Can South Carolina football stay relatively healthy again in 2025?
——This is part of a summer series. Leading up to the start of South Carolina’s 2025 season, The State is answering 25 of the most interesting questions surrounding the Gamecocks football team. This is No. 7 ——
Injuries are a tricky thing because it’s never clear who’s to blame for them — everyone or no one?
When confronted with how to navigate the blame game last offseason, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer opted for the latter. In the wake of a 2023 season that included mass injuries, especially on the offensive line, Beamer did not fire assistant coaches or trainers or anyone on the strength staff. But he put the onus on them to make meaningful improvements.
Fast forward to 2024 and, well, the Gamecocks had remarkable injury fortune.
Aside from some in-game injuries that QB LaNorris Sellers and RB Rocket Sanders sustained, the Gamecocks stayed remarkably healthy. No USC starter sustained a major, season-ending injury. Heck, no starter missed so much as a month of time. And that offensive line that didn’t have an ounce of cohesion in 2023 started the same five guys in every game last season.
Magically, the injuries vanished — especially the soft-tissue, non-contact, preventable ones. But how? Was it because a number of the offensive linemen were doing Pilates? Was it because the Gamecocks added an “activation period” before practices? Or should it just all be chalked up to luck?
After the 2023 season, Beamer said, he and his staff reviewed how they were operating in practice and even during workouts in the spring, summer and fall, trying to figure out what they could tweak or do better. What they settled on was tweaking their practice schedule during preseason camp to help alleviate injuries and also try to get off to a faster start in 2024.
“And then, you know, trying to educate our guys,” Beamer said. “We went back last season and looked at a lot of the injuries that happened in practice and how they happened. (We tried) to coach our guys a little bit better to not put themselves in the positions that they got in where some of those injuries happened — where somebody falls on the ground and rolls up on somebody’s leg. So that was a part of it.”
Another part, Beamer admitted, was of course luck.
During the course of a 60-minute game where grown men are running into each other over and over again, the difference between a manageable ailment and a season-ending injury might come down to an opponent tackling you one inch one way or another. There is no training to prevent that, but it’s everything else the Gamecocks focused on.
“We’re all having a hand in it,” Beamer said during SEC Media Days in mid-July. “We took a lot of accountability and ownership for it and we were better last season and hopefully can be this year, also.”
One would expect the Gamecocks to stay relatively healthy again this season, if for no other reason then buy-in. The USC players — through nutrition, hydration, workouts, practice, etc — took accountability for their availability and were rewarded for that. The 2024 young guys saw what taking care of your body in May can do for you in November, and it would be a surprise to think the Gamecocks would take a step back.
Now, injuries can still happen. A 350-pound defensive tackle could fall on a Gamecock at the worst possible angle and, well, it’s no one’s fault. That’s football. But the pulled hamstring or sprained ankles or leg cramps are the things that South Carolina can try its best to prevent.
25 QUESTIONS FOR THE 2025 SEASON:
No. 25 — What South Carolina positions have the most question marks heading into season?
No. 24 — A Gamecocks victory over Va. Tech would be biggest season-opening win since when?
No. 23 — How will South Carolina’s QB room shake out in 2025 and beyond?
No. 22 — If USC beat Bama or LSU in ’24, would national conversation be different right now?
No. 21 — Can the Gamecocks’ offensive line take a step forward in 2025?
No. 20 — What former South Carolina football player will get his jersey retired next?
No. 19 — Can South Carolina get to the LSU game undefeated?
No. 18 — Will Fred Johnson be South Carolina’s next great LB?
No. 17 — What’s the most important stretch in USC’s 2025 schedule?
No. 16 — Can South Carolina’s defense stay elite despite all its roster turnover?
No. 15 — What South Carolina school records could be broken in 2025?
No. 14 — What’s the ceiling for USC’s running backs, with or without Rahsul Faison?
No. 13 — Can South Carolina’s special teams get back to Beamer Ball standard?
No. 12 — Have Gamecocks found right balance of high school football talent, transfers?
No. 11 — How will Shane Beamer go viral this year with South Carolina?
No. 10 — Is South Carolina too young at wide receiver?
No. 9 — Is this South Carolina’s easiest schedule in the Shane Beamer era?
No. 8 — Will there be noticeable changes in Mike Shula’s offense at South Carolina?
No. 7 — Can South Carolina football stay relatively healthy again in 2025?
No. 6 — Is this the last year for Williams-Brice Stadium as we know it?
No. 5 — What does a path to the playoff look like for South Carolina?
No. 4 — What happens if South Carolina football is no longer an underdog?
No. 3 — How would a 10-win season in 2025 shape Shane Beamer’s legacy in Columbia?
No. 2 — Can Dylan Stewart have a better season than Jadeveon Clowney did in 2012?
No. 1 — Can LaNorris Sellers become the best QB in South Carolina history?
This story was originally published July 22, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
