3 things to know about Darren Uscher, South Carolina football’s newest staff hire

South Carolina has hired an alum to take over its football recruiting operation.

On Monday, Darren Uscher was named the Gamecocks’ next director of player personnel. Uscher comes to South Carolina after spending the past five months in a personnel and recruiting role for the Oregon Ducks.

He replaces Taylor Edwards, who was let go by the program five days ago.

Here are three things to know about Uscher.

1. He knows South Carolina

Uscher is a Gamecock alum who graduated from South Carolina with a degree in sport and entertainment management back in 2009. He was working in sports while in school but wasn’t working with recruits. He was a part of the Gamecocks’ marketing department and helped execute plans for a number of South Carolina athletic programs.

2. He’s been at a lot of places

Uscher will have no trouble making the move from Eugene to Columbia. After spending seven years as Boise State’s recruiting coordinator under Bryan Harsin, helping the Broncos to the best recruiting class in the Mountain West each of those years, Uscher followed Harsin to Auburn in 2021.

When Harsin was fired less than two years later, Uscher went to Oregon for the first time to be a player personnel consultant for the Ducks. This is where it gets weird.

On Jan. 23, Uscher was named UCLA’s executive director of recruiting. Nineteen days later, UCLA head coach Chip Kelly stepped down to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator. By the end of February, Uscher was back at Oregon under a new title.

Now, perhaps, he will find stability at South Carolina under coach Shane Beamer.

3. He has SEC experience

Yes, his stint in the SEC at Auburn was short, but it was important nonetheless. This is not a guy coming to the South blind to how football and recruiting work. Though the majority of his experience is in the Pacific Northwest, he understands what it takes to win on Saturdays in the best conference in college football.

Though he arrived at Auburn just after COVID, Uscher helped the Tigers to back-to-back Top-25 recruiting classes. Granted those didn’t lead to much immediate on-field success — Auburn is 20-21 over the past three seasons — it is a good start for South Carolina.