Shane Beamer comments on Juice Wells' announcement
South Carolina wide receiver Juice Wells took to X/Twitter on Monday night with intentions to clear the air about his future plans and seemingly announced that he won’t play this week against Clemson but that he does currently plan to be back in Columbia next season.
Since Wells didn’t explicitly say in the post — though it can be heavily inferred — that he is talking about not playing against Clemson and returning to South Carolina next year, Beamer was asked on Tuesday if there’s any chance Wells plays on Saturday against the Tigers.
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Beamer said. “If Juice came to me today after this press conference and said he wanted to play this week, it wouldn’t shock me. I’m not counting on that happening though, Mike. I met with Juice a couple times last week and over the weekend or after the game as well. So the post that he had on X last night didn’t surprise me as far as what he announced. Did not anticipate him playing this week, but again, if Juice decides he’s in the right frame of mind and feels good physically and he wants to, then great. But we’re not counting on that.”
Wells, South Carolina’s top receiver last season, has missed most of the season with a summer foot injury that has affected him for the entire campaign.
Despite the August injury, Wells played in South Carolina’s first three games and appeared to be getting close to his old self when he scored the first touchdown of a Week 4 matchup with Georgia.
But he had to exit to the locker room right after that score and Beamer told CBS then that they feared he had broken a bone in his foot.
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Wells missed the next eight games and will apparently miss the regular season finale against Clemson as well.
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In other injury news, Beamer said on Tuesday that running back Dakereon Joyner and offensive linemen Trai Jones, Cason Henry, and Jaxon Hughes are all questionable for the Clemson game. Running back Juju McDowell is, of course, out with a broken collarbone.
“I would say, obviously, Juju is out, and everyone else is questionable,” Beamer said. “If they weren’t going to play, I would let you know. DK has assured us he’s playing. Knowing him, I don’t doubt him. He was out there at practice in a limited role today. Same thing with Trai Jones, Cason Henry, Jaxon Hughes. I wouldn’t say they’re probable, but it’s not ready to sit here and say that they’re out either. We’ll see how they progress the rest of the week.”
The Gamecocks and Tigers are set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Williams-Brice Stadium with SEC Network covering the action.
