The Verdict: South Carolina is properly handling the new arms race

South Carolina football superfan Chris Paschal writes a weekly column during the season for GamecockCentral called “The Verdict.” Chris is a lawyer at Goings Law Firm in Columbia.

According to Britannica, the definition of an Arms Race is “a pattern of competitive acquisition of military capability between two or more countries.” As most Americans know, one of the best historical examples of an arms race between two countries was between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. We wanted to have more bombs, more guns, more ships, and especially more nuclear weapons than they did. They wanted to have more than we did. We wanted to be the pioneers in space exploration.  So did they. Both nations were jockeying for position as the world’s top superpower and it delved into a decades-long arms race.  

The Southeastern Conference has been involved in its own arms race for decades, as well, and it has shown no signs of stopping. And while there have been different iterations of this SEC arms race, this arms race really boils down to one thing: having better players than the competition.

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The first iteration of the SEC arms race was teams stockpiling as many players on their roster as possible. Back in the 50s and 60s, there was no scholarship limit enforced by the NCAA. (The SEC did have a limit of 140 scholarships allowed per team.) For a modern-day frame of reference, football was limited until just recently to 85 scholarships. With 140 scholarships at his disposal, Alabama’s Paul W. “Bear” Bryant would load up his roster with not only players he wanted, but also with players that Tennessee, LSU, and Florida were interested in. Bryant would offer a scholarship to a player he really had no intention of playing but would rather have sitting on his bench than on Shug Jordan’s or Vince Dooley’s bench. 

A later iteration of the SEC arms race was teams trying to load their roster with the next great running back in the 1980s. While not in the SEC at the time, Carolina had George Rogers who won the 1980 Heisman Trophy. Georgia had Herschel Walker who won the 1982 Heisman Trophy. Auburn’s Bo Jackson won the award in 1985. Alabama had All-American Bobby Humphrey, Florida had future Hall-of-Famer Emmett Smith, and LSU had Dalton Hilliard who somehow was first-team All-SEC during the same years Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker were running through SEC defenses. 

One of the more recent iterations of this SEC arms race was the need for better football practice and operations facilities. South Carolina was out ahead on that, building the Long Family Football Operations Facility right next to the Spurrier Indoor Practice Facility which encloses the outdoor practice fields. Some programs, like Carolina, were on the right side of that arms race. Other programs, like Florida, still struggle to this day in trying to upgrade and build new and improved football facilities. While capital campaigns for moving dirt and building new structures may not seem on its face related to the never-ending hunt to get better players, not having those buildings can hinder a program in not only recruiting but developing talent. 

The newest iteration of the SEC arms race is to obtain enough funds to retain players on your roster and to entice new players to join your roster. Of course, what I am referencing is this new era of NIL in conjunction with the transfer portal. Mississippi State – the same Mississippi State who just days ago got routed by a MAC program – just received an $8 million pledge towards their football NIL initiative by an anonymous donor. And while the landscape of NIL is ever-changing, and while the future looks to potentially see a revenue-sharing aspect implemented in college athletics, what all of this boils down to is college football rosters will be built not just through who has the best recruiters on staff and who has the best facilities, but who offers the most competitive financial package. 

This is an arms race that for the most part I feel good about. Not because Carolina has the most money (we don’t), but because we are thoughtful in how this money is allocated and fundraised.

In the past year, we have seen South Carolina’s two NIL collectives (Garnet Trust and Carolina Rise) merge under one roof keeping the name Garnet Trust. We have seen the charitable wing of Garnet Trust (the Garnet Trust Foundation) keep its 501(c)(3) status when many other NIL collectives lost theirs. But maybe one of the most important developments is the privatization of the Gamecock Club and the change of South Carolina state law to allow not only for the Gamecock Club to raise NIL funds, but for Gamecock Club members to receive benefits (whether that be points, tax breaks, invitations to player attended events, etc.) in return for donating NIL-earmarked dollars. 

Of course, things can always be improved upon and made better. Those conversations are happening behind closed doors, I know that for certain. And I think those improvements will be asked of, and should be asked of, our new Athletic Director. Carolina needs to attack the new age arms race with the same tenacity it attacked the upgraded facility arms race. 

But what about the former point? The latter point I made about how Carolina has improved in our efforts to fundraise money for paying players can only help if we are intentional about where we spend or money. Despite only having played four games, I think we have seen a strong return on investment with how we have built this 2024 roster: 1) keeping players on the roster that need to stay on the roster and 2) adding new pieces to the roster who are making the jump to SEC football. 

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Let’s address the first prong: keeping players on the roster that need to stay on the roster. From my vantage point, Carolina did not retain only one player I think we wanted to retain this offseason and that was Juice Wells. While there were several fine members of the 2023 roster that ended up hitting the transfer portal, none of them were losses that either couldn’t be replaced or improved upon. In the moment, plenty of Carolina fans lost their minds over the news of some members of the 2023 football roster hitting the portal. Those were not players that Carolina needed to overly worry themselves about losing. Instead, while I won’t mention specific players, Carolina’s staff and NIL operatives worked very hard this offseason to retain key contributors to this roster who had legitimate options to go to other Power Four programs. And those efforts were carefully tailored to retain players who wanted to be here and who quite frankly couldn’t be easily replaced. 

The second focus in the building of this 2024 roster was on adding players who were high performers at whatever program they were at in 2023 but who would be making a jump to the SEC level. When you look at guys like Jared Brown, Mazeo Bennett, Michael Smith, Kyle Kennard, Dylan Stewart, Torricelli Simpkins, etc., what you see are guys who are extremely talented but who performed at a level less than the SEC in 2023. These are the types of players that this staff obviously highlighted in high school recruiting, but also in the transfer portal. Transfers from Georgia Tech, Coastal Carolina, and the FCS level have not only a chip on their shoulder, but also much higher ceilings than previously known. These transfers have never been inside an SEC weight room. These transfers have never been coached by an SEC staff. These transfers have never been given the opportunities and the support given by an SEC football program. These transfers are often both grateful and hungry. 

We are amid a new and downright savage era of college football. Just hours ago, a team in the hunt for a college football playoff bid (UNLV) lost its starting quarterback who decided to sit out for the remainder of the season due to financial promises allegedly made that were not delivered. And while I certainly don’t think Carolina can rest on its laurels, I do think we are starting to become smarter in how we attack this new era of college football.

Fans, administrators, and coaches all need to stay vigilant in our efforts to make sure Carolina is as competitive as it can be in the years to come, and that requires everyone working towards the same goals: collect/give as much money as possible and use that money wisely. That requires collaboration and teamwork from all. 

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