South Carolina Gamecocks Offseason To-Do List: Rebuild the OL and Retool the Secondary

Schools all across the country are set to ramp up their offseason workouts in the coming weeks, with the South Carolina Gamecocks being no different. As successful of a season as the 2024 year was, 2025 could be even brighter.

With key departures at several positions on the team, I've noted five things the Gamecocks must do in order to compete for a college football playoff birth in 2025. It all starts with the trenches.

1. Retool the offensive line

South Carolina is losing a lot of veteran snaps along the interior of the offensive line. Vershon Lee, Torricelli Simpkins III, and Kamaar Bell are all out of eligibility, which leaves a gaping hole up the middle of the line. Lee was a three year starter for the Gamecocks, making 51 appearances during his career in Columbia. Transfers Bell and Simpkins came in and started every game in the 2024 season. South Carolina has the tackle positions locked down with Josiah Thompson and Cason Henry, however the question this spring will be can the Gamecocks solidify the middle of the line with players already on the roster or those who were newly added?

2. Get Mike Shula and LaNorris Sellers on the same page

Mike Shula replaces Dowell Loggains as the Gamecocks new offensive coordinator after Loggains was hired away by Appalachian State. Shula has been an offensive coordinator in the past around the NFL, with his biggest successes coming in Carolina with Cam Newton. Now back in college and the sole play caller once again, can he and his young quarterback gel the same way as Sellers and Loggains were able to do in 2024? Shula was asked this very question during his introductory press conference.

"We'll put our own flavor on it, but I want to make sure we're going to do things just as good as we've done this past season. That's a challenge in itself to continue to get better," Shula said.

The Gamecocks need Sellers and the offense to take the next step if they hope to achieve higher goals in 2025.

3. Replace Nick Emmanwori

The 2024 South Carolina defense was the team's strength throughout this past season. While Sellers and the offense was coming along, it was the defense that kept them in games throughout the year. One of the group's best players, Nick Emmanwori, announced his decision to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL Draft. Emmanwori was one of the best safeties in the country and is expected to hear his name called early on in the 2025 NFL Draft.

While replacing a talent like Emmanwori won't be easy, the Gamecocks do return DQ Smith, Jalon Kilgore, and Judge Collier in the secondary. This group of veterans should make it easier to slide someone in next to Smith at the back end of the defense.

4. Is Mason Love Ready?

Alex Herrera and Kai Kroeger will not be back in 2025 as they both have run out of eligibility. This means Mason Love has his chance to take over the reigns next season. Listed as the backup at punter and place kicker in 2024, Love, entering his sophomore year with the program, was the second ranked kicker in the 2024 class. He will battle with incoming freshman and #2 kicker in the 2025 class, Max Kelley, for the right to be the Gamecocks kicker going forward. Is Love ready to become the full time place kicker? Or will Kelley come in and insert himself as the guy going forward?

5. Revamping the defensive line

One of the reasons the Gamecocks were so good on defense in 2024 was due to their stellar defensive line play. That room takes a massive hit as Kyle Kennard (eligibility), Tonka Hemingway (eligibility), TJ Sanders (early decision), Alex Huntley (eligibility), and DeAndre Jules (eligibility) are all set to depart this offseason. South Carolina counters that attrition with 11 new players being added through the high school ranks and the portal. The addition of talented players like Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, Jaylen Brown, and Zavion Hardy, among others, should help Clayton White and Dylan Stewart recreate a stout front in 2025.

South Carolina has some work to do on both sides of the ball, but if it can check off these to-do list items, it can be one of the best teams in America in 2025.

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