South Carolina end of the regular season superlatives
The South Carolina regular season is over, and now it’s time to take stock of where the Gamecocks are as they get ready for a bowl game.
It was a very up-and-down year that ended with eight wins, two massive ones to end the year. Now let’s take a look at who some of the biggest impact players were.
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Most valuable offensive player: Juice Wells
This could go to a few guys, but it seemed like every time South Carolina needed someone to make a play, Wells’s number was called.
He finished the regular season with nearly 900 receiving yards and six total touchdowns. The Gamecocks’ explosiveness offensively wouldn’t be as good without him, and he came up with some if the bigger moments this season.
Wells went off against Arkansas, swung the tide early against Vanderbilt, had a massive third-and-20 conversion against Tennessee then two big touchdowns against Clemson plus the game-icing first down.
Honorable mention: MarShawn Lloyd
Most valuable defensive player: Tonka Hemingway
Like Wells, if there was a big play to be made defensively, Hemingway seemed to be in the middle of it. The biggest was a fumble return against Kentucky, but he ultimately finished with a 75.9 overall grade, third-highest on the team.
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He was second on the team with 23 pressures, had 17 stops in the run game and batted three balls down in the pass game. The Gamecocks needed him a ton this year and he stepped up. Hemingway likely comes back as a budding star up front.
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Honorable mention: Cam Smith
Most valuable special teams player: Kai Kroeger
Second in the country in punting average, a should-be Ray Guy finalist and one of the biggest swingmen on the South Carolina roster. The Gamecocks might not have won a few games without Kroeger’s ability to pin a defense back, most notably Clemson. He’s easily one of the best punters in the country.
Honorable mention: Mitch Jeter
Most valuable transfer: Spencer Rattler
Rattler had some growing pains moments through the start of the year but finished the regular season on a high note. He went ballistic over the final two games with almost 800 yards passing and being responsible for almost double-digit touchdowns. He wasn’t perfect. But he came in and gave South Carolina its first quarterback to start all 12 regular season games for the first time since 2017.
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Honorable mention: Devonni Reed
Most valuable freshman: Nick Emmanwori
He’s going to be a freshman All-American at a few different publications and deservedly so. He finished with a 69.4 overall grade, missed just 12 tackles over the course of 762 snaps and was lethal coming down in the run game. South Carolina found a very, very good under the radar player in Emmanwori.
Honorable mention: DQ Smith
Unsung hero: Nate Adkins
His stats might not jump off the page–eight catches, 90 yards. But he did literally anything South Carolina asked of him this year. He played special teams, played running back in pass protection, ran routes and moved wherever the Gamecocks needed him to. He then came up with two big catches Saturday against Clemson. His stat line might not go down in the record books, but he was pivotal in two phases this year.
Honorable mention: Marcellas Dial
