Some New Year's Resolutions for South Carolina football

South Carolina’s football season came to an end on Tuesday with a loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini in Orlando in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. But that was 2024. Now, it’s 2025, and with the New Year comes New Year’s resolutions.

If the Gamecocks could make some New Year’s Resolutions heading into next year, what might they be?

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Finish strong in the transfer portal

The 2024 Gamecocks were built through a strong combination of returning veterans, young talent, and transfer portal additions. Specifically, the transfers filled some holes on the roster (both starting lineup and depth), and several of the newcomers became some of the most important players on the team.

The 2025 team could use the same type of transfer portal shots in the arm.

So far, Shane Beamer’s team has had a nice portal class pledge themselves to the program. Several portal commitments will compete for starting gigs, while others will position themselves for prominent future roles.

Even with those incoming transfers and another top-20 high school recruiting class on the way, South Carolina still needs some roster augmentations.

The most glaring hole on the roster can be seen on the defensive line. The Gamecocks are losing their top four players at defensive tackle (Tonka Hemingway, TJ Sanders, Boogie Huntley, and DeAndre Jules) and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner (Kyle Kennard) and a rotational defensive end (Gilber Edmond).

With the only experienced players returning to the defensive front being Nick Barrett, Monkell Goodwine, Dylan Stewart, JT Geer, Desmond Umeozulu, and Bryan Thomas, USC needs to add another player or two from the portal this offseason to compete for spots in the rotation. So far, defensive tackle Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy and EDGE Jaylen Brown already have signed from the portal.

The needs are less severe, but Carolina fans can expect Beamer and company to continue kicking the tires on players at running back, wide receiver, offensive line, and linebacker. A potential extra year of eligibility for former junior college player Bam Martin-Scott could alter the team’s plans at linebacker, as well.

Capture the essence of the back half of the season

The South Carolina football team that took the team the first six games of the year looked vastly different than the one that played the final six contests of the regular season. The 3-3 Gamecocks, though, improved to become the 9-3 Gamecocks who nearly made the College Football Playoff.

Whatever made the shift happen, South Carolina should resolve to do it all again.

Some of the improvement came naturally as quarterback LaNorris Sellers got more comfortable. He, along with new offensive coordinator Mike Shula, will be major catalysts for next year’s potential success.

On that side of the ball, the big fellas up front also got much better as the season progressed. Nothing about the personnel changed, but the Gamecock offensive line performed better the back half of the year. Figuring things out a bit earlier in 2025 could go a long way.

On defense, Carolina played well all season. Even in the team’s “down efforts,” the Gamecocks were a good defensive unit. In others, they were great, bordering on downright dominant. Defensive coordinator Clayton White and his troops never quit despite the offense putting them in a lot of bad situations early in the year. When the offense improved, the defense kept up their high-level play. Getting a 2025 defense that will be loaded with new starters to play at a high level won’t be an easy task, but it will be a necessary one if the Gamecocks are to take the next step.

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Replace veteran starters on special teams, Be better on those units

This year’s special teams group was average in Columbia. That’s below the norm for a Shane Beamer-coached team and something he will spend a lot of time on this offseason. Improvement won’t be simple, though.

Kai Kroeger, arguably the best punter in school history, will be in the NFL next season. Hunter Rogers, an All-SEC long snapper, is graduating. Alex Herrera, a sixth-year senior, is out of eligibility at kicker. Replacing three specialist starters won’t be easy. Rising redshirt freshman Mason Love (punter) and rising true freshmen Kyler Farrow (long snapper) and Max Kelley (kicker) might be the favorites to take over those spots. Kick returner and punt return Juju McDowell is moving on, too.

Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis spoke during bowl prep about his dissatisfaction with the Gamecocks’ kick coverage this season. Some improvement would be nice for that part of the game’s third phase. The return game struggled in 2024, too.

It is much more easily said than done thanks to all of the personnel shifts (Kroeger and Rogers did their jobs about as well as anyone could have hoped), but developing an above-average or better overall special teams group in 2025 should be a priority for the Gamecocks.

Develop an offensive identity early

Before LaNorris Sellers became Superman late this fall, the biggest complaint against the offense was its seeming “lack of identity.” Ultimately, what that usually meant was that the fanbase didn’t see any area in which the offense excelled, and the results were inconsistent.

With Mike Shula taking over playcalling duties for the departed Dowell Loggains, the Gamecocks will need to figure out that side of the football quicker in 2025.

Statistically, things still seemed pretty varied late in the year for the offense. However, the Gamecocks committed to a more creative run game and leveraged their rushing success with Sellers and running back Rocket Sanders to create some big-play passing ability. In some games, the ground game worked well enough that big plays in the passing game weren’t overly necessary. In others, Sellers and his receivers put up some strong numbers. Still, though, there was more diversity in the run game, and that put everyone on offense in a better position to succeed.

Whatever the trick is for the 2025 offense (maybe it’s a creative run game, maybe it’s scheming receivers open for Sellers, maybe it’s being a heliocentric offense that runs everything through No. 16), Shula and company need to figure it out early. The Citrus Bowl wasn’t the best performance in that regard, but Gamecock fans hope this offseason presents plenty of opportunities to get pointed in the right direction.

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Continue performing well in rivalry games

It likely goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that rivalry games mean more to the fanbase. South Carolina football fans view the Clemson game differently than all others. A handful of other “rivalries” take some priority, as well.

When the Gamecocks win those games, it improves fanbase morale, something that goes a long way in college. When teams win these types of games, certain things seem to happen. NIL giving goes up. Attendance goes up (or continues at sellout pace). Coaches’ jobs are safer. High school recruiting improves. National perception grows.

In 2024, South Carolina beat Clemson (Palmetto Bowl). The Gamecocks also won their other two “trophy games” against Texas A&M (Bonham Trophy) and Missouri (Mayor’s Cup). The pseudo-rivalry between Carolina and Kentucky went the way of the Gamecocks, too. Following each of those wins, the collective psyche of an entire fanbase and the perception of the program improved.

For continued upward mobility in the SEC, South Carolina cannot afford to drop very many rivalry games.

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