South Carolina after 9-4 season: Are more wins a guarantee in 2025?
Shane Beamer and South Carolina football were among the teams highlighted during the first day of SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Monday.
Beamer was joined by quarterback LaNorris Sellers, defensive back DQ Smith and defensive lineman Nick Barrett at the Omni Hotel and College Football Hall of Fame for the preseason media event.
The Gamecocks head into the 2025 season with high expectations after going 9-4 last year in what was the best finish of Beamer’s tenure at South Carolina.
The State asked a few national media members for their opinions on the Gamecocks as the new season approaches. Here’s what they had to say:
Note: Questions and answers have been edited lightly for brevity.
What are your expectations for South Carolina football in 2025?
Richard Johnson, CBS Sports: “I think the expectation is to hold serve with what they did last year. If they can do what they did last year it’s an incredible year for them. ... I understand how on the outside, you saw how that season went last year, and you think, ‘Oh, they can certainly kind of keep going and go to an SEC championship game.’ Man, that is hard. You look at the players that they lost, not just the big guys like [Nick] Emmanwori, but the amount of guys who are like undrafted free agents off that roster that have found landing spots with NFL teams.
“It’s a talented roster, especially on defense. You know that they’re replacing quite a bit with the receiver core. You’ve got to get Nyck Harbor to be a full, capable wide receiver. You would think a full spring with him actually playing football, not running track, would be great for him as far as development is concerned. But you’ve got to find a way to get LaNorris to become a complete passer, and that’s going to be difficult if that receiving room is not going to give him help.”
Nicole Auerbach, NBC Sports: “They’re definitely higher going into season than they were last year based on everything that happened and the way the season ended. ... I think the defense has a lot of questions, loses a lot on each level, so it’s possible they take a step back. But there’s also so much excitement around LaNorris Sellers and the offense that if he’s in the Heisman race, then South Carolina has got a chance to make the College Football Playoff.
“So it’s a wide range of potential outcomes, but I think a ton of excitement. Obviously, a national first-name basis with the quarterback, which is rare these days because there’s so much quarterback turnover at so many blue bloods. So I think he’s definitely on the short list for most anticipated players in the country.”
Greg McElroy, ESPN: “I think they’re good. I just don’t know if they’re going to have the same record as they had last year. I don’t know that yet. I think that’s the challenge, there’s too many new guys on the defensive side right now for me to know for sure that that group won’t drop off. It might drop off a lot, it might be better. It’s always a possibility. I feel like it’s unlikely, given the personnel that was lost and the veteran leadership that was lost but it can always happen.
“But there’s just too many question marks right now. I have them in the second tier in the SEC where they could absolutely allow the stars to align and make a run. ... In the first tier I have four teams, in no particular order, Alabama, LSU, Georgia and Texas. Those teams are at the top right now, again, the fewest questions. And then when you get to the next tier, everyone’s kind of got two or three questions. But if those questions are answered, sky’s the limit. (South Carolina) would be in that group.”
Ben Portnoy, Sports Business Journal: “I think South Carolina is in a really interesting spot, where they’re coming off a really big year, they’ve got a lot of returning production, but need to replace a lot on the defensive side of the ball. But on paper, this team is, I think, as good as last year’s and has every capability to be as good as last year’s team. We’ll see how the schedule breaks. When you looked at last year’s schedule, you caught a down Oklahoma team, nearly nipped LSU and Alabama, had a really good chance to win both those games. If you’re South Carolina, you’re gonna win some of those games, you’re gonna lose some of those games. But I do think it’s totally fair to say seven wins should kind of be the floor for this team. If you told me they end up somewhere in that, sort of, between seven and nine wins, that feels like a good a good place to peg this team.”
Alyssa Lang, ESPN: “To continue to build on last year. Talking to not only some of the players on this year’s roster, but some of the coaching staff, this is a group that does not want to be the group that lets the progress of last year go. They want to be the group that is looked at as someone who built on what happened last season, not took two steps back from last year, and that’s a huge point of pride for this team this year. It’s hard to manufacture that type of motivation. The fact that Coach Beamer doesn’t have to and that already exists with this group is massive.
“As far as an X’s and O’s standpoint, the schedule is hard. Some of the road games that South Carolina has this year — obviously, having Alabama at home at Williams-Brice is is good — but going to A&M, going to LSU, going to Ole Miss, those are going to be challenges ahead of this team. I expect LaNorris to be even better. The pieces around him need to step up to help him do that. Obviously, the offensive line has always been a point of contention, if you will, with what we’re seeing. But I do expect that South Carolina continues to take even another step from what we saw last year.”
Jordan Kaye contributed to the reporting of this article.
