There is no doubt South Carolina is going to be an improved football team in 2017. In 2016, they finished the season with a 6-7 overall record, finishing 5th in the Eastern Division of the SEC with a 3-5 conference record. Last season was the first year for head coach Will Muschamp, the team was extremely young, and also injury plagued. This year is Muschamp’s second year in Columbia, the team is one year older, they are relatively healthy, and the Gamecocks have brought in 2 Top-25 classes in the past 2 years.
Offense
During the first 6 games of the 2016 season, the gamecocks rotated between starting Perry Orth and Brandon McIlwain with inefficient results, and decided to make a bold move going into game 7 against UMASS. The decision was to not redshirt then true Freshman Jake Bentley, who was supposed to be a high school senior (even though he was 19 years old), and throw him to the wolves. He’d been impressive in practice, and they hoped he would be in game situations as well, and their daring move paid off. Bentley completed 65.6 of his passses in 7 games, threw 9 touchdowns (4 interceptions), and his passing efficiency was 139.99. South Carolina might have lost to South Florida in the Birmingham Bowl 39-46, but Bentley put on a showcase, completing 32 of his 43 passes for 390 yards and 3 touchdowns (2 interceptions). Quarterbacks tend to make their biggest jumps from their freshman to sophomore year, and I don’t see any reason why that won’t be the case for Bentley.
The most dangerous target that Bentley will be connecting with on Saturday will be Junior Deebo Samuels. Like NC State’s Jaylen Samuels, Deebo is an all-purpose back that leads his team in receptions. In 2016, Samuels had 59 receptions for 783 yards. He becomes a running back once he catches the ball, and is extremely difficult to bring down. Samuels enters the season as a preseason All-SEC selection.
Last season the Gamecock’s entered the season not confident in any of their running backs, but they enter 2017 confident in all three of the names listed on the depth chart. Very similar to NC State’s depth chart heading into game 1, Rico Dowdle, A.J. Turner and Ty’Son Williams all have an “OR” in between their names. I think like NC State, you will not see one primary running back on Saturday, but a committee. In my opinion Dowdle is the most impressive of the three, rushing for 787 yards and 6 touchdowns last season, while averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Ty’Son Williams is a player the coaching staff is high on. He sat out last season after transferring from UNC, and they feel like they have something special in him.
Wide Receiver Bryan Edwards also was thrown into the fire last season as a true freshman, but he took full advantage of the opportunity, snagging 44 receptions for 590 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Junior Tight End Hayden Hurst put up silly numbers for a Tight End, catching 48 passes for 616 yards in 2016.
P.S. Don’t sleep on True Freshman Shi Smith. He’s earned the starting job at slot receiver, and might be the fastest player on the team.
In sum, the Gamecock’s skill position players are really impressive. What was not impressive in 2016 on the other hand was South Carolina’s offensive line. The men in the trenches gave up an audacious 41 sacks last season. The O-Line suffered a lot of injuries in 2016, and they should be stronger, bigger, and more experienced…but 41 sacks though…
Defense
While the Gamecock offense should take a big step forward in 2016, the Defense should improve marginally. This wasn’t an extremely impressive unit in 2016, giving up 411 yards per game. (Attention Nyheim Hines, Reggie Gallaspy, and Dakwa Nichols…South Carolina gave up 209 yards on the ground per game last year.)
With that being said, the Gamecocks were 3rd in the SEC in creating turnovers, stealing the ball from the other team 27 times in 2016 (15 interceptions & 12 fumbles).
One guaranteed improvement to the South Carolina defense will be the return of Skai Moore, who redshirted last season due to injury. As a true freshman, sophomore, and junior, Moore led the Gamecock’s in tackles. He was 2nd Team All-SEC in 2015. In fact, Moore is two interceptions away from owning the record for the most interceptions in South Carolina history…and he’s a linebacker.
They return Safety D.J. Smith who led the team with 80 tackles last season. They also return Senior Bryson Allen-Williams at linebacker who had 75 tackles, with 8.5 of those going for a loss.
Specialist
The Gamecock’s return none of their specialists from last season. New place kicker. New fella booting the kickoffs. New punter. New long snapper. The could be great, but not the way I would want to be entering the season.
NC State’s 2024 Transfer Class ranks 7th nationally according to ON3 after two commitments this week from Akron Safety Kerry Martin Jr. and Colorado Nose Tackle Chazz Wallace.
NC State’s Grayson McCall ranks 4th amongst Active Quarterbacks heading into the 2024 College Football season. McCall leads all Active ACC Quarterbacks in Career Passing Yards.
McCall was at Coastal Carolina for his first 5 years, throwing for 10,005 yards, which is 6 more than the infographic from PFF above.
McCall transferred to NC State for his final year of eligibility, and he has the weapons in place to throw for 3,000 yards for the first time in his career. If he did, he would be the first Wolfpack Quarterback to do so since Devin Leary threw 3,433 yards in 2021.
Here’s a look at McCall’s highlights from NC State’s 2024 Spring Game.
The Wolfpack made a huge acquisition at quarterback in landing Coastal Carolina transfer Grayson McCall. They also added former Ohio State wide receiver Noah Rogers, a North Carolina native and one-time top-50 national prospect. It’ll be hard to overcome the loss of linebacker Payton Wilson, one of the best defensive players in the country a year ago, and there are plenty of personnel questions in the secondary. But Dave Doeren always has this team ready to go. (The Athletic)
ACC in the Top 25
10. Miami
12. FSU
18. Clemson
21. NC State
22. Louisville
Tennessee, who the Wolfpack will play in Week 2 in Bank of America Stadium, is sitting at #15.
Running Back
Redshirt Senior Jordan Waters
Redshirt Senior Running Back Demarcus Jones
Redshirt Junior Jordan Poole
Sophomore Kendrick Raphael
Redshirt Freshman Daylan Smothers
3-Star Freshman Jayden Scott
3-Star Freshman Isiah Jones
Transferred Out: Jordan Houston, Michael Allen, & Delbert Mimms III
Transferred In: Jordan Waters & Daylan Smothers
Wide Receiver
Redshirt Junior Jalen Coit
Redshirt Junior Jakolbe Baldwin
Redshirt Junior Dacari Collins
Junior Wesley Grimes
Sophomore Kevin Concepcion
Redshirt Freshman Noah Rogers
4-Star Freshman Jonathan Paylor
4-Star Freshman Terrell Anderson
4-Star Freshman Keenan Jackson
4-Star Wide Receiver Jimmar Boston
3-Star Freshman Christian Zachary
Transferred Out – Porter Rooks, Anthony Smith, Terrell Timmons, Josh Crabtree, Christopher Scott & Julian Gray
Transferred In – Wesley Grimes
Tight End
Junior Justin Joly
Junior Dante Daniels (JUCO Addition)
Sophomore Juice Vereen
Transferred Out – Christopher Toudle, Cedd Seabrough & Fred Seabrough
Transferred In – Justin Joly
Offensive Line
Redshirt Senior Dawson Jaramillo
Redshirt Senior Timothy McKay
Redshirt Senior Anthony Belton
Redshirt Senior Zeke Correll
Redshirt Junior Sean Hill
Redshirt Junior Anthony Carter Jr.
Redshirt Junior Matt McCabe
Redshirt Junior Patrick Matan
Redshirt Sophomore Rylan Vann
Redshirt Sophomore Jacarrius Peak
Redshirt Sophomore Valen Erickson
Redshirt Freshman Obadiah Obasayui
Redshirt Freshman Kamen Smith
Redshirt Freshman Darion Rivers
Redshirt Freshman Rico Jackson
4-Star Freshman Tyler West
3-Star Freshman Robby Martin
3-Star Freshman Trent Mitchell
Transferred out: Lyndon Cooper & Jaleel Davis
Transferred In: Zeke Correll & Valen Erickson
Defense
Defensive Line
Senior Defensive End Davin Vann
Senior Nose Tackle Chazz Wallace
Redshirt Senior Defensive End Noah Potter
Redshirt Senior Defensive End Red Hibbler
Redshirt Junior Defensive End Travali Price
Junior Nose Tackle Brandon Cleveland
Redshirt Sophomore Nose Tackle DJ Jackson
Redshirt Freshman Defensive End Isaiah Shirley
3-Star Freshman Defensive Lineman Chase Bond
3-Star Freshman Defensive Lineman Justin Terrell
3-Star Freshman Defensive Lineman Joshua Alexander-Felton
Transferred Out: Nose Tackles C.J. Clark & Nick Campbell
Transferred In: Nose Tackle Chazz Wallace
Linebackers
Redshirt Senior Devon Betty
Redshirt Junior Sean Brown
Redshirt Junior Caden Fordham
Redshirt Junior Jayland Parker
Junior Wyatt Wright (JUCO Addition)
Redshirt Freshman Kelvon McBride
Redshirt Freshman Kamal Bonner
4-Star Freshman Elijah Davis
3-Star Freshman Cannon Lewis
3-Star Freshman Zane Williams
3-Star Freshman Joshua Ofor
