Category: South Carolina Gamecocks

Reacting to Yahoo Sports’ SEC football stadium rankings

Yahoo was very judicious with its choice of who to leave out. Two teams hail from the SEC East and two from the West.

Yahoo Sports recently ranked all the Southeastern Conference football stadiums from one to 10, excluding the bottom four.

The rankings were chosen based on the SEC as presently constructed, so apologies to fans of the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma, you all will have to wait until August to be included.

Yahoo was very judicious with its choice of who to leave out. Two teams hail from the SEC East and two from the West. Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt were left on the outside looking in.

Therefore, if you’re a fan of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Kroger Field, Davis Wade Stadium or FirstBank Stadium, you likely have an axe to grind with Yahoo Sports, not us. For what it’s worth though, they weren’t necessarily wrong.

In descending order, let’s find out where Texas A&M‘s Kyle Field in Aggieland ranks among the best conference in college football.

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Auburn transfer quarterback commits to fellow SEC school

Robby Ashford is on the move again, this time to another SEC program.

Having spent the last two seasons at Auburn, Robby Ashford has officially committed to play at South Carolina in 2024.

This will be the second time that the sophomore quarterback has transferred during his collegiate career, as Ashford originally began his college playing days at Oregon in 2020-21, but did not see any on-field action.

Across the last two seasons with the Tigers, Ashford held a combined 49.5% completion with 1,758 passing yards and a 9-9 TD-INT ratio while throwing the ball, as well as making a key impact in the running game with 927 yards and 12 touchdowns on 199 attempts.

A majority of Ashford’s production came in 2022 as Auburn’s starter under previous head coach Bryan Harsin, holding a 49.2% completion with 1,613 passing yards and a 7-7 TD-INT ratio, while also rushing for 710 yards and seven touchdowns on 153 attempts.

This past season, Ashford was Auburn’s primary backup to starter Payton Thorne in year one under head coach Hugh Freeze and rushed for five touchdowns in limited action.

Ashford is now transfer addition No. 19 for South Carolina so far this offseason, as well as the second quarterback alongside Oklahoma’s Davis Beville.

The Auburn transfer will now compete for South Carolina’s starting job in 2024, which was vacated by Spencer Rattler declaring for the NFL Draft.

South Carolina pulls former Arkansas running back Raheim Sanders from transfer portal

Raheim Sanders had the fourth-most yards in a single season in Razorbacks history in 2022 when he rushed for 1,443 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Former Arkansas running back Raheim “Rocket” Sanders committed to stay in the SEC and play for South Carolina on Wednesday.

247Sports’ Matt Zenitz initially reported that the former Razorback was expected to join Shane Beamer’s team earlier in the day.

The 2022 First-Team All-SEC running back had 2,230 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns in his three seasons with Arkansas, as well as 455 receiving yards and three touchdowns through the air.

Sanders’ 2022 season was remarkable, with 1,443 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games. He rushed for at least 150 yards in four of his first eight games before he later exploded for 232 yards and three touchdowns on just 24 carries against Ole Miss.

His 1,443 yards were the fourth-most in a single season in Arkansas school history, trailing just Alex Collins’ 2015 season and Darren McFadden’s legendary 2006-07 runs.

Sanders couldn’t match his sophomore heights this past season, limited to just 62 carries for 209 yards in six games with only a pair of touchdowns.

Sanders joins a South Carolina team that went 5-7 in 2023 but showed promise in a two-score halftime lead against Georgia. Beamer is 20-18 in his three seasons in Columbia thus far.

South Carolina wide receiver Juice Wells enters transfer portal

The Gamecocks wide receiver and 2022 first-team All-SEC nominee will have two years of eligibility left as a graduate transfer.

South Carolina wide receiver Antwane “Juice” Wells has entered the transfer portal, the Gamecocks wideout announced on Sunday.

“Thank you (Gamecock Nation) for everything!!!” Wells wrote in his statement. “I appreciate all the love and support that was shown me and I will be forever grateful.”

The senior also took the time to thank his teammates and coaches, specifically his wide receivers coach.

Wells, a graduate transfer with two years of eligibility remaining, started his collegiate career with James Madison. He picked up 603 yards and scored six touchdowns in his first season, but he broke out with the Dukes in 2021. He tallied 83 receptions for 1,250 yards and 15 touchdowns. While James Madison was an FCS school at the time, only two FBS receivers matched all three of those metrics.

After Wells transferred to South Carolina, he caught 68 passes for 928 yards and six touchdowns in his first season with the Gamecocks. He finished second in the conference in receptions and fifth in receiving yards, and he was one of two wide receivers named to the 2022 All-SEC First Team.

Wells’ 2023 season was a wash after he injured his left foot early in the season. He only appeared in two games, catching three passes for 37 yards and a touchdown in less than a full game of work. The injury aside, he’s clearly one of the most talented and accomplished wide receivers in the portal.

Best Photos: Texas A&M 30-17 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks

The Aggies bounce back at Kyle Field, beating South Carolina 30-17 on Saturday afternoon

With a much-needed win to avoid a three-game losing streak, the Aggies got the job done against a struggling South Carolina team. Texas A&M hit the 30-point threshold for the first time in a month, giving the offense a little bit of juice to close out the season.

DJ Durkin has continued to call solid defensive game plans since the Miami loss and found a few ways to help his lackluster secondary play. That improvement also saw Edgerrin Cooper make a huge jump to the next level as the season progressed, seeing him play at an All-American level.

With just a few weeks left in the regular season, the Aggies need to win out for this to be considered a successful season. Another 8-4 season will result in more calls for changes at the head coach position. Even with the team’s issues this year, they are still confident they can end the season on a high note.

Below, you can check out the best photos from the game on Saturday.

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Five players to watch ahead of Texas A&M vs. South Carolina

Will the O-line show a sign of life? is QB Spencer Rattler a threat? here are five players to watch ahead of Texas A&M vs. South Carolina

We’re slightly past the halfway point of the 2023 college football season. For Texas A&M (4-3, 2-2 SEC), head coach Jimbo Fisher and his talented but underwhelming offense have plagued any sense of consistency, recently dropping two consecutive SEC matchups against Alabama and Tennessee.

While Fisher’s coaching future in College Station remains a mystery, the final five games of the regular season will likely provide more answers down the line, especially if what we’ve seen from the Aggies since reaching 4-1 after decisively defeating Arkansas to reach 2-0 in the SEC.

Yes, quarterback Conner Weigman’s season-ending injury certainly threw a wrench in the Aggies’ offensive plans. Still, second-year O-line coach Steve Addazio’s failure to fix the blocking issues in the trenches has put then-backup signal caller Max Johnson under constant duress, virtually destroying any rhythm in both the passing and running game since.

However, facing a Gamecocks defense that allows more than 30 points per game should give the offense confidence heading into the matchup.

This week, we have provided several storylines to help provide the full scoop on what to expect on Saturday afternoon.

Focusing on the players that need to make this weekend, here are the five players to watch ahead of Texas A&M vs. South Carolina.

Shane Beamer broke foot kicking something after Florida loss, he says

Shane Beamer kicked something in frustration after the Florida loss on Saturday. Once adrenaline wore off, he realized something was wrong.

South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday that he broke his foot after the Florida loss this weekend when he “kicked something (he) shouldn’t have.”

“I was frustrated,” Beamer said. “I thought I was okay, but the adrenaline of the game wore off.”

Beamer said South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner laughed when he told him about the incident.

The Gamecocks led the Gators by 10 points with five minutes to play on Friday, but Florida led back-to-back touchdown drives, including one buoyed by a huge fourth-down conversion. The Gators scored the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining on the clock.

Beamer said he was frustrated he didn’t do enough to get his team over the hump.

The news of the broken foot comes just days after Beamer’s impassioned postgame press conference when he strongly critiqued his team’s defensive execution down the stretch.

South Carolina fell to 2-4 on the season with the loss. The Gamecocks travel to No. 20 Missouri on Saturday.

 

The Aggie Volleyball team extends their win streak to four after defeating South Carolina in College Station

The Aggie Volleyball team win streak continues as the sweep South Carolina 3-0 for their fourth straight victory

Since falling to Missouri at the beginning of October the Aggie Volleyball team has been on a tear over the past few weeks. Of the 14 sets played they have taken 12 of the 14 sweeping Mississippi State and South Carolina along the way.

First-year head coach Jamie Morrison gave his insight on the game and how his team has grown throughout the season.

“I think it’s interesting because we’ve talked about finding different ways to win, and I thought our block and defense did a really good job in this match in limiting what they were doing. They had to change their game plan a little bit in the third set, but I thought we did a good job of adjusting in the middle of that.”

“I think we’ve been getting better every single match. We just need to make sure we’re playing at the level we’re capable of every night. That’s what great teams do and that’s what we’re working towards.”

After the win on Sunday the Aggies improve their record to 14-4 overall and 6-2 in the SEC. They will be back in action again on Friday, October 20th for a rematch against the No. 14 ranked Florida Gators.

The last time these two teams met, Texas A&M pulled off the upset win in Gainsville over the then ranked No 4. Gators. This will another tough test to see if they can keep their streak going through SEC play.

Congratulations to coach Jamie Morrison and his team to a strong start to the season and hope this is an indication of things to come in the future. Gig’em!

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South Carolina’s Juice Wells out Saturday against Miss. St, won’t miss season

The 2022 first-team All-SEC wideout’s foot injury won’t keep him from the rest of the 2023 season, head coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday.

[autotag]South Carolina Gamecocks[/autotag] wide receiver Juice Wells won’t be available this weekend against Mississippi State with a left foot injury, head coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday.

Beamer did say the wideout should return at some point this season after a meeting with a specialist Tuesday morning. Beamer did not specify the nature of the injury any further than Wells’ foot.

The senior caught two passes for 32 yards against Georgia, including the first touchdown of the game, before he left in the first quarter.

Wells caught 68 passes for 928 yards and six touchdowns a season ago, leading the Gamecocks in all three categories on his way to first-team All-SEC selection.

According to the 2-deep depth chart that was released ahead of the Mississippi State game, true freshman Nyck Harbor is listed as his primary backup. Harbor has caught one pass this year for seven yards. That play resulted in a touchdown.

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Best nonconference matchups of the 2023 college football season

The best 20 nonconference games of the 2023 season.

We are under 100 days to the college football season but who is counting anyway? Well, just about everyone is. Teams are gearing up to make a run at the College Football Playoffs and end Georgia’s run of dominance. The Bulldogs are 29-1 over the last two seasons where they won the title in both.

Can anyone step up and prevent them from joining the Minnesota Golden Gophers in college football immortality? Minnesota won three straight titles in the early to mid-1930s. A feat that has seems impossible to repeat, until now. Almost a century later, we could be witnessing history.

Before we get to the CFP, there is plenty more that needs to be addressed. Teams have fall camps, nonconference games, and the run to their respective conference championship games.

In their 100 storylines to follow, CBS Sports ranked the best 20 nonconference matchups of the 2023 college football season. Plenty of eyes will be on the likes of Alabama, Colorado, Texas, and Texas A&M, but who else should we be paying attention to ahead of conference play?

One notable matchup missing is the opening game of the season in Dublin, Ireland, where Notre Dame and Navy are set to meet on the gridiron. That game was among our must-see games in each week of the 2023 college football season.

Check out the list from CBS Sports: