South Carolina was 7-6 in 2021, which might seem ordinary and unexceptional, but very few people predicted that the Gamecocks would win more than four games, let alone five or six. They dramatically exceeded preseason expectations. A bowl game was not viewed as a likely occurrence for this team. First-year head coach Shane Beamer was doubted by a lot of pundits and commentators in the offseason. He showed everyone how capable he is of repairing the program previous head coach Will Muschamp left behind. Getting the Gamecocks to improve so quickly in the SEC East, whereas programs such as Florida and Tennessee had a hard time evolving in 2021, gives South Carolina and its fans real hope that the Gamecocks could soon become the second-best program in the division. It won\u2019t happen this year, but maybe that\u2019s not too far away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key Personnel Lost<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gamecocks lose defensive end Kingsley Enagbare and running back Kevin Harris, who were both selected in the NFL draft. Transfer receivers Antwane Wells and Corey Rucker plus transfer running back Christian Beal-Smith will be asked to provide depth and replace what the Gamecocks lost from their 2021 roster. The program is in a building phase, and it did a lot of work in the transfer portal, so the coaching staff is aware of the need to provide reinforcements for the players who won\u2019t return this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important Incoming Freshmen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Keenan Nelson is a four-star defensive back who could be rotated among various positions in the secondary and give the Gamecocks needed flexibility. Whether he plays mostly at cornerback or safety is less important than his positional versatility and his ability to provide value wherever the coaches decide to put him on the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Landon Samson is a freshman wide receiver with a lot of potential. Coaches are raving about the Texas-based product. It is highly notable that South Carolina was able to go into Texas and get a quality recruit. That doesn\u2019t happen often, but that is how coach Shane Beamer is making a real difference in improving the program. Beamer\u2019s history at the University of Oklahoma gave him an entry point into Texas-based recruiting. The successful pursuit of Samson is an indication of what is newly possible for the Gamecock program with Beamer at the helm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Position Battles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The South Carolina defense allowed an average of 24 points per game this past season. That\u2019s excellent and should be good enough to win most games in modern college football, which has embraced offense and the passing game in contrast to previous eras of the sport\u2019s history. However, the offense averaged under 23 points per game. The offensive line and wide receiver are both areas of acute need for this program. Getting the best players to emerge has to be a central task of the coaching staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biggest Offseason Goal(s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Spencer Rattler is one of the biggest, splashiest, most important transfer portal players in the 2022 offseason cycle. Shane Beamer, who has connections at Oklahoma, was able to pull Rattler from Norman and get him to be a Gamecock. Beamer and his staff have to develop Rattler, give him a good plan, teach him technique properly, and generally put him in position to succeed. Nothing is more important for South Carolina heading into August camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Carolina was 7-6 in 2021, which might seem ordinary and unexceptional, but very few people predicted that the Gamecocks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaaf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22668,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22653\/revisions\/22668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}