Gamecocks Place Two on Coaches’ Freshman All-SEC Team
A pair of South Carolina special teams performers, punter Mason Love and kickoff specialist Max Kelley, earned spots on the Coaches’ Freshman All-SEC team, the Southeastern Conference office announced today.
Love, a 6-1, 191-pound redshirt freshman from Riverside, Mo., ranked third in the SEC with a 45.1-yard average. He placed 16 punts of his 53 punts inside the 20 with just four touchbacks and had 13 punts of 50 yards or more including a long of 61 yards. He posted the nation’s second-best punting average among all freshmen.
Kelley, a 6-2, 223-pound true freshman from Gallatin, Tenn., boomed 47 kickoffs for a 61.6-yard average with 17 touchbacks in his first year with the Gamecocks. Carolina ranked 27th in the country in kickoff return defense, as opponents returned 21 kickoffs for a 17.5-yard average.
2025 SEC All-Freshman Team Presented by Allstate
Offense
QB
Cutter Boley, Kentucky
RB
Chauncey Bowens, Georgia
Tory Blaylock, Oklahoma
WR
Vernell Brown III, Florida
Braylon Staley, Tennessee
TE
Kaleb Edwards, Alabama
OL
David Sanders Jr., Tennessee
Michael Carroll, Alabama
Kobe Branham, Arkansas
Dontrell Glover, Georgia
C
Kail Ellis, Auburn
AP
Vernell Brown III, Florida
Defense
DL
Jayden Woods, Florida
Elijah Griffin, Georgia
Lance Jackson, Texas
London Simmons, Alabama
LB
Edwin Spillman, Tennessee
Elijah Melendez, Auburn
Tyler Lockhart, Mississippi State
DB
Dijon Lee Jr., Alabama
Courtland Guillory, Oklahoma
DJ Pickett, LSU
Ty Redmond, Tennessee
Special Teams
PK
Scott Starzyk, Arkansas
P
Mason Love, South Carolina
RS
Vernell Brown III, Florida
KOS
Max Kelley, South Carolina
LS
Silas Hall, LSU
