South Carolina Freshmen Wide Receivers Set To Play Against Virginia Tech On Sunday

As the kickoff to Week 1 fastly approaches and South Carolina prepares for a game against Virginia Tech, an interesting comment was made at the press conference from head coach Shane Beamer at his weekly press conference, which mirrored the same sentiment from offensive coordinator Mike Shula. Coach Beamer talked about the likelihood that freshmen wide receivers would suit up and potentially play on Sunday.

“Yes, I would agree with what Mike said on that one. When we signed those receivers, what did we sign seven? I think when we signed those freshman receivers, we signed them with the intention of getting them ready to play early, and going through spring practice was huge for them. Everybody went through the spring except Donovan Murph, but he was basically out there every day during spring practice,” said Beamer.  “Now that we've gone through the preseason, they've just continued to get better. They still have a ways to go, but they're dynamic players that are really going to help us. We've got a really good receiver room already with some of those other older receivers. But yeah, absolutely. I think you'll see a small group of them that are going to play a lot on Sunday, and I would say that there's a chance that you'll see all of them play a little bit on Sunday.”

Some of those freshmen wide receivers include Lex Cyrus, Donovan Murph, Jordan Gidron, Malik Clark,  Jayden Sellers, Brian Rowe Jr, and Jackson Repp. Coming out of high school, Clark, Murph, Rowe Jr, and Cyrus were all blue-chip prospects. Clark was the highest rated as a top 150 prospect nationally and No. 2 in the state of South Carolina. Murph was a top 200 recruit coming out of high school and the No. 3 player in the state of South Carolina. Gidron and Sellers were rated as three stars. It is probably one of the most talented freshman wide receiver groups you will find in the country.

You don’t always see a team take seven freshman wide receivers in a recruiting class, especially with how roster sizes are constructed today and fewer spots available, but the Gamecocks made it work and now have a deep unit at the wide receiver spot. The biggest question now is who is going to suit up and play for the Gamecocks on Sunday. That remains to be seen.

Head Coach Shane Beamer has said that the team won’t release a depth chart ahead of its matchup against Virginia Tech, and that the media can find out who will be starting and playing with the first team about 28 minutes before kickoff. One thing we do know is rising star WR Nyck Harbor will be with the first team, but we will have to wait and see the role and how much the freshman wide receivers will play. The good thing is that someone will get a golden opportunity and a chance to make a name for themselves early in their career in front of a national audience and potentially carve out a future starting role.