The South Carolina football team took center stage at the annual SEC Football Media Days in Dallas Texas on Monday, July 15.
As anticipation builds for the upcoming season, South Carolina's representatives at the event focused on offseason growth and the team's blend of talent and experience.
"I'm excited about this group. We've got a lot of really good young talent on this football team with veteran leadership," head coach Shane Beamer said. "We have over 20 players on our team that are going into their fifth season or more of college football."
South Carolina is coming off a 5-7 season, which saw the Gamecocks fail to qualify for a bowl game for the first time in Beamer's three years as head coach.
"I realize that the climb isn't always smooth," Beamer said. "There's gonna be bumps in the road, and our players hear me say it all the time... You can't have growth without some discomfort."
The Gamecocks were picked to finish 13th in the SEC in the conference's preseason media poll and received one first-place vote. The team has also had five players picked for the media's preseason All-SEC teams — senior running back Rocket Sanders, fifth-year linebacker Debo Williams and fifth-year long snapper Hunter Rogers made the Second Team, while fifth-year defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway and junior defensive back Nick Emmanwori made the Third Team.
On offense, South Carolina will have to replace the dynamic duo of quarterback Spencer Rattler and wide receiver Xavier Legette. Redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers, Rattler's backup last season, was named the starting quarterback by Beamer in May.
"We certainly are gonna look different at the quarterback position," Beamer said. "But we return a lot of players around those guys, which will help."
The Gamecocks added four new quarterbacks — fifth-year Robby Ashford, sixth-year Davis Beville and freshmen Dante Reno and Jimmy Francis — in the offseason.
Ashford, a transfer from Auburn, started one game for the Tigers last season and made nine starts in 2022, while Beville made 16 appearances during his five-year career at both Oklahoma and Pittsburgh. Reno is a true freshman who enrolled in January, and Francis walked on the football team.
The Gamecocks will also see a change at running back after adding senior Raheim "Rocket" Sanders, who transferred from Arkansas, to its roster. In 2022, Sanders rushed for 1,443 yards and 10 touchdowns, earning him First Team All-SEC honors from the Associated Press. He played in just six games for the Razorbacks last season due to a knee injury, but Beamer said he is hoping Sanders can replicated his prior success.
"I think a lot of people have forgotten how talented a running back Rocket Sanders is and the season that he had in 2022," Beamer said. "He will make our run game better, along with the other running backs that we've brought in."
Despite these changes, Luke Doty will serve as a recognizable face on South Carolina's offense. The redshirt senior athlete caught 13 passes for 123 yards and one touchdown last season. Doty has starting experience at wide receiver and quarterback, two positions the Gamecocks lost established starters at after Rattler and Legette were selected in this year's NFL Draft.
"The biggest thing was just doing whatever I can to get out on the field and help the team," Doty said. "Whether that was playing wide receiver or whether that was covering kicks on special teams, I was more than willing to do it, and I still am."
On the defensive side of the ball, the Gamecocks will also return most of its production from last year. Among the returning veterans is Williams, who started all twelve games last season and recorded 113 tackles, which ranked third in the SEC. Williams also had nine tackles for loss and one sack in 2023.
"I want zero on the scoreboard," Williams said. "I want complete domination."
Another key player for the defense is redshirt senior defensive tackle Alex Huntley. The Blythewood, South Carolina, native made eleven starts last season, totaling four tackles for loss and two sacks.
"I think it's gonna be really cool to see how many guys are playing," Huntley said. "What we're gonna do this year gonna be very big. Just about every position has a guy who you might not of heard of, but you'll see this year."
Huntley forms a veteran trio along the defensive line with Hemingway and redshirt junior defensive tackle T.J. Sanders, providing the Gamecocks with both experience and depth.
The linebacker position also returns a wealth of experience in 2024. In addition to Williams, the Gamecocks will also back sixth-year linebacker Bam-Martin Scott, who recorded 32 tackles in the last four games of the 2023 season. Williams said Martin-Scott stood out to him this offseason and that the two have trained together.
The defense will look to build off of a productive end to the 2023 campaign, as it gave up just three offensive touchdowns in the final three games of the season against Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Clemson.
This upcoming season will feature two new teams in the SEC — the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma, who were introduced at the SEC Football Media Days in Dallas, Texas. After adding the Sooners and Longhorns, the conference abolished divisions, which means the Gamecocks won't face familiar foes like Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. Instead, South Carolina will play Oklahoma for the first time in program history this season.
"If you're one of the better teams in this conference, you're gonna be in the playoff," Beamer said. "We've shown that we have the potential to be that over the last few years."