There might not be a harder team to figure out in college football this season than the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Just two years ago, Shane Beamer had South Carolina sitting at 9-3 and right on the edge of the College Football Playoff conversation. The Gamecocks looked like a program ready to take another step.
Then 2025 happened.
South Carolina crashed to 4-8 overall and 1-7 in SEC play, losing games to Vanderbilt, Missouri, LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Clemson. It was a stunning fall for a program that entered the year with legitimate expectations.
Now comes 2026, and somehow the Gamecocks might be just as fascinating as they were before last season.
Because the talent didn’t disappear.
South Carolina Still Has Legitimate Stars
It starts with LaNorris Sellers.
Sellers remains one of the most physically gifted quarterbacks in college football. At 6-foot-3 and around 240 pounds, he gives South Carolina a quarterback capable of beating defenses with his arm or simply taking off and running through defenders.
After the disappointment of 2025, this season feels like an opportunity for Sellers to remind everyone why there was so much excitement surrounding him in the first place.
And he has a pretty ridiculous athlete to throw to.
Nyck Harbor is back at wide receiver, giving South Carolina one of the biggest matchup problems in the SEC. At roughly 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds with elite track speed, Harbor has always had the physical tools. If everything comes together as a receiver, there aren’t many defensive backs in the country built to deal with him.
The Gamecocks also have Mazeo Bennett Jr., Nitro Tuggle and several other options in the receiving corps. Their projected depth chart has Harbor and Tuggle among the starters, giving Sellers plenty of athleticism on the outside.
The biggest question is whether South Carolina can protect its quarterback.
Beamer clearly understood that after last season. The Gamecocks attacked the transfer portal aggressively, bringing in 25 players during the winter window alone, with rebuilding the offensive line among the biggest priorities.
If that group improves, the entire offense could look different.
Dylan Stewart Is the Headliner Defensively
Then there’s Dylan Stewart.
If you were building a list of defensive players capable of completely wrecking a football game this season, Stewart wouldn’t be far down it.
The junior edge rusher has already been named a first-team Walter Camp Preseason All-American, showing just how highly regarded he is nationally entering 2026.
South Carolina needs him to be that type of player.
Stewart gives the Gamecocks a legitimate difference-maker off the edge, while veterans like Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, Fred Johnson, Vicari Swain, David Bucey, Peyton Williams and Judge Collier give the defense experience at multiple levels.
It’s another reason South Carolina is so difficult to evaluate. This doesn’t look like a roster that should be an afterthought in the SEC.
There are legitimate NFL-caliber players on both sides of the ball.
But Look at This Schedule
Unfortunately for South Carolina, there isn’t much time to figure things out.
Kent State and Towson should allow the Gamecocks to get settled, but after that the schedule gets serious quickly.
Mississippi State comes to Columbia before South Carolina travels to Alabama. Kentucky follows, then there’s a trip to Florida.
After the bye week?
Tennessee. At Oklahoma. Texas A&M. At Arkansas. Georgia. At Clemson.
That’s a brutal six-game finish.
South Carolina gets some of its biggest games at Williams-Brice Stadium, including Tennessee, Texas A&M and Georgia, but there are very few places to hide on this schedule.
And that’s what makes the Gamecocks such an interesting team entering 2026.
Which Version of South Carolina Are We Getting?
That’s really what this entire season comes down to.
The Gamecocks have already shown us what their ceiling can look like. They won nine games in 2024 and came painfully close to getting themselves into the playoff discussion.
Then they showed us the other extreme by winning only four games last season.
Now Sellers, Harbor and Stewart return as the faces of a team trying to prove 2025 was the exception rather than the new normal. South Carolina also went heavily into the transfer portal to repair the problems that helped derail last season, particularly along the offensive line. In total, the Gamecocks brought in 27 transfers while 19 departed, according to On3’s current portal tracker.
There’s a reason South Carolina is receiving votes rather than sitting comfortably inside the preseason Coaches Poll Top 25. Nobody really knows what to make of this team yet.
But that’s also what makes them dangerous.
LaNorris Sellers. Nyck Harbor. Dylan Stewart. A revamped roster. A loaded SEC schedule.
South Carolina could be one of the most entertaining teams to follow in college football this season, because after going from 9-3 to 4-8 in consecutive years, almost nothing the Gamecocks do in 2026 would feel completely surprising.
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