South Carolina Gamecocks end National Signing Day with top 30 recruiting class: breakdown, observations and more

A busy National Signing Day saw the South Carolina Gamecocks officially welcome 24 new players to the fold. That's including the six early enrollees that started school in January and Jamarcus King, the JUCO transfer who signed his NLI last month. With all players in place, the Gamecocks ended the day with the 26th best recruiting class in the country and 10th in the SEC.

A quick breakdown:

--The state most represented in this class was Georgia with six signees. South Carolina and North Carolina came in tied for second with four, followed by Florida and Alabama with three a piece (we're counting Jamarcus King as an Alabama recruit since he played his high school ball there). Tennessee contributed two (including Akeem Cooperwood, a Knoxville product before going JUCO), followed by Louisiana and Pennsylvania with one signee each.

--When it comes to stars (and for this, we're using 247's composite rankings, a aggregate of the rankings from all the major recruiting databases), the Gamecocks were able to grab four four-star athletes. That's actually down from nine last year, but considering that this staff has been in place in such a short time, that's still not bad. Keep in mind that Will Muschamp now has a long, long period of time to work with when it comes to the 2017 class. That number will grow on NSD 2017.

--By position: it's clear that the priority is defense, given Muschamp's background as a defensive coach. Eight defensive linemen are part of the class (six DE, two DT) that could probably play at multiple spots up front. Two cornerbacks and two linebackers round things out on defense. Muschamp also made it a priority to bring in wide receivers, as five make up the new class. Three offensive linemen, two running backs, a tight end and a quarterback close things out.

--It looks like Javon Kinlaw will go the JUCO route. He didn't sign today but remains committed to the Gamecocks at this time. Off the board: Lloyd Cushenberry, who received a late offer from LSU today and signed immediately.

We'll have plenty more to come over the next few days about what this all means for the Gamecocks moving forward.