB Toriano Pride Jr.
-TE Sage Ennis
-WR Beaux Collins
-OL Mitchell Mayes
-QB Hunter Helms
Clemson Transfer Additions – 0
-N/A
South Carolina Transfer Losses – 16
-QB Tanner Bailey
-QB Colten Gauthier
-RB Mario Anderson Jr.
-RB/WR Zavier Short
–WR Antwane Wells Jr.
-WR O’Mega Blake
-WR Kylic Horton
-WR Landon Samson
-C Grayson Mains
–OL JonDarius Morgan
-DB Kajuan Banks
-DB Isaiah Norris
-DL D’Andre Martin
-DT Felix Hixon
-PK Mitch Jeter
South Carolina Transfer Additions – 9
-Arkansas RB Rocket Sanders (No. 24 transfer)
-North Texas RB Oscar Adaway (No. 226 transfer)
-SC State RB Jawarn Howell (No. 331 transfer)
-Coastal Carolina WR Jared Brown (No. 121 transfer)
-Vanderbilt WR Jayden McGowan (No. 233 transfer)
-Ball State TE Brady Hunt (No. 190 transfer)
-Pitt DL DeAndre Jules (No. 641 transfer)
-Georgia Tech DE Kyle Kennard (No. 61 transfer)
-Tenn. Tech DB Gerald Kilgore (No. 1389 transfer)
These are long lists for both teams on the transfer departure front, obviously larger for the Gamecocks, but the true discrepancy comes in the additions.
South Carolina has made efforts to improve its roster through the portal and mitigate the losses. The Gamecocks rank as the No. 12 portal class according to On3Sports. Their work isn’t done yet as well.
Meanwhile, Clemson had some talks and visits but never had anything stick and it appears the Tigers won’t be busy in the portal even after losing multiple starters.
Clemson Transfer Grade: F
South Carolina Transfer Grade: B
Looking at the recruiting classes, both teams boast top 25 classes in the 2024 cycle. The Tigers had a late flurry to round out 22 commitments while South Carolina has 16.
All rankings have Clemson ranked within the top 15, meanwhile the Gamecocks are ranked at least 5 spots lower. That said, the gap isn’t large enough between these two classes to look at it that way.
Each team did what it needed to do in this cycle and made clear efforts to set up for the future. That said, the Tigers had the stronger high school class while South Carolina double dipped through the portal.
Clemson 2024 Class Grade: B
South Carolina 2024 Class Grade: B-