With the 2024 regular season already a third of the way done for South Carolina, the Gamecocks have reached their first of two bye weeks. With no opponent to prepare for this Saturday, Carolina will take time to regroup. This doesn’t mean that they will be kicking their feet up and relaxing though, as there is still plenty of work going on in Columbia.
Coming out of the bye Caroline will face two of the top teams in the country Ole Miss and Alabama. College football is a full-time job, and while there may not be a game this week head coach Shane Beamer is sure to have a full slate. With so much going on, let’s take a look at some of the key stories heading into the bye.
Gamecocks Injury Update
Carolina suffered two significant injuries in the past two weeks, with quarterback LaNorris Sellers and Raheim Sanders both going down in back-to-back games. Sellers, who sprained his ankle during the LSU game, was unable to play last Saturday in the game against Akron. Sanders did start against the Zips but went down shortly into the Gamecocks’ first drive of the game.
Luckily, Carolina was more than capable of handling Akron despite their absence. Ole Miss is not Akron though, and the Gamecocks will likely need both players back if they want to pull an upset. Luckily, it appears as if both players are on track to play against the Rebels.
“I think everybody should be fine for Ole Miss,” head coach Shane Beamer said in his Monday press conference. He also elaborated on Sellers’ situation, adding that they plan on playing it safe with the redshirt freshman.
While the bye week certainly came at the right time for Sellers and Sanders, Carolina’s staff will have to tread lightly when it comes to their recovery. Ankle injuries are notoriously tricky, as they tend to linger. It will be interesting to see how much the training staff chooses to handle their treatments leading into next week.
Carolina’s Staff on the Road
With no game to prepare for, South Carolina’s staff is taking this week to hit the recruiting trail. As things currently stand, the Gamecocks currently have the 33rd-ranked class in the 2025 cycle per 247 Sports. As we draw closer to early national signing day, Beamer is looking to bolster that ranking by adding a key in-state target.
The Gamecocks’ head man visited four-star wide receiver and current Florida State commit Malik Clark on Thursday. The Rock Hill high school standout currently ranks as the 28th overall receiver in his class, as well as the third-ranked recruit in South Carolina.
Clark possesses a unique combination of size and speed that has made him a top priority for Beamer’s staff. With the Seminoles struggling thus far, the Gamecocks will be pushing hard for a late flip.
While the 2025 class is obviously Beamer’s top priority on the recruiting trail currently, he’s also looking to the future. The Carolina head coach also made stops at two other South Carolina high schools to check in on several targets from the 2026 cycle.
Many tend to undervalue to the importance of recruiting in the transfer portal era, but it’s arguably more important now than ever. Teams currently have less depth than in years past, and this problem is likely to get worse as time goes on.
The key to building and maintaining success starts with recruiting at a high level every year. Stacking talented classes year after year is the blueprint every elite program currently follows. Beamer seems to understand this well, and it will be interesting to see if Carolina’s fast start leads to increased momentum on the recruiting trail.
Looking Ahead
If you told any Carolina fan before the season they would enter the early bye at three and one, most would have been elated. If you told them Carolina would end up a play away from being undefeated and probably ranked, they most likely wouldn’t believe you. Improbable as it may seem, this is precisely where the Gamecocks find themselves currently.
It hasn’t always been pretty, but through their first four games, this team is exceeding any expectations they had coming in. As was mentioned before though, Carolina’s schedule is about to get exponentially harder.
As of this writing, the Gamecocks’ next four games are all against ranked opponents. Zoom out a bit further and you’ll find that six of their last eight games are all against ranked teams as well.
This is without question one of the toughest remaining slates in the nation. We’ve seen the Gamecocks play phenomenally thus far, but can they sustain that over the rest of the season? Only time will tell, but it’s clear that this Carolina team has a different feel about them than in years past.
They carry themselves with confidence and look like they truly believe they can win every game they play. If Carolina can continue bringing this level of intensity the rest of the way, then they’re sure to make some serious noise in the SEC.
