Two Black women, Jessica Jackson and Jasmin Moses, have helped build the University of South Carolina Gamecocks’ highest-ranked recruiting football class since 2012.
According to Greenville News, Jackson is the director of on-campus recruiting; Moses works as the assistant director. Together, the women organize every aspect of the program, which includes the on-campus experience, scheduling current players to host prospects in their dorms, and even décor for the suites at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Creating the on-campus experience has been a great part of the success of the team’s 2023 recruiting class, which ranks No. 17 in the nation.
“I love being a part of a team…and we are a true family up here. The atmosphere, whether its a normal work day or game day or official visit, I love being in the middle of it,” Jackson said. “We provide those experiences that kids have never had before.”
Jackson, who began working in football before graduating high school, started her role as director of on-campus recruiting in 2016 after being hired by the team’s former coach Will Muschamp
.“Everyone has football, and every coach is going to talk ball, but the difference is truly where we come in,” Jackson said.
During a recruiting weekend, the women manage around 80 prospects and hundreds of their family members.
“At the end of the day, that’s what makes our job special,” Jackson added. “We can make them feel at home. I always say to families, ‘I don’t care what his [stats] are or what position he plays. I care about him as a person.'”
Moses, a
South Carolina alumna who was originally uninterested in sports as a career, caught the attention of an assistant coach while she was giving tours as a junior, presenting recruits with a positive perspective of the university.“He was like, ‘Hey do you want to work in football?’ and I was like sure, [I’d] love a job,” Moses laughed. “They invited me to practice, I met Jessica and Coach, and it was like, this is fun so let’s do it.”
“Being able to see someone who looks like your mom or aunt or sisters means knowing you have a safe space to come to,” Moses said.
The duo travels with the team to every game and started a trend this year: They wear matching outfits on the sidelines at each matchup.
“Game days are pretty easy because we put so much into it ahead of time. We over-prepare so much that it pretty much runs itself,” Jackson said. “We do the hard stuff during the week so that we can just fangirl during the game.”