Expect South Carolina to keep mining transfer portal for QB and these positions
South Carolina‘s football team made it through signing day Wednesday, adding a range of talented players who could bolster the 2024 squad.
What comes next? Basically the same thing, actually.
“You’re always looking. Can you better your team at every single position?” Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer said. “That’s my job as the head coach.”
With the transfer portal, the chance to add more key players to the roster never seems to end for a football team. Beamer‘s squad came out of Wednesday still likely needing to add a few more key pieces.
And not just at a few positions — but which ones?
“As I look at it, if you look at your ideal numbers of where you want to be at each position from an ideal target number of scholarships, we’re at the number or over the number at running back,” Beamer said. “We’re at the number or over the number at tight end. And we’re at the number or over the number at linebacker. So ... probably every position but those three.”
So where do the Gamecocks stand at the other spots on offense and defense?
Quarterback
Redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers projects as a starter, and Dante Reno will be a true freshman backup. But outside of them, the only other scholarship quarterback is Luke Doty, and he’s not at the position full-time.
“Right now if Luke is going to be working as a receiver primarily,” Beamer said, “but still also dabbling in at quarterback. But if you say that Luke is still focusing at receiver in a lot of ways, you go into spring practice with two scholarship quarterbacks.
“We need to get some depth in that room and some competition in that room. And LaNorris knows that and Dante knows that without a doubt.”
The team had been close to landing former Vanderbilt starter AJ Swann, but he picked LSU. Beamer noted it’s a challenge because many good quarterbacks want a promise they’ll start at a new school.
Wide receiver
Portal departures and graduations basically took away every receiver who saw real playing time last season besides Nyck Harbor. (Doty and Tyshawn Russell also played some.)
The incoming class includes four-star Mazeo Bennett and former Texas A&M commit Debron Gatling. Productive Coastal Carolina receiver Jared Brown came via the portal, but that group plus a few young guys who didn’t play much year probably isn’t enough.
Former Vanderbilt receiver Jayden McGowan is still listed as a USC commitment, but he didn’t sign and is reported to be leaning toward Boston College instead. He would’ve been another helpful and proven option, but now two more additions would likely make the room seem more secure.
“We need more depth there,” Beamer said of a spot currently at nine scholarship guys. “We want to rotate multiple guys a game, so we need the guys in our program to continue to come along, and that’s a position that we wouldn’t turn away a great one.”
Offensive line
This is a spot where the Gamecocks are young and lost a few key pieces. Veteran tackle Jaylen Nichols entered the portal on Wednesday, and center Nick Gargiulo isn’t expected to return after some rumblings he was pursuing another year. The group has eight players who have seen some playing time and a lot of potential. But it’s short on players who have held up and played at a high level, especially at tackle.
“Offensive line, we’re in a really good position,” Beamer said, likely in reference to the young incoming talent. “But as we saw this year ... you can never have enough there as well.”
Defensive line
The Gamecocks loaded up a bit inside, adding a pair of tackles to a group that had three proven players (Tonka Hemingway, T.J. Sanders, Alex Huntley) and two more who had moments last season (Nick Barrett and Jamaal Whyce).
End still seems a concern. Kyle Kennard arrives from Georgia Tech, but the rest of the group — which includes Bryan Thomas Jr. (undersized), Elijah Davis (lightly used last year), Jatius Geer (hurt and not very impactful in 2023) and Desmond Umeozulu (only a second-year player) — is a bit short on highly reliable play-makers. Incoming five-star end Dylan Stewart is one to watch. He has freak talent, but it’s hard to step in as a true freshman at these spots.
Defensive back
South Carolina is relatively veteran at safety and added a nice piece in transfer Gerald Kilgore. Corner is a bit more of a question. Veteran Marcellas Dial is gone. The team held onto O’Donnell Fortune despite some portal buzz. After that, there are a couple younger players in Judge Collier and Emory Floyd. There are a few players with potential who didn’t get playing time.
The newcomers include a well-regarded safety in Kelvin Hunter and a tall corner in Jalewis Solomon. But the outside spot could use a veteran or two to shore it up.
“Lose Marcellas Dial and we’ve got a good core group of guys returning, but just from a depth standpoint, we’d like to get more bodies in that room,” Beamer said. “Because that’s where a lot of your special teams players come from.”
As the letters of intent were being sent in Wednesday, Beamer said his staff was already working the phones and watching tape. Yes they were talking to high school juniors, but they were also talking to and scouting out portal guys. In the coach’s words, it’s a non-stop quest.
“We’re not done,” Beamer said. “We’ll see what continues to shake from a high school standpoint, but obviously, the portal is still open.
“We’re hard at work at that also. We can take a little bit of a breath.”
But only a little.
