Achi news desk-
COLUMBIA, SC: South Carolina’s best offensive playmakers are gone, not a promising prospect for an offense that had its share of problems last season.
The Gamecocks were 5-7 and missed the postseason for the first time in coach Shane Beamer’s three seasons. The offense ranked 12th in Southeastern Conference scoring and, although quarterback Spencer Rattle r and receiver Xavier Legette sparked the league’s fourth-best passing attack, it was dead last in rushing.
The focus this spring? Find consistency on offense among the inexperienced backups and incoming transfers.
South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains told his offense on the first day of spring practice earlier this month that the world judges them on three things: “You have to know what to do, you you have to know how to do it and you You have to go and do it under pressure.
“We are still in the phase of learning what to do,” he said.
Rattler threw for 6,212 yards with 37 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in his two years since transferring from Oklahoma. Legette caught 71 passes for a school-record 1,255 yards last season. Also gone is Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr., who was the team’s leading pass catcher in 2022 with 68 receptions for 928 yards. He transferred to Mississippi this season.
Leading rusher Mario Anderson left to join Memphis, the second straight season the Gamecocks lost their leading rusher after MarShawn Lloyd, who ran for 573 yards in 2022, moved on to Southern Cal.
South Carolina even struggled to hold on to new offensive assistants. Beamer brought in former Texas A&M staffer James Coley as receivers coach in January, who flipped a few weeks later to Georgia when an opportunity arose there.
Beamer replaced him with former NFL receiver and Division II Limestone head coach Mike Furrey in late February, just a few weeks before spring practice began.
“It allowed us to go out and hire an even better wide receivers coach in my mind,” Beamer said.
Practices have focused on those on the field, Beamer said, not those who left.
Among the newcomers is former Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford, who started 10 games in two years with the Tigers, to go along with highly regarded sophomore LaNorris Sellers, a five-star prospect who learned behind Rattler a season ago.
Sellers, at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, made three appearances last season. Ashford received no promises of playing time from Beamer, he said, just the opportunity to compete – just the way he wanted it.
Competing “only makes me better, and this (quarterback) room is better,” he said. “At the end of the day, we always want to improve.”
At running back, South Carolina brought in Raheim “Rocket” Sanders, who was an all-SEC rusher with 1,443 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2022. Sanders ran for 209 yards in six games a year ago with a hamstring injury long-lasting knee. kept him out of spring workouts.
Admission hopes are pinned on Nyck Harbor, a sophomore two-sport athlete who now competes on the track team. He was named the SEC freshman of the week on track for winning the 100 meters and anchoring the 400 meter relay team to victory. Harbor’s 6-foot-5 frame combined with his speed make him a strong favorite to be the top target next season.
South Carolina bolstered its receiving spot with incoming transfers in Louisville’s Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, Miami of Ohio’s Gage Larvadain and Coastal Carolina’s Jared Brown.
Brown caught 107 passes for 1,529 yards and 10 touchdowns the last two seasons with the Chanticleers.
Luke Doty, the former South Carolina quarterback now working at receiver, likes what he’s seen from the newcomers so far.
“When we kick him off in August, he’s going to be fun to watch,” said Doty, in his fourth season with the Gamecocks. “A lot of explosive plays, a lot of downhill runs, just plays being made all over the place by a lot of different guys.”
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AP College Football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Associated Press)
