The South Carolina Gamecocks are heading into the 2025 college football with playoff expectations surrounding the program. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers is leading the hype train this offseason after an explosive year as a first-time starter. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for the Gamecocks.
The program has quite a bit of production to replace, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. Names like TJ Sanders, Nick Emmanwori, Tonka Hemingway, Kyle Kennard and Demetrius Knight are no longer on the roster.
It’s not just about replacing what those guys did statistically, though. It’s about replacing their presence on the football team as well, and Shane Beamer noted that’s the biggest concern for this roster this season.
“[Defense] is my biggest concern I have right now,” Shane Beamer said on the“Always College Football” podcast. “I knew that we were gonna be better in 2024 because of our leadership, particularly on our defense. My biggest concern as we go into 2025 is replacing that leadership. We’ve got certainly capable guys. DQ Smith is a leader on our defense. He’s about to be a four-year starter at safety for us. Jalon Kilgore and Judge Collier are multi-year starters for us now. Nick Barrett‘s a guy who’s a fifth year in our program but now he’s in a position to be the old guy on defense. He’s made of the right stuff.”
It’s certainly something to keep an eye on this season for the Gamecocks. They still have a good number of returning contributors on both sides of the ball to potentially alleviate some of the losses.
