Will Muschamp can’t talk about Jordan Burch yet. Here’s why and what he could say
South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp wasn’t pressed much on the issue, but when he was he had to dance around it. The letter wasn’t in — from touted recruit Jordan Burch — and that’s it.
He was asked about concern that a committed, but unsigned, player might change his mind.
“Absolutely not,” Muschamp said. “I’m excited about them.”
The Gamecocks head man couldn’t make public mention of his son Jackson’s Hammond teammate, who announced he was choosing the Gamecocks around 2:30 p.m. Closer to 4:30 p.m. and the practical end of signing day, the top committed member of USC’s class was not to be mentioned.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Burch hadn’t sent in his National Letter of Intent, which binds a player to school and allows the team to fully publicly acknowledge and speak about a player. The 16 new Gamecocks expected to sign on Wednesday had theirs in by a few minutes after 9:30 a.m. Georgia tight end Jaheim Bell made it 17 total when he picked USC later in the day.
Muschamp did fire off his customary #SpursUp catchphrase on Twitter just after Burch committed with his son and wife in attendance.
As of the end of his ceremony, Burch wasn’t expected to sign his letter of intent Wednesday, but it was already known that he wasn’t going to enroll at his school of choice in January. The early signing period wraps up Friday. If Burch doesn’t sign by then, he would have to wait until the traditional signing period, which starts Feb. 5, to sign his National Letter of Intent.
Burch and fellow Hammond defensive lineman Alex Huntley are both now Gamecocks commits. Huntley had already stated his intention to make things official with USC in February during the next signing period.
It leaves the team at the moment without a signed edge pass rusher. That’s something Muschamp said he’d rectify, and Burch would certainly answer that question.
“It’s critical for us,” Muschamp said. “You lose Danny Fennell, you lose Dennis Wonnum. You’ve got got to get more of an edge presence. Absolutely.”
Burch is the No. 5 player in the country in the 247Sports Composite rankings. The 6-foot-5, 275-pound pass rusher had nine sacks, 14 tackles for loss and scored 14 touchdowns playing various positions on offense.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Will Muschamp can’t talk about Jordan Burch yet. Here’s why and what he could say."
