How South Carolina has gone about replacing Joshua Simon at tight end
Tight ends like Joshua Simon don’t just grow on trees. It’s not easy to find a player in the transfer portal who happens to be from South Carolina and goes on to be the leading pass catcher.
With Simon turning pro, South Carolina will be tasked with replacing a main source of its offensive production from 2024. Simon finished with 40 catches for 519 yards and seven touchdowns.
No other wide receiver on the team nearly had those same numbers as he did. Even at tight end, the next best target was Michael Smith, who only caught 10 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown. That’s why replacing Simon is going to be a challenge.
“Going out and finding another Josh Simon, I don’t think you can do that,” tight ends coach Shawn Elliott said. “But we’ve got the players in the tight end room that I think are gonna step up and take that slack within the offense.”
The Gamecocks brought in Jordan Dingle, a transfer who made 21 starts in 39 games over his four-year career at Kentucky. His overall numbers are nearly equal to what Simon did in one year alone. Dingle caught 43 passes for 615 yards and four touchdowns while in Lexington.
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South Carolina also returns most of its tight end room. This includes Smith, Brady Hunt and Maurice Brown II, who all saw action in 2024. It’s a group that doesn’t have a clear-cut favorite to be the next Simon yet. But that’s what spring practice has been about: finding that player who can follow in his footsteps.
“Josh had a knack for breaking tackles and being, I won’t say, elusive, but he was just a strong runner with the ball in his hands,” Elliott said. “And I think we have several guys in that room that can do that as well. Just need a little bit more time to develop and progress.”
So far, head coach Shane Beamer has been pleased with what he’s seen from the group through nine practices and one scrimmage. Their “work ethic and intent,” along with their physicality, is what stands out most to him.
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“They’ve all flashed without a doubt, but there’s a toughness in that room, as you would expect, with who their position coach is,” Beamer said. “They’re working. I mean, to have Brady back for another year is great. Mo Brown is a guy that has played a lot of special teams for us, but has explosive ability as a tight end as well, and he’s working at it. And then Jordan Dingle has come in and has done some good things.”
While it’s still early, Beamer would like to see the tight ends become interchangeable. He wants them to be dynamic as both pass catchers and blockers in the offense.
“We’d love for them all to be able to be interchangeable, but very much maybe play specific,” he said. “That if there’s something that Jordan Dingle does a little bit better, let’s get him in on that play and whatnot as well.”
When spring ball wraps up, the Gamecocks won’t have a solidified answer at the position yet. They’ll have a better idea of how everything could look. But there’s still an entire summer and fall camp to get through before the first game of the season. Not to mention, 6-foot-3, 220-pound three-star tight end Mike Tyler will be joining the mix in the summer.
“That’s just a scrappy group, and they continue to work,” Beamer said. “Mike (Smith) will be back with them in the summer. Mike Tyler will be coming in, and then Lukas Vozeh and Reno (Roehm) are in there. … So they’re tough, and they’re working and have a good intent about themselves.”
