Bryan McClendon made the most of his opportunity and is getting his shot.

At a press conference on Friday morning at Williams-Brice Stadium, head coach Will Muschamp, who just completed his second year leading the South Carolina program, named McClendon his full-time offensive coordinator.

"I’m excited about that and excited about our room," Muschamp said. "I have great belief in Bryan and the offensive staff."

McClendon had the interim title in the bowl game and the co-offensive coordinator title his first two years with the Gamecocks in name alone. Now, he’s the true offensive coordinator and play-caller.

"In his two years at South Carolina, he’s been outstanding," Muschamp said.

McClendon joined the South Carolina staff on December 23, 2015 teaming up with Muschamp and Gamecocks after spending his entire career at Georgia. A former Bulldogs wide receiver, he joined the program in 2007 as a graduate assistant. He became a full-time assistant in 2009 and finished his career there in 2015 as the interim head coach for the team’s bowl game when Mark Richt left.

When McClendon came to South Carolina, he took over the wide receivers and became an ace recruiter for the staff. McClendon was credited with landing the top 2018 signee, wide receiver Josh Vann, and played a role as area recruiter in landing Jamyest Williams, the top 2017 signee.

This recruiting cycle, McClendon is currently ranked as the No. 11 recruiter in the SEC and No. 27 nationally in the 247Sports Recruiter Rankings.

This season, the South Carolina wide receivers had the lowest drop percentage in the league, according to stats from Pro Football Focus. Quarterback Jake Bentley had his receivers drop only 10 passes this season, which was every 2.7 percent of his throws. Freshman Shi Smith didn’t drop a single pass out of his 26 catchable targets.

In his one game as offensive coordinator and play-caller this year, the Gamecocks put up 300 yards of total offense on Michigan and scored 26 points in a comeback victory against the preseason Top 10 team. Only four teams put up 300 or more yards on a Wolverines defense that was ranked among the top 10 nationally entering bowl season. The 26 points was the third-most scored against Michigan.

"I want to be balanced, I want to be in control of the tempo of the game, and I want to be aggressive," Muschamp said.

Stay tuned for more on the hire of McClendon from TheBigSpur.com.