South Carolina women’s basketball: August Recruiting Update

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Recruiting is starting to ramp back up. There was a recruiting shutdown from August 12 through 18. There was a small flurry of commitments right before the shutdown, but those weren’t from top 100 prospects. Now that the shutdown is over, expect plans for visits to start trickling out.

We are now in a quiet period until the end of the month. During a quiet period calls, texts, and other digital communication, as well as on-campus visits, but no face-to-face off-campus contact is allowed.

The entire month of September is a contact period when all authorized forms of contact are allowed. October through February is an evaluation period when coaches can attend games but not communicate with recruits off-campus. The early signing period is November 13-20.

Normally, at least since the NCAA added the early signing period, we would be entering the recruiting home stretch. Players would be looking to set up visits for September and October so they could commit in November, some three months away.

But multiple factors have disrupted that timeline.

NIL and the House settlement have turned signing into a huge financial decision for recruits, one they would be wise to take their time with. Additionally, there are no longer limits on how many official visits a recruit can take (there are still limits on the number of official visits a program can host), so a player may want to continue taking visits into the spring.

Based on those factors, I speculated back in May that we would see more players wait until the spring to commit. Since then multiple players have told the media and coaches they may wait. Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin confirmed it in a social media post in mid-July.

“Prospects seem to be taking their time with recruiting,” she wrote. “Wouldn’t be surprised if many sign late.”

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For the first time in a while, we need to know the spring recruiting calendar. March is another contact period. Normally that doesn’t matter because almost all the recruits have already signed, but this year could be different. There is another dead period during the Final Four. The spring signing period is April 16-May 21.

South Carolina’s recruiting board appears to have narrowed to eight players. It’s definitely possible there could still be players that haven’t hit my radar yet (at this point in 2022 I knew nothing about Tessa Johnson).

Those eight players are:
#5 Divine Bourrage, Guard, 5-11
#1 Aaliyah Chavez, Point guard, 5-9
#40 Jaida Civil, Forward, 6-0
#16 Jaliya Davis, Forward, 6-2
#89 Lauren Jacobs, Guard, 5-8
#7 ZaKiyah Johnson, Guard, 5-11
#6 Agot Makeer, Wing, 6-1
#15 Deniya Prawl, Guard, 6-0

I suspect Chavez, Davis, and Johnson are longshots. I always have trouble getting a read on Canadian prospects, but of the two on the list I think Prawl is more of a longshot than Makeer. I also like Makeer’s upside a lot.

Bourrage, Civil, and Jacobs are the names I am keeping an eye on. Bourrage appears to be a fan of several current and former Gamecocks, and somewhat surprisingly she hates her home-state Iowa Hawkeyes.

Civil is an interesting prospect with a lot of upside and would be a nice developmental pickup. She would have to be willing to be a backup for a season or two, though.

Jacobs isn’t as highly ranked as the players South Carolina usually recruits, but she is a hometown kid, and the Gamecocks might take a flyer on her.

South Carolina has up to six scholarships available, but this looks like a light recruiting class. I like the talent in the 2026 class more, and expect that to be the big class.

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