{"id":71995,"date":"2025-01-27T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=71995"},"modified":"2025-01-27T08:46:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T13:46:49","slug":"whats-next-for-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/01\/27\/whats-next-for-south-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Next for South Carolina?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2024 college football season came to a thrilling conclusion last Monday night in Atlanta. The Ohio State Buckeyes were crowned national champions, confetti rained down, and celebrations were had. Now, every team in the country has turned their attention to the next campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

For one team in particular, a crossroads has been passed, and they suddenly find themselves in a foreign territory. The team in question here is the South Carolina Gamecocks and the foreign territory they inhabit is the territory of expectations. The Gamecocks just finished off their best campaign in over a decade. They were also seriously considered for a playoff spot at one point.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although they ultimately fell short of making the big dance, the 2024 season was a massive shift in what fans have historically come to expect from the team. Facing one of the nation\u2019s hardest schedules, Carolina proved they were capable of competing with and beating the big boys. Now, head coach Shane Beamer will be tasked with continuing this momentum into the next season, but this time the entire nation\u2019s interest has been piqued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether or not Carolina can take that next step is sure to be one of the more intriguing storylines of the 2025 season. If they hope to do so they\u2019ll have to answer some looming questions on defense and rely on their rising star at quarterback to continue his ascent. With so much happening in Columbia, we\u2019re <\/span>taking a look<\/span> at what’s next for South Carolina heading into the new season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Questions on Defense<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The biggest question marks Beamer and his staff will have to tackle exist largely on defense. The Gamecocks were among the nation\u2019s best, particularly up front where they finished sixth in the nation in sacks. A good chunk of that production came from upperclassmen, however, many of whom have either run out of eligibility or declared early for the draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chief among these names is Kyle Kennard<\/a>, who announced his intention to enter the draft <\/span>prior to<\/span> South Carolina\u2019s bowl game. <\/span>The<\/span> SEC\u2019s <\/span>Defensive Player<\/span> of the <\/span>Year<\/span>, <\/span>Kennard<\/span> was a force up front in his lone season for the Gamecocks.<\/span> He led the team in sacks and <\/span>the<\/span> entire conference with 11.5. <\/span><\/p>\n

Along with Kennard, Carolina will need to replace a number of other key contributors up and down their defense. First-team all-SEC safety Nick Emmanwori<\/a> and starting corner O\u2019Donnell Fortune have both left for the NFL. The Gamecocks also lost key contributors on the line like TJ Sanders and Tonka Hemingway.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beamer will be looking to replace not only the production these guys brought to the table<\/span> but<\/span> the veteran leadership many of them possessed <\/span>as well<\/span>. They did manage to retain budding superstar Dylan Stewart<\/a>, who, as a freshman was the team\u2019s second-leading sack-getter.<\/span> They have also made some good additions in the portal, and have a good crop of talented underclassmen to work with.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, it\u2019s unlikely we see the same dominant force on defense next season. The Gamecocks are going to have to rely on largely unproven players stepping into significant roles. This will undoubtedly lead to some growing pains. Luckily for Carolina though, they may have the perfect counterbalance for whatever struggles they face defensively early on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sellers Hype Train Gaining Speed<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The emergence of LaNorris Sellers<\/a> down the back half of the 2024 season was a revelation to <\/span>the <\/span>Gamecocks nation. The redshirt freshman blossomed into what looked at times an unstoppable force with the ball in his hands. This all culminated in him being named the SEC\u2019s Freshman of the Year, and picking up third-team all-conference honors. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, with his name firmly in the national eye Sellers is starting to pick up some serious hype. His name has begun popping up on just about every \u201cway-too-early\u201d Heisman watchlist, and \u201ctop 10 players bound for a breakout season\u201d ranking. While it\u2019s unlikely we\u2019ll see the second-year starter secure South Carolina\u2019s second Heisman in program history this season, the hype is <\/span>certainly<\/span> very real.<\/span><\/p>\n

You have to go back to <\/span>Jadeveon Clowney’s days<\/span> to find the last time a Carolina player received<\/span>\u00a0this much national media fanfare. This in turn has brought the nation\u2019s attention to Columbia, which <\/span>is something that<\/span> sadly does not happen very often.<\/span><\/p>\n

LaNorris Sellers is quickly becoming the superstar the program has been longing for. In doing so he\u2019s raised the expectations for the program as a whole, along with himself. Now the pressure for him and the team has been raised to a level we seldom see in Carolina. Sellers have all the tools to match those lofty expectations. Whether or not that will be enough to elevate the rest of the team around him is a different matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pressures on for Beamer<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In many ways, last season was a breath of fresh air for the Gamecocks. Coming off a disappointing campaign in 2023, few expected them to do much in 2024. Instead of rolling over, Carolina proved just about everybody wrong. This resulted in their best finish in over a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, the hard part <\/span>really<\/span> begins for Beamer. For most of his tenure, the expectations placed on his shoulders haven\u2019t been particularly high. Making two bowl games in his first two years had most Carolina fans over the moon. After proving he can compete with the SEC\u2019s best though, everything has changed for the soon-to-be fifth-year head coach.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time since Steve Spurrier helmed the program, there is a legitimate sense of optimism surrounding it<\/span>. Instead<\/span> of playing the scrappy underdog<\/span>, <\/span>and hoping for a couple of signature upsets each year, <\/span>the Gamecocks can<\/span>\u00a0set their sights on real success.<\/span> This is where things can get very dicey for Beamer if he isn\u2019t careful.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s shown he can make the Gamecocks relevant and he\u2019s proven he can hang with the conference\u2019s best. Now, he\u2019ll be expected to take that next step and put his team in the playoffs again. Whether or not he\u2019s capable of doing so remains to be seen. He\u2019s put himself in a position very few have ever found themselves in before. He\u2019s allowed himself<\/span>\u00a0to elevate a program that has historically been an afterthought on the national stage. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2024 college football season came to a thrilling conclusion last Monday night in Atlanta. The Ohio State Buckeyes were crowned national champions, confetti rained down, and celebrations were had. Now, every team in the country has turned their attention to the next campaign. For one team in particular, a crossroads has been passed, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5264,"featured_media":71998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[79,6377,34336,149,80,494,7477],"class_list":["post-71995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-featured","tag-college-football","tag-jadeveon-clowney","tag-odonnell-fortune","tag-shane-beamer","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-steve-spurrier","tag-tonka-hemingway"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71995"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71999,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71995\/revisions\/71999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}