How South Carolina’s bowl game provides a glimpse of offense for next season
Working out the kinks in a new job is hard enough. Working out kinks during South Carolina’s biggest football game of the year? Even harder.
The No. 15 Gamecocks debuted Mike Shula, their brand new offensive coordinator, against No. 20 Illinois in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. He’d held the position for a few weeks, but didn’t have a chance to call a game before Tuesday’s bowl.
Shula’s loaded with experience, which was why head coach Shane Beamer hired him in a support role last offseason. Since joining the garnet and black, Shula’s been closely working with quarterback LaNorris Sellers as the QBs coach.
Beamer thought that despite the chaos, Shula did well against the Fighting Illini, but there were some problems in the red zone.
“It’s not the easiest situation for him to be in where you’re calling plays for the first time this season,” Beamer said. “But you know, not to say that he was poor by any stretch of imagination — I mean, we moved the ball — we just didn’t convert on some critical situations.”
South Carolina scored on three of its nine drives during the bowl game, averaging about 42 yards gained per drive. The defense picked off Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer, but the offense didn’t score from the turnover.
Playing against Illinois gave South Carolina a small glimpse at its offense moving forward. This was an offense without Rocket Sanders, where Josh Simon isn’t the top receiver (he’ll be gone next season) and with Sellers still leading the way.
Sellers was 24 of 34 for 260 yards and one touchdown, his second-best passing outing of the season behind the Missouri win on Nov. 16. It might not have been his best game of the season, but he wasn’t picked off.
He still played to his stature, statistically. Sellers said leading up to the game that having Shula on the sidelines instead of in the press box wasn’t an issue for him. The 19-year-old starting quarterback has flashed his skillset on the field all season, finishing his first year as a starter with over 2,500 passing yards and 18 touchdowns.
“LaNorris is gonna be just fine,” Simon said. “The kid’s a stud. The kid is special. And he can’t do nothing but get better. Hopefully they get the right pieces around him for him to be successful, and LaNorris is going to be great.”
And the offseason search for new weapons already began. The window for going into the transfer portal closed, so Beamer and Shula have an opportunity to see who else could be a good fit for their starting quarterback next season.
The Gamecocks lose Sanders and Juju McDowell at running back, both of whom helped bolster that room after the 2023 season saw running back struggles. Oscar Adaway stepped in as the team’s starting running back for the bowl.
Adaway led the Gamecocks with 69 rushing yards and 37 receiving yards and scored a touchdown against Illinois. He said he’s confident in Shula as South Carolina’s offensive coordinator but admitted he wasn’t satisfied with his performance.
“I should have hit more,” Adaway said. “That’s what my job was to do, get this team a W. They put the ball in my hands so many times.”
It’s difficult to have a perfect performance on the first try. There were a few problems, and the Gamecocks will address it over the offseason. A loss to end the year is a hard pillow to swallow, but Beamer ended the year with one thing left to say.
“Forget this feeling. We play Virginia Tech in 243 days,” He said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do between then and now.”
This story was originally published January 1, 2025 at 7:30 AM.