Juice Wells excited to be back, taking on leadership role
In the midst of last week’s national championship game, South Carolina football fans received some big news of their own when wide receiver Juice Wells released a video announcing his return to school for the 2023 season.
With the return of Wells, quarterback Spencer Rattler and the Gamecocks get back their leading receiver from 2022. In his first year with the program after transferring in from James Madison last offseason, Wells hauled in 68 passes for 928 yards and six touchdowns while becoming Rattler’s top target.
In an exclusive interview presented by Garnet Trust, Wells explained the reasons for his return.
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“Everything is going good. I’m happy to be here. I’m back. I’m ready to run this thing back with the bros,” Wells said. “What really went into it was just, my quarterback of course, me and him were talking a little bit. I think he probably was a little upset that I dropped my video first but I dunno (laughs). But everything was good and then basically the draft, I see a lot of receivers going in this year. I definitely feel like it will be an easier route for me to just go next year and get a higher draft stock and hopefully go in the first round.”
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Wells and Rattler have big plans for the 2023 season.
While both hope to improve their individual projections for next year’s NFL Draft, both independently mentioned the desire to leave an impact on the South Carolina program in their final year on campus.
Exactly one year ago, Wells was a transfer trying to get his bearings at a new place.
Now, he believes it’s his job to take over as a leader of the group.
“It feels good to be back,” Wells said. “But now I know that I have to take on the role of being a leader and definitely try to bring this team up to a good standard, make the standard the best. Basically, I looked at it as, looking at E Doug and Gwyn and J. Brooks and all of them — that was their last year — so my main thing I want to work on is molding the younger guys now. If y’all want to win games and y’all want to be a championship team, just start now, as in like the workouts we’re doing now, as in getting everything on time. I’m trying to help mold us into being a disciplined team now, so stuff like this doesn’t have to come up later during the season or in spring ball. I know I have to step up and be a leader.”
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Wells, who recently signed a new NIL deal with Garnet Trust, has been blown away by the support from the fanbase.
“When I dropped the video on Twitter, I think my cousin or my dad, somebody, told me it got like a million views,” Wells said. “I was like, ‘Great day!’ It was a happy moment for me, just knowing where I come from, the story at JMU, and being overlooked in college and stuff like that, it was a sweet moment for me. I was like dang man just all the hard work and everything is starting to pay off now and everybody is seeing it. It seemed like everybody appreciated it too, seeing all the retweets and comments and stuff like that. I’m blessed.”
Check out the full video from Wells below…
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