5 players who stood out during South Carolina’s 2025 spring game
It is time for some overreactions!
South Carolina held its spring game on Friday night, an event for which the Gamecocks had an NFL-like draft to determine the garnet and black teams. As such, coach Shane Beamer loudly prefaced the game by saying it was not a reflection of the current depth chart — which doesn’t mean it won’t be a predictor of a future depth chart.
So let’s get into it. And before alarm bells go off because LaNorris Sellers and Dylan Stewart aren’t on this list, know that a number of returning starters didn’t play as many reps as some younger and less-experienced guys.
With that: Here are five players who shined during South Carolina’s spring game, which the garnet team won, 10-7.
QB Cutter Woods
To look at the black and garnet rosters was to think that the black team was going to win by 50 for no other reason than it had Sellers and QB Air Noland. But halfway through the second quarter, with Sellers and Noland both playing a few drives, the black squad had no points and wasn’t moving the ball.
In came the third black-team quarterback, true freshman Cutter Woods.
On his first play, the Westside High alum aired out a 51-yard rainbow that dropped right in the arms of Vandrevius Jacobs — a throw that felt almost like a flashback to a Woods dime from the state championship game in December.
Woods finished out the drive with a 24-yard pass to Brian Rowe Jr. in traffic and then a 1-yard touchdown run to finally give the black team some points.
The poise and composure to jump right in and start slinging the ball was impressive, but what really stood out was Woods’ arm strength. Sometimes a great high-school arm can’t make the college throws, but Woods has a cannon. He showed the smarts to make quick reads and the arm to deliver the ball on time.
Perhaps it’ll be Woods that goes into 2025 as Sellers’ backup.
WR Brian Rowe Jr.
This South Carolina wide receiver room is so fascinating. The Gamecocks signed a half-dozen freshman receivers, five of which arrived on campus in January, and trusted those six so much that USC didn’t sign a single receiver in the transfer portal this winter.
Which, of course, only furthers the hype about these freshman wide-outs. And, well, they delivered on Friday.
Malik Clark, a former four-star prospect from Rock Hill High, had some nice moments and even hauled in a touchdown from Luke Doty just before halftime. But it was Brian Rowe Jr. who stole the show.
The 6-foot, 170-pound freshman from Concord, North Carolina was sharp on Friday. His routes were sharp. He was attacking the ball. When plays broke down, he was working to get open. And he always seemed to find open space.
On one play in the first quarter, he was 15 downfield without a soul around him. Eventually, he moved toward Sellers and caught a pass that came back because of a penalty. Even without that catch, he still reeled in five catches for 45 yards.
It seems quite reasonable to think that Rowe could start for the Gamecocks against Virginia Tech.
Edge Desmond Umeozulu
The stats aren’t going to show that Umeozulu impressed, but he was constantly creating havoc.
A 6-foot-6 junior edge rusher expected to step up with the departure of Kyle Kennard, Umeozulu was incredibly quick off the line and pressured Sellers numerous times before the Gamecocks’ quarterback either threw the ball away or got tagged by someone else.
On one of the last plays of the game, Umeozulu burst past right tackle right tackle Jake Recker and nearly sacked Noland.
Though he’s played in 12 games each of the past two seasons, the Maryland native has only recorded 11 career tackles. Now, with Kennard and others gone, Umeozulu and Bryan Thomas Jr. are the top candidates to play extensive snaps at edge opposite Stewart.
RB Matthew Fuller
It’s hard to get a real accurate picture of tailbacks when they’re running behind a mismatched offensive line and into a defense that might know tendencies.
In saying that, redshirt freshman Matthew Fuller looked solid on Friday. The 5-11, 220-pound running looked explosive all night, touching the ball and immediately turning on the jets. While he didn’t carry the ball a ton, he was really active in the passing game and became a quick threat to leak out and catch a ball.
As well as Fuller, Utah State transfer RB Rahsul Faison impressed in limited carries — showing quite the knack for keeping his balance through contact and bouncing off what seemed like sure tackles.
K/P Mason Love
Less than a week after Beamer admitted he didn’t have a problem with Love being the Gamecocks’ starting kicker and punter — if he won both jobs — Love was the black team’s starting kicker and punter.
As a kicker, he nailed a 36-yarder midway through the second quarter. Not long after, Beamer stopped the spring game for an impromptu kicking competition, telling the crowd to go bonkers as his kickers lined up. After William Joyce made his kick and Peyton Argent missed, Love nailed a 41-yard field goal.
It’s possible that South Carolina could bring in a transfer kicker but, if the Gamecocks don’t, Love looks like the top kicker.
Same goes for punting, where Love is almost a lock to start. On Friday, he booted eight punts with an average distance of nearly 44 yards.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 9:48 PM.
