Without a No. 1 wide receiver, could tight ends play a larger role for South Carolina?
Throw all the names of South Carolina’s top receivers in a hat.
In you go, Vandrevius Jacobs and Dalevon Campbell. Get in there, Jared Brown and Gage Larvadain. And you, Nyck Harbor and Mazeo Bennett. Luke Doty can join too.
OK, mix it up for a few seconds and pull out a name.
That is going to be South Carolina’s leading receiver this season ... Probably. Possibly. Maybe.
No one knows — that’s the point. Trying to break down this wide receiver room is an endeavor that will bring you back to the hat come prediction time. Why couldn’t Bennett, the freshman, be the top receiver? Or Larvadain, the Miami (Ohio transfer). Or Harbor, one of the fastest football players in America?
The truth is: South Carolina doesn’t have a single receiver who has proved they can be great in the SEC. Trying to figure out which one of those seven guys is going to elevate themselves to Xavier Legette status — or, at least something close — feels impossible right now.
Even the South Carolina coaches can’t come up with a name.
“To be completely honest, no one has separated themselves from the pack,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said. “It’s going to probably be by-committee, more so than last year.”
There’s a chance that’s a good thing.
Last season, Legette was the star. He was sensational, catching 71 passes for 1,255 yards and seven touchdowns. But South Carolina had no other production. No. 2 on South Carolina’s receiving charts last year was tight end Trey Knox ... who had racked up almost 1,000 yards less than Legette. Of course, South Carolina went 5-7 and missed a bowl game.
The point: Having a first-rounder wide receiver means nothing if he’s all alone.
So, perhaps, it doesn’t matter that South Carolina will be using wide receivers by-committee to replace Legette’s production. Or, maybe, the Gamecocks won’t rely on their wide receivers to fully fill the void.
The more South Carolina’s coaches speak, the more they gush about the tight ends on their roster.
It starts with the returner, Joshua Simon, who had 28 catches for over 250 yards last season. Then it goes to Ball State transfer Brady Hunt, who’s 6-foot-5, 250 pounds and knows how to play in a pro-style offense. And, of course, the newcomer. True freshman Michael Smith arrived on campus this summer and already looks like he could be one of the biggest playmakers in the passing game. Other tight ends — namely Maurice Brown II and Connor Cox — could also see action.
“I feel like we’ve got the best group — we’ve got the position room, coach on the staff,” said Simon. “We all have fun in there and we feed off each other and push each other every day.”
When asked if the tight ends could have an improved role in the offense this season, though, Loggains pushed back. Which is fair — South Carolina had the third-most tight end yards in the SEC last season (Georgia was No. 1. Ole Miss was No. 2), getting solid production from Trey Knox and Simon.
Loggains loves using tight ends. He did in the NFL. He does at South Carolina. And he will as long as he coaches.
“The really good teams control the middle of the field, and you do that with your running backs and tight ends,” he said. “It’s always gonna be a position of importance to us.”
This season, though, it might be a position of necessity.
“In regards to having two tight ends on the field at one time — absolutely,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “They’re not just your big, prototypical tight ends who are big guys that can block. They can help us in the pass game as well.”
