Shane Beamer details long list of South Carolina injuries: ‘Too many to name’

South Carolina was bullied by North Carolina during the season opener on Saturday night. As a result, injuries began to pile up and began to hamper the Gamecocks’ efforts to win the game.

“We were an absolute mash unit out there tonight with injuries,” Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer said postgame. “Lost a lot of starters for the game early, early in the game. Proud of some of these young guys who came in tonight and played a lot more than they expected.”

Beamer listed off the players who fell prey to injuries against the Tar Heels.

“AB (Ahmarean Brown) didn’t finish the game. Juice didn’t finish the game. Cason Henry didn’t finish the game. Mo Kaba didn’t finish the game. There is no update. There are too many to name right now. We had some guys that came out that were able to go back. Some that weren’t able to go back. We will know more [on Sunday].”

Despite leaving the game early, Brown finished the night as South Carolina’s second-leading wideout statistically with three receptions for 44 yards. Xavier Legette stepped up as the team’s top receiver with nine catches for 178 yards but never found the endzone. Quarterback Spencer Rattler ended up throwing 39 passes for 353 yards without a single touchdown.

Kaba, a veteran linebacker, was injured on special teams in the first half. He finished the play and was able to walk off on his own accord, but he was limping and was in obvious pain on the bench. There has been no update on him, but he missed the majority of 2022 recovering from an ACL tear.

Henry’s injury was the icing on the cake for the Gamecocks, who had an abysmal night throughout the offensive line. Rattler was sacked nine times throughout the night which led South Carolina to finish the game with a total of -2 rushing yards on the day. Only Dakereon Joyner, a wide receiver-turned-running back, had positive stats logging 12 carries for 23 yards and one touchdown. Juju McDowell finished the game with five rushes for -1 yard and a touchdown as well to cap off a night South Carolina wants to forget entirely.

As the Gamecocks regroup and assess their injuries this week, Beamer will likely provide an update on the three players named, and more, during his weekly press conference. They’ll also begin prep for Week 2’s home opener against Furman where they’ll look to get their record back to even ahead of the following week’s road trip to No. 1 Georgia.