They arrived in one of South Carolina’s darkest hours. What these seniors mean to USC

From South Carolina football’s 2015 recruiting class, only four will walk Saturday.

It speaks to attrition. It speaks to a few redshirts. It speaks to the bounces and the journey the Gamecocks football program has gone through in their time on campus.

And perhaps it also speaks to what’s coming next.

In Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night against Chattanooga, a total of 20 players will walk in senior day festivities. The makeup of the group is in itself rather remarkable, though perhaps not so much given all the program has been through.

▪ Four true seniors

▪ Six redshirt seniors

▪ Four junior college players

▪ One graduate transfer

▪ Two walk-ons who earned scholarships

▪ Three walk-ons

“Looking back at it, it’s kind of crazy,” senior guard Zack Bailey said. “Just coming in and we had a bunch of guys. A lot of them transferred out or had issues going on at home for whatever reason. So looking at it now, just a small group, it’s kind of amazing that we’re here.

“I love it and I love the close knit that we have and just how we’ve made this team progress to come from 3-9.”

Bailey is one of those true seniors, along with Rashad Fenton, Blake Camper and Christian Pellage, who has not played in a game since 2015.

Overall, nine scholarship players from that class remain. Bailey and Camper were both forced into action, getting starts in 2015. Fenton and Pellage each had roles as true freshmen.

There was a special message for the team about that group of 20, as they head into the Chattanooga game.

“It’s really just about our seniors and what they have done for this program,” quarterback Jake Bentley said. “They’ve been through a lot since they’ve been here. Really just battled and optimized what we want as a culture here.

“Coach Muschamp challenged everyone, from the players, coaches, support staff to put all their effort in for the seniors to make this week special for them.”

They’ll leave as part of a group that helped turn things around.

Year 1 was the program’s lowest point since Lou Holtz’s 0-11 debut. They watched the Steve Spurrier era end with a thud, the short-lived Shawn Elliott tenure and the arrival of Muschamp, a coach with plenty of questions.

They helped, each in their own way, South Carolina go from three wins to six, and then to nine. This year hasn’t been what was projected, but the team is on course for at least 7-5, a taste of stability for a program that seemed to have almost none when they arrived.

They were important to what Muschamp was aiming to build, and he sees Saturday as a moment to share with them.

“Appreciate them,” Muschamp said. “A small gesture of thank you for what they’ve done. It’s certainly not goodbye.

“Mean an awful lot, especially in a coaching change, transition and helping build a foundation of the program moving forward.”

In terms of moving forward, the small size of the group means USC should have a fair amount coming back.

Of the 20 listed seniors, eight are currently starting. Two are hoping to come back next year after being injured, and another is deciding between a sixth season and a shot at the NFL.

There’s the risk of a junior or two making the jump, perhaps Javon Kinlaw, Bryan Edwards or maybe Jake Bentley if he gets really good draft feedback. But most likely, this team will return a lot of pieces going into next season.

Some of them will soon enough take on the mantle of seniors, leaders and stewards of the program, and in doing that, they’ll likely take a little something from the small group set to depart.

“I hope to leave my legacy, what I’ve done here, I hope to leave that to the young guys,” Bailey said. “For them to build off of what I’ve done and help them progress, so that when I progress, they can step into that next role.”

Seniors being recognized:

Bryson Allen- Williams, Ben Asbury, Jacob August, Zack Bailey, Blake Camper, K.C. Crosby, Dennis Daley, Javion Duncan, Rashad Fenton, Danny Gordon, J.T. Ibe, Steven Montac, Keisean Nixon, Christian Pellage, Deebo Samuel, Michael Scarnecchia, Jason Senn, Donell Stanley, Eldridge Thompson and Malik Young.