Respect the Cock
Respect the cock, tame the cunt.
- Frank Mackey, Magnolia (1999)
Readers will have to forgive me for giving kudos to a company I’m aligned with in Campus2Canton, but I believe these guys were some of the first to ring the bell on LaNoriss Sellers, the three star prospect from Florence, SC. The other group that has been here from virtually the beginning is, of course, South Carolina Gamecock fans.
Nowadays, everybody and their mother is in on Sellers; and I believe he’s become something of a (not so dark) dark horse Heisman candidate. Not to mention South Carolina as a program has become a somewhat trendy offseason pick for a CFP spot out of the SEC in 2025.
I think it could happen. But Sellers will have to channel some 2010-Cam Newton hero vibes to manifest that destiny. Conference matchups vs. Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma and Texas A&M could turn out to be a rough draw. Though, to be fair, there are more questions than answers with a few of those programs currently. The Cocks finish their season the way they always do: with a battle for the state title against ACC foe Clemson, who look primed for a big year themselves.
I’d expect Carolina to pull out some surprise upsets in there—whether they secure enough will be the pertinent question.
I think of all the FBS programs currently, South Carolina has got to be one of my least rostered programs from a CFF perspective. The only player I can recall rostering was their 2020 workhorse—Kevin Harris, who under the direction of Will Muschamp led the SEC in rushing. Harris is a unanimous second team VP HoF selection. His five TD game vs. Ole Miss remains the stuff of legend. I’m pretty sure Alabama’s Najee Harris (who I also rostered on the same team) scored five TDs himself vs. Ole Miss around the same time. Evidently, that was a good year to play the Mississippi Rebels.
When the new regime took over, I didn’t see much CFF value in their systems. Indeed, the RB position has been uneventful since that stellar 2020 season. Ditto for the QB spot. WR was interesting in 2023 when it initially looked like Antwane Wells would be a standout—only to succumb to injury and clear the way for Xavier Legette who topped 1000 yards.
Even Sellers himself only averaged around 21-24 PPG last year depending on the format. However, conventional wisdom would suggest that in his second year starting, Sellers will elevate his play further.
In fact it should be noted that despite the first year starting QB—and some bad fumble luck—the Cocks were still within arm’s reach of a CFP berth last season. Is 2025 the year Carolina gets over the hump?
It would be a pretty monumental moment for the program. I would not say that it is likely, but I could see an individual player—Sellers, having himself a Heisman type of campaign and by extension positioning South Carolina in the thick of things once more.
Coaching & System
QB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 19 — OC: NA1
Earlier I evoked the name of Cam Newton, and this was not an arbitrary reference. South Carolina’s new OC Mike Shula was the OC with the Carolina Panthers from 2013-2017 and the QBs coach from 2011-2012. He was also—get this—the head coach of Alabama football from 2003-2006 just prior to Saban’s arrival.
Indeed, this guy’s been around for a while, but most of his experience since the 80s when he started coaching is from the NFL. I never like to use NFL patterns when discussing a college football system. But, I do think it is relevant to mention that he coached Cam Newton for several seasons given that the athletic profiles between him and Sellers are similar. While under Shula’s direction, Newton won MVP of the NFL in 2015 as well.
To be clear, I don’t think anyone will ever recreate what Cam did in 2010 with Auburn, but Sellers may be the closest thing to it since Newton played in the SEC. He’ll likely have to carry this offence on his back as I am not particularly impressed by the surrounding pieces.
The wide receiver position is a black box currently with players like Mazeo Bennett returning from injury, TE/WR Nyckoles Harbor who has only just recently dedicated himself fully to football (was splitting time with the track team previously), and others such as Coastal transfer Jared Brown, and FSU transfer Vandrevius Jacobs all being largely unproven commodities.
At RB South Carolina brought in additional reinforcements (via Isaiah Augusta from Colorado) after it became unclear whether Utah State transfer Rashul Faison would be eligible for 2025. That decision is still pending last I checked. Oscar Adaway from UNT and Jawarn Howell (FCS) have been productive in the past but neither appears likely to be game changing players at the SEC level.
A player I do believe is worth keeping an eye on is sophomore TE Michael Smith from Savannah Prep in GA. TE Joshua Simon led the Cocks in receiving last year (40 receptions, ~500 yards and seven scores) but moves on. He missed some time in the spring with an undisclosed injury, but I do believe it was not a serious ailment and that he will be a live participant in fall camp.
On the offensive line, Carolina returns 40% of the starting snaps (likely in the form of two out of five starters from 2024).
I know Joe’s database scores passing TDs with five points so I don’t really know how there is a ‘25’ PPG entry for Sellers in 2024 in Table 1. It’s not an egregious difference but I have Sellers at around 23 PPG in five point passing formats.
That 2024 performance is the best under Beamer since he arrived, and only the second out of four seasons with the QB average above 20 PPG on the year. Needless to say, this has not been a great QB system.
Beamer’s four year average at Carolina is a 54% run rate and a pace of play around 26 seconds per play or 65 plays per game, which is about average.
Personnel
Put your hand up if you remember those early 2010s South Carolina teams. Those were some talented rosters, and I don’t think it’s controversial to suggest that those were the halcyon years of South Carolina football (at least, thus far).
For whatever reason, the Palmetto State had a brief period of incredible athletic output relative to the rest of its history. Names like Jadeveon Clowney, Alshon Jeffrey, Melvin Ingram, and Stephon Gilmore immediately come to mind.
The state of South Carolina has not recaptured that form since, but in the new NIL era, and with a nearby region having its own football ‘glow up’ if you will—the DMV—the Cocks have, once again, assembled a roster filled with future NFL studs.
In fact, while many (less informed) national media types declare NIL as a contributing factor to P4 conference parody—implying that because other conferences are now allowed to pay players, they are catching up to the SEC—I would argue that it is programs like South Carolina, Missouri, and even places like Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas A&M that are the culprits for the weakening of the Alabamas and Georgias of the world.
Dylan Stewart doesn’t end up at South Carolina pre-2022, ditto for Luther Burden at Mizzou, Walter Nolan at A&M/Ole Miss, and Cam Coleman at Auburn etc. This internal rebalancing has created an overall stronger SEC with more parody, but at the expense of cross-conference dominance at the top, in my opinion.
On defence, everybody knows the aforementioned Dylan Stewart by now, who could realistically be the best player in the SEC in 2025 and 2026.
On offence, I’ve already mentioned some names briefly in the section above; an athlete like Harbor is not one you find often at a program like South Carolina (and I mean that with all due respect). To be honest, I would have liked to see what he could have done as an EDGE/DL prospect under Kirby Smart’s tutelage, but that’s neither here nor there.
We are two years removed from Harbor’s high school career, and there is not much to show for it thus far. That’s not the end of the world—plenty of talented players don’t pop out until year three/four. I think the decision to focus on football is a wise one from the Harbor camp. I know everyone likes him at WR, but personally I would like to see him channel some Kyle Pitts vibes at TE.
I’m not expecting a dominant season from Harbor, but I do like how he finished the year last season, and feel tentatively optimistic that he will be in the 500+ yard range in 2025 after compiling 370 last year. He was actually the Cocks’ second leading receiver behind TE Josh Simon (mind you, the bar was pretty low).
Mazeo Bennett was a standout true freshman last season who will likely build on his own 300-yard campaign. I have little-to-no expectation of the other receivers in the room. Brown was good at Coastal, but he may be out of his depth at this level.
There are no names at RB that impress me. I think Harbor, Bennett, and the TE Michael Smith are the three I see potentially being CFF relevant in 2025.
While a strong supporting cast can definitely augment value in the CFF world, the requirement for Sellers to play hero ball could be the catalyst that moves him to the top of the CFF leaderboard come season’s end. His skill set is very much that of a dual threat runner—he ran 166 times for 674 yards and seven scores.
One black eye on his game, however, is ball security. My man fumbled the ball 11(!) times in 2024. South Carolina lost six of those. It’s a wonder they were within a few inches and a blown call vs. LSU of the CFP anyway.
For the first time in what may be forever, South Carolina has a legitimate claim on having the two most talented athletes on offence and defence in the SEC via Sellers and Stewart (with a third runner up in Harbor). If they had an easier schedule I would say that 2025 would be a CFP or bust season for the Cocks, but I don’t think that is reasonable given that three losses are likely to be the maximum allowed for a committee-voted CFP team.
Nonetheless, as Frank ‘TJ’ Mackey would tell you at one of his seminars in Magnolia, 2025 is shaping up to be a great year to… ◾
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Sample from 2018-2024 excluding 2020.