South Carolina announces endowed scholarship recipients

The University of South Carolina announced on Wednesday 25 endowed scholarship recipients across the athletics department. Some of these scholarships had been announced previously.

Seven players from the football team, nine from baseball, one from men’s basketball, two from women’s basketball, one from men’s soccer, three from the cheer squad, one from track and field, and one from women’s golf received the scholarships as selected by the team’s head coaches.

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From the South Carolina Athletics press release:

COLUMBIA, S.C. – University of South Carolina Athletics announced today the recipients of 25 endowed scholarships across seven sports and the cheer team. Recipients for endowed scholarships are selected each year by the team’s head coach or department head.

The 2024-25 recipients of endowed scholarships are:

Baseball
The Curtis H. and Lisa B. Dickerson Endowed Baseball Scholarship – Ethan Petry
The Ken Rosefield Family Endowed Scholarship – Beau Hollins
The Charles and Katherine Wilson Endowed Scholarship – Jake McCoy
The Elizabeth A. Phibbs Endowed Baseball Scholarship – Wyatt Evans
The Mike Addy Family Endowed Scholarship – Nathan Hall
The Jane and Randy Senn Endowed Scholarship – Matthew Becker
The Williams-Brice-Edwards Charitable Trust Endowed Scholarship – Evan Stone
The Lindell Bradley Baseball Scholarship – Kennedy Jones
The Ryan Fischer Endowed Scholarship – Zach Manning

Men’s Basketball
The Mac Credille Men’s Basketball Manager Endowed Scholarship – Will Prater

Women’s Basketball
The Aleighsa Welch Endowed Scholarship – Te-Hina Paopao
The A’ja Wilson Endowed Scholarship – Sania Feagin

Football
The Tommy Suggs Endowed Quarterback Scholarship – LaNorris Sellers
The Wraellen and Larry Winn Endowed Scholarship – Joshua Simon
The Ed Pitts Defensive Tackle Endowed Scholarship – Alex Huntley
The Mozingo Family Endowed Football Scholarship – Juju McDowell
The Jake Panus Walk-On Football Endowed Scholarship – Alex Herrera
The Marcus Lattimore Endowed Scholarship – Payton Mangrum
The Bennett Barnhill Endowed Scholarship – Kai Kroeger

Women’s Golf
The Kenneth T. Lytle Endowed Scholarship – Mia Sandtorv Lussand

Men’s Soccer
The John P. Salamone Memorial Endowed Scholarship – Bryce Griffith
The Mark Berson Endowed Scholarship – Wyatt Kistner

Track and Field
The Schreiber Family Endowed Scholarship – Channing Ferguson

Cheer
The Justin Edward Cannon Scholarship – Leah Nelson
The Jamey Elizabeth Collins Scholarship – Mackenzie Buffo, Anna Cochran, Jaelyn Davis, Gwen Grondin, Nathan Hall, Kayla Manning, Sarah Penland, Hannay Martin

From the baseball team, freshman Beau Hollins joined the Gamecocks this season after hitting .444 with 22 home runs over his last two seasons at River Bluff High School. Greenville, S.C., native Wyatt Evans returned to his home state after two seasons at Tennessee. Sophomore Jake McCoy went 1-0 on the mount with 20 strikeouts and 16 innings pitched in his debut season. Junior Ethan Petry was a Second-Team All-Atlantic Region selection last season after hitting .306 with 21 home runs and 53 RBI, and he is just 19 home runs from breaking Carolina’s career home run record. Lexington, S.C.’s Nathan Hall joined his hometown team this season after two seasons at Clemson, where he had three doubles and 12 RBI as a freshman. Senior Evan Stone has played in 116 career games with six doubles, three home runs and 23 RBI. Matthew Becker is also entering his fourth season in the Garnet and Black, coming off a 2024 season in which he went 5-3 with a save and 60 strikeouts in just 43.2 innings pitched. Kennedy Jones made 55 starts for the Gamecocks last season, hitting .289 with 10 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 48 RBI. He had 15 multi-hit games in 2024, including a 3-for-4 performance in the NCAA Regional win over James Madison. Zach Manning is a junior from Springfield, Va., who is a sport and entertainment management major in his third season as a manager for the baseball team.

Will Prater is a senior from Ashland, Ky., who is in his fourth season as a manager with the men’s basketball program. The sports and entertainment management major is a five-time Dean’s List member and has twice made the President’s List, which recognizes students with a 4.000 GPA for the semester.

Women’s basketball senior Te-Hina Paopao thrived in her first season at South Carolina, leading the nation in 3-point field goal percentage last season as part of the Gamecocks’ undefeated National Championship season that saw her earn All-America and All-SEC status. Senior forward Sania Feagin has been a solid role player whose work in practice has lifted her game and her contributions every season of her career, including averaging over 19.0 minutes during the 2024 NCAA Tournament run to the national title.

For football, LaNorris Sellers is a redshirt freshman quarterback who shined in limited time last season, earning 2024 Joe Morrison Offensive Player of the Spring and helping him to the top of the depth chart this fall. Senior tight end Joshua Simon is entering his second season as a Gamecock and this season’s top returning receiver after catching 28 passes for 256 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 2023. Veteran team leader Alex Huntley returns for his fifth season in Columbia, twice earning the South Carolina Spirit Award for the defense, serving as a 2023 Rex Enright Team Captain and earning nominations for the AFCA Good Works Team and the Wuerffel Trophy. Senior Juju McDowell has been a dynamic playmaker with the ball in his hands throughout his career, which began with a Freshman All-SEC selection as both an all-purpose back and return specialist in 2021. Local product from Columbia’s Spring Valley High School Alex Herrera is in his sixth season with the Gamecocks and will figure strongly in the mixt to handle both placekicks and kickoffs in 2024. A two-time recipient of the Most Inspirational Walk-On Award, Payton Mangrum has developed into a leader and a “glue” guy, earning the respect of his coaches and teammates in his three years as a letterwinner and valuable special teams performer. One of the nation’s top punters, Kai Kroeger returns for his fifth season with the Gamecocks after earning 2023 All-America honors and South Carolina’s nomination for the 2023-24 H. Boyd McWhorter Award

Two-time women’s golf Scholar All-American Mia Sandtorv Lussand has been a regular in the lineup each of her first two seasons for the top-10 Gamecocks, helping the team advance to the NCAA Championship each year. She was Second-Team All-SEC as a sophomore last season with five top-10 finishes, which helped propel Carolina to four wins during the regular season.

For men’s soccer, redshirt sophomore Bryce Griffith is back on the pitch after missing 2023 with an injury, looking to return to the form that led him to rank third on the team in goals scored as a freshman in 2022. Goalkeeper Wyatt Kistner joined the Gamecocks for his final season of college soccer after four seasons at Florida Gulf Coast, where he was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.

Track and field senior Channing Ferguson earned a pair of Second-Team All-America honors during the 2024 outdoor season, finishing 11^th in the high jump and 13^th in his first full season as a long jumper. That momentum came off a strong indoor season in his Gamecock debut, during which he finished third at the SEC Indoor Championships in high jump to land on the All-SEC Second Team.

Leah Nelson is in her third season on the cheerleading team, for which she has proven to be a natural leader and supportive teammate. The senior biological sciences major from Panama City, Fla., brings a tremendous talent and personality to the team.

For more information on endowing a scholarship, please contact Tyson Lusk, Chief Development Officer/Senior Associate Athletics Director, at 803-777-7546.

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