Final South Carolina injury report before Furman
South Carolina entered the week a banged-up team, and that hasn’t changed with just 48 hours to go until kickoff.
The Gamecocks are on track to not have a few key pieces available Saturday against Furman, including a starter defensively.
Speaking on his weekly Carolina Calls radio show with Todd Ellis, Beamer said Nick Emmanwori, David Spaulding, Markee Anderson and JT Geer will all miss Saturday’s game against the Paladins.
Emmanwori left the Gamecocks’ season opener one defensive play into the game with a hamstring injury and couldn’t give it a go after that. He didn’t practice Tuesday and Beamer mentioned on Wednesday’s SEC teleconference that he was still doubtful as of then.
Beamer mentioned Thursday night that hamstrings can be finicky but he thinks Emmanwori will be OK and should return soon.
With Emmanwori hurt, Jalon Kilgore will shoulder a lot of those snaps at the safety position opposite DQ Smith. He played 63 snaps in the opener with 12 tackles and a quarterback hurry.
Beamer also listed EDGE JT Geer and nickel David Spaulding as doubtful earlier this week, delaying Geer’s South Carolina debut. Geer–a Syracuse transfer–was banged up in camp and also missed the Gamecocks’ opener against North Carolina.
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Spaulding played sparingly in that game before exiting with injury. Freshman offensive lineman Markee Anderson, who still hasn’t made his Gamecocks debut, was doubtful as well for this game. South Carolina lists him currently as the backup guard behind Nick Gargiulo.
With Spaulding out against the Tar Heels, Keenan Nelson Jr. and Kajuan Banks split time at nickel.
If there’s good news, Beamer said Juice Wells is expected to give it a go Saturday against the Paladins after being very limited in the opener. Wells–who was fighting back from injury to be ready last week–only played a handful of snaps before having to be held out the rest of the game.
South Carolina will be without Cason Henry for a while, Beamer announced earlier this week. Beamer mentioned on his SEC Teleconference this week Henry will be out at least a month after leaving Saturday’s game.
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Linebacker Mo Kaba is out for the year after another season-ending knee injury suffered against North Carolina.
Beamer mentioned earlier in the week Bam Martin-Scott and Connor Cox–who both missed Saturday’s game–should be available this weekend against the Paladins.
Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network Plus and ESPN Plus. It’s also the Gamecocks’ home opener, which was announced Thursday as a sellout.
