Media predictions are in: Where South Carolina will finish in SEC East for 2023
South Carolina is poised to go out near the top in the SEC’s last college football season with divisions.
The Gamecocks were picked to finish third in the Eastern division — behind Georgia and Tennessee — in the annual preseason poll by league reporters who were at SEC Media Days this week in Nashville. USC also received three first place votes and one to outright win the conference. The media’s vote was released Friday.
“Really like this 2023 team that we have returning,” Shane Beamer said at the main podium Thursday. “It’s a hungry group. They have shown they are not satisfied with just eight wins. They know that we have a higher ceiling here at Carolina and everything they have done since January embodies that.”
South Carolina was voted to finish fifth in the SEC East last season. But the Gamecocks performed better than expected, posting a .500 conference record en route to finishing third behind eventual national champion Georgia and Tennessee.
USC has improved over each of Beamer’s years at the helm. He inherited a program coming off a two-win season and took the team to seven victories in 2021 and eight in 2022, including a thrashing of No. 5 Tennessee and a rivalry win at No. 7 Clemson.
“It’s a big thing with us and a big message is no complacency,” Beamer said. “We can’t assume that because things went well for us last season, because we won eight games and accomplished a lot of firsts, that it’s just automatically going to go that way again because we have got returning players.”
Preseason All-SEC nods
Punter Kai Kroger earned a preseason All-SEC first-team nod. Wide receiver Antwane Wells was named to the second team. Trey Knox (TE), Tonka Hemingway (DL), Mitch Jeter (KS) and Dakereon Joyner (AP) received third-team spots.
2023 Preseason SEC Media Poll
First place votes in (). Points are a cumulative reflection of where teams were ranked in each ballot; each place has a designated point value per vote. More points means higher cumulative slot in the voting.
EASTERN DIVISION
- Georgia (265), 2,011 points
- Tennessee (14), 1,682 points
- South Carolina (3), 1,254 points
- Kentucky (1), 1,204 points
- Florida, 911 points
- Missouri, 658 points
- Vanderbilt (8), 428 points
WESTERN DIVISION
- Alabama (165), 1,899 points
- LSU (117), 1,838 points
- Texas A&M (1), 1,144 points
- Ole Miss, 1,128 points
- Arkansas (3), 958 points
- Auburn (4), 685 points
- Mississippi State (1), 496 points
SEC CHAMPION
- Georgia (181)
- Alabama (62)
- LSU (31)
- Tennessee (5)
- Vanderbilt (5)
- Arkansas (2)
- Auburn (2)
- Texas A&M (1)
- Mississippi State (1)
- South Carolina (1)
Key dates
- July 26: Shane Beamer’s media golf outing
- Aug. 3: Gamecocks report for fall camp
- Aug. 4: First practice
- Aug. 10: First practice with full pads
- Aug. 12 and 19: Scrimmages
- Aug. 24: First day of class
- Sept. 2: Season opening game vs. UNC
South Carolina football schedule
- Sept. 2 – North Carolina (at Charlotte) – 7:30 pm, ABC
- Sept. 9 – vs Furman – 7:30 p.m., SEC Network
- Sept. 16 – at Georgia – 3:30 pm, CBS
- Sept. 23 – vs Mississippi State – TBA
- Sept. 30 – at Tennessee – TBA
- Oct. 14 – vs Florida – TBA
- Oct. 21 – at Missouri – TBA
- Oct. 28 – at Texas A&M – TBA
- Nov. 4 – Jacksonville State – TBA
- Nov. 11 – vs Vanderbilt – TBA
- Nov. 18 – vs Kentucky – TBA
- Nov. 25 – vs Clemson – TBA
This story was originally published July 21, 2023 at 12:00 PM.
