Mazeo Bennett put 'little kid mindset' behind him to better grow as player
Mazeo Bennett’s plan was very straightforward when he first came to South Carolina. Like all freshmen aspire to do, he wanted to play right away in his first year.
He did just that as he played in all 13 games with four starts at wide receiver in 2024. He led all Gamecock receivers with 30 receptions and finished with 337 yards and three touchdowns. While he did what he set out to do, he knew that he still had plenty to learn.
“Everybody has the thought that, ‘I’m about to come in, I’m about to be that dude,’ you know what I’m saying? When you get in that room and you realize, ‘Man, I don’t know everything,'” Bennett said. “I don’t know everything, and I have so much that I can work on. I’m almost there, but I’m not there yet. And it’s just taking that in and understanding that.”
It’s something Bennett described as a “little kid mindset”. He felt he still had a lot of growing up to do as a player who was the youngest receiver in the room last year, amongst many veterans.
“You gotta know what time it is,” Bennett said. “When it’s time to go in there and lift and work out and get fast, you gotta know what time it is. That’s really what I took accountability for.”
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Now, going through spring practice as a sophomore, he’s found himself needing to be the guy that the many freshmen joining the group can lean on.
“I can’t be the dude in the room and just do my job and get up out of there. I gotta be a leader to those guys,” he said. “… I’m a leader, but I’m more of a lead-by-example type of guy. I feel like they look at me and they see me doing it right, and it’s gonna help them do it right when it’s their turn to do it. And the mistakes that I make, it is going to help them not make the same mistakes that I make.”
Bennett also realized that this isn’t high school football anymore. College football is a different game, and with it comes both success and failure. Being an in-state kid who wanted to play for South Carolina, he held himself to a standard of performing at a high level. And with that comes the pressure he placed upon himself.
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“I think one of the kryptonites to Mazeo was that he was so passionate about the game that he became so emotionally attached to failure or not being able to do stuff,” wide receivers coach Mike Furrey said. “A lot of that stuff would catch up to him last year because he knew he could do it and he wanted to do it, but he just wasn’t doing it yet.”
Furrey, who understood Bennett’s desire to do well last year, has watched him make tremendous strides in recent weeks.
“Mazeo Bennett ran some routes today that Mazeo Bennett wouldn’t do last year at this time,” Furrey said. “What he’s doing now is what a lot of people can’t do. And it’s impressive.”
Admittedly, Furrey doesn’t often tell Bennett how much he’s been impressed by his progress since he “rides that emotion” a little bit. But with the improvements he’s made, both physically and in maturity, Furrey believes it will help him take the next step in year two.
“Mazeo is a special player,” Furrey said. “I know this place means a lot to him, too, because of being down the road. That’s why he came here, right? I mean, South Carolina kid. He wanted to be at South Carolina. He loves South Carolina.”
