South Carolina Gamecocks College Football Preview 2026

South Carolina Quick Hits

• Head Coach: Shane Beamer (6th year at South Carolina, 33-30)
• Best Case / Worst Case: Make the College Football Playoff/Losing season and everyone is fired
• Key Player: LaNorris Sellers, QB Jr.
• 2025 Record: 4-8
• Biggest Question: Can the offensive line play be night and day better?

South Carolina Key 2025 Stats

• Fourth Quarter Scoring: Opponents 83, South Carolina 35
• 125th in the nation in third down conversions (31.9%)
• 131st in the nation in sacks allowed (43 total, 3.58 per game)

- 2026 South Carolina Schedule Analysis

Offense

The 2024 South Carolina offense was solid. It finished right in the middle of the SEC pack in total offense, averaged just over 30 points a game, and then last year happened.

Only Florida had a worse offense in the SEC, and the Gamecocks only scored more than 30 points three times, and once was against South Carolina State.

But there are plenty of reasons to be fired up.

What’s Working

LaNorris Sellers is back. Fine, I’ll go there. Sellers might have been the second quarterback selected in a position-starved 2026 NFL Draft.

He didn’t run as much last season, but he did what he could behind a line that struggled - to be nice about it. He’s still 6-3, 240, and can move.

He still has a massive arm. He’s still an all-star in the classroom. He’s still really, really good.

There’s a lot to love about the receiving corps. The big plays weren’t there last season, but to hammer this nail over and over again, that’s partly because Sellers didn’t get time.

Nyck Harbor did his part, averaging 20.6 yards per catch, but he only made 30 grabs.

Nitro Tuggle is a speedster coming in from Purdue, tight end Brady Hunt is a strong midrange option, and there’s depth across the board that should look good with 16 throwing the ball.

Just score. It’s not asking for a team with Sellers and this much overall firepower to score 30 points a game. South Carolina is 13-2 over the last three seasons under Beamer when it scores more than 30.

What Needs Work

The line really should be better, but the Gamecocks haven’t had a lick of luck this offseason.

Star transfer tackle Jacarrius Peak (NC State) hurt his knee playing basketball, but he’s expected to be okay. Starter Josiah Thompson was supposed to be an anchor, but he’s out for the year after getting injured in spring practice.

The staff went super-hard after options in the portal to try to fix a line that struggled to do anything for the ground game, and was among the worst in the nation in sacks allowed.

The running game needs the backs to go along with the blocking. Leading rusher Rahsul Faison is now with the Kansas City Chiefs, and that means Matt Fuller has to go from rushing for 260 yards last year to being a much bigger factor - at least when Sellers isn’t taking off.

That matters, because …

The Gamecocks lost when they couldn’t run. They went 4-2 last season when they ran for a mere 115 yards or more, and went 0-5 when they didn’t. How many times did they get to 115 yards in the big 2024 season? Ten out of the 13 games.

Player to Watch

Nyck Harbor, WR Sr.
Sellers is the star of the show, and Harbor should be on the other end of many of the big plays.

The 6-5, 242-pound deep threat averaged 17.5 yards per catch over his first three seasons, and got on a roll late last year with five touchdowns in each of the last five games he played in.

Defense

The defense tried to carry the weight.

Not to pile on the offense, but it didn’t do much of anything, and yet the Gamecock D did a great job of holding up, even if the overall stats don’t quite show it.

There has to be more pressure, and the run defense could stand to be a lot stronger at times, but it allowed more than 29 points just twice.

The team was 0-8 when giving up more than 13 points, and 4-0 when allowing that many or fewer.

No, of course, it doesn’t work this way, but if the offense scored the 30.5 points it averaged per game in 2024, the team would’ve gone 10-2 last year.

What’s Working

For the most part, the run defense was fine. It only allowed more than four yards per carry four times, and it only got ripped apart by Ole Miss and Missouri.

As long as the front holds up, the secondary - even without star corner Jalon Kilgore - is good enough to hold its own. It’ll be even better if the pass rush is rocking.

The line will be fine with a little time. The front four got a really, really nice prospect in transfer Tomiwa Durojaiye from Illinois to go along with a decent group of tackles.

The end combination of Dylan Stewart, star recruit Julian Walker, and Tennessee transfer Caleb Herring will be a problem for the SEC.

The linebacking corps is terrific. The twosome of Justin Okoronkwo and Fred “JayR” Johnson should combine for at least 150 stops this season. The veterans will be all over the place.

What Needs Work

More parts. The transfer portal did a decent job overall, and enough talent is coming in to give the staff options, but the linebacking corps is a tad thin, and the corner situation could use some tuning up this offseason.

The pass rush needs to be more consistent. It was okay, but 13 of the 21 sacks came in the four wins. There was pressure, but when the line wasn’t generating the sacks and tackles for loss, things weren’t working quite as well.

Be better on third downs. The Gamecocks weren’t awful overall, but they were 1-5 when allowing teams to convert 40% or more of their chances. That usually tied in with the pass rush.

Player to Watch

Tomiwa Durojaiye, DT Sr.
This is his fifth team in five years - Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida State, and Illinois before this. He’s big, and he’s quick, but he’s more of a space-eater than a statistical force. South Carolina needs him to be disruptive.

Keys to the Season

Yes, again, more from the offensive line is a must, the defense has to keep on taking the ball away, and the kickers - placekicker Upton Bellenfant from Texas Tech, and with punter Mason Love back - have to be a major plus.

More than anything else, the team needs to find a nasty attitude.

That might sound loose and non-descript, but the program played like it couldn’t get its mojo back after Illinois pulled off an in-game troll job in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl win to end the 2024 season.- Illini head coach Bret Bielema drove Beamer crazy with funky substitution patterns.

Player Who Needs To Shine

Seth Smith, OT Sr.
With Thompson hurt and Peak iffy, the offensive line needs production out of as many tackle options as possible. The 6-4, 307-pound Smith will at least get a long look at one of the jobs after coming in from Northern Arizona.

Biggest Concern

Pass protection …
Okay, no more whining about the offensive line after this, but it gave up 125 sacks over the last three seasons - over 40 in each. Knock that down to about 30ish, and watch what happens.

Biggest Game

at Alabama, September 26
The last time South Carolina won in Tuscaloosa was in 2004. That was one of just three wins in the 18 all-time meetings - that seems like an insanely low number of games between these two - beginning with a 20-0 Bama win in 1937. If the Gamecocks can win this, with Kentucky, at Florida, and Tennessee ahead, look out.

Transfer Portal

It was a net positive with the portal, but there were just enough key losses to be annoying, especially to the depth.

For the most part, though, most of the signings were part-of-the-puzzle guys instead of sure-thing killer starters. That’s fine, building around the current infrastructure is what the portal is for, but there are a lot of moving parts.

Best Signing

Jacarrius Peak, OT (NC State)
He’s it. He’s the one guy that South Carolina really, really, really, really needs to show up and rock. As long as his leg is okay after his hoops injury a few months ago, he’s the tackle the offense needs.

Biggest Loss

Vandrevius Jacobs, WR (Miami)
Almost as explosive as Nyck Harbor, the speedster led the Gamecocks with 32 catches for 548 yards and four scores last year. He’ll be taking his talents to South Beach to catch passes for the Hurricanes.

Other Names to Know

• Caleb Herring, EDGE (Tennessee)
• Kelby Collins, DT (Alabama)
• Emmanuel Poku, OG (East Carolina)

CFN Season Prediction

Here comes the bounceback.

Remember, just coming up with winning seasons isn’t historically a lock in Columbia. There have been just 59 in 118 years of Gamecock football - just for comparison, Alabama has 108 winning seasons - but Shane Beamer had three in four years before last season’s clunker.

Maybe it’s an every even year thing with him - winning eight in 2022 and nine in 2024 - but this should be a solid season even with a slew of big problem matchups.

CFN Prediction: 8-4

At Alabama, at Florida (it’s going to be better), Tennessee, at Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Georgia, at Clemson.

Those seven games alone would end most seasons before they begin, but South Carolina has the talent to win just enough to hang around the at-large College Football Playoff hunt.

However, lose three, and it’s almost impossible to get in. The slate is just too tough, but this season will make last year feel like an aberration.