Why South Carolina beating Tennessee, Clemson in 2022 'was huge' for future of program

South Carolina entered last year’s matchup against Tennessee with a 6-4 record. The Gamecocks were coming off of a 38-6 loss at Florida, and with games remaining against top 10 teams in Tennessee and Clemson, finishing the regular season 6-6 seemed likely.

Instead, the Gamecocks shocked the college football world, blasting Tennessee and ending Clemson’s 40-game home winning streak to improve to 8-4 on the year.

South Carolina coach Shane Beamer joined WCCP Thursday evening and discussed how big those wins were for the program.

“It was huge,” Beamer said. “Certainly those two wins at the end of the season, beating Tennessee and beating Clemson, were huge for us for so many reasons – inside the building and outside the building, as well as on a national level. And then for us, it’s just really continuing to build on that momentum.”

The perception of the South Carolina program changed with those two wins as the Gamecocks are now widely considered to be an up-and-coming program.

Beamer’s team entered both matchups with confidence, but that confidence was taken to another level after going 2-0 in those games.

“Our guys, you know, we had great confidence going into those weeks. I mean we’re not going to beat Tennessee and Clemson unless we were confident and expected to win,” Beamer said. “But it just solidified what we were doing here. Our guys had confidence. We had two great wins over two great teams in Tennessee and Clemson. Confidence has done nothing but grown, but we also know that what happened last year has absolutely nothing to do with this year.”

Shane Beamer updates status of Juice Wells for opener against UNC

South Carolina enters the 2023 season with momentum after the way it ended last year. In order to keep that momentum going, it would help to have star receiver Juice Wells against North Carolina.

Shane Beamer recently updated the status of Wells for the opener against the Tar Heels.

“His health is, you know, good. I wouldn’t say it’s great,” Beamer said. “But we fully expect him to be ready to go next week. He was out at practice [Thursday] running around and doing a little bit, and he’ll get better and better each and every day.”

When healthy, Wells is one of the best receivers in the SEC.

He caught 68 passes for 928 yards and six touchdowns last season and was the go-to guy for South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler.

Wells also came up big in big games, catching 20 passes for 308 yards and two scores combined in wins over top 10 teams Tennessee and Clemson last season.

Beamer also spoke about how important Wells is to the Gamecocks team.

“He means a lot. I mean obviously he was first-team all-conference last year for a reason, because of the year that he had,” Beamer said. “Just whether it be big plays in the Clemson game last season where he catches an explosive pass for a touchdown, or the very last play of the game where we throw a screen to him and he breaks two or three tackles and with extra effort gets the first down to lock that game away. He’s just a competitor and fantastic player.”