2025 Football Camp Opens - Season Preview
The University of South Carolina 2025 Football Fall Camp opened on Friday, Aug. 1. The Gamecocks will kick off the 2025 season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Sunday, Aug. 31, against the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Take it a step further.
That’s the mantra that fifth-year head coach Shane Beamer has challenged his team with as they went through their winter workout, spring drills and summer regimen in preparation for the 2025 campaign,
Whether it be developing relationships and bonding with teammates, the way they train in the weight room, their approach in taking care of their bodies in the training room and in the nutrition hub, or how they handle their business away from the football operations center, Coach Beamer has pushed his troops to take it another step further in every aspect of their lives than what they did last season, knowing that just a little bit more might be the difference between a very good season and something even more special.
After a tremendous bounce-back season in 2024, one in which the Gamecocks put together a six-game winning streak to end the regular season, falling just short in their claim for a spot in the college football playoffs en route to a nine-win campaign and a top-20 national finish, expectations for Gamecock Football are at a high level both locally and nationally entering 2025.
Many of the top prognosticators have the Gamecocks penciled in as a preseason top-15 caliber team, one that won’t be able to sneak up on anyone as they did in 2024 when they entered the season well under the radar.
Coach Beamer has proven he has the chops to keep the program on an upward trajectory. With 29 wins, he eclipsed the mark set by Hall of Fame coach Steve Spurrier for most wins in his first four seasons at Carolina. Coach Beamer has recorded seven wins over top-25 teams including three wins over to-10 teams in four seasons, with both marks better than any previous coach in school history.
The playing field has certainly changed since The Head Ball Coach roamed the sidelines with the advent of the transfer portal, NIL and revenue sharing, but Coach Beamer has established a team-first culture to withstand the fluidity of roster management and has the Gamecocks poised to be a consistent threat for a playoff berth and positioned to challenge Spurrier’s on-field success from a decade ago.
While the roster has its share of turnover as 39 letterwinners who finished the 2024 regular season are no longer in the program, the coaching staff remained virtually intact. The lone exception was Mike Shula being elevated to the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach after Dowell Loggains took the head coaching post at Appalachian State. Shula worked very closely with the offense last season and the transition is expected to be a seamless one.
Coach Beamer and his staff have 114 players on the roster including 37 letterwinners, 18 on the offensive side of the ball and 19 on defense. That list includes nine returning starters. The five offensive returning starters are wide receiver Nyck Harbor, right tackle Cason Henry, quarterback LaNorris Sellers, tight end Michael Smith and left tackle Josiah Thompson. The four returning defensive starters are cornerback Judge Collier, Nickel Jalon Kilgore, safety DQ Smith and Edge rusher Dylan Stewart. The Gamecocks do not return any specialists who have earned a varsity letter.
Like most teams, the Gamecocks have hit both the high school ranks and the transfer portal hard to add talent to the mix. The Gamecocks inked 26 players in the December early signing period, 25 high schoolers and one junior college transfer. Of the 26, 20 enrolled at South Carolina in January and went through spring drills. Coach Beamer and his staff supplemented that with an additional 17 players through the transfer portal, 13 of whom were on campus in the spring.
The Gamecocks will put their offensive fortunes in the capable hands of redshirt sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers. Sellers exploded on the scene over the last half of the 2024 season and has positioned himself as a possible Heisman Trophy candidate.
While having stellar quarterback play gives you a chance, building a formidable cast around him will go a long way in determining the Gamecocks’ fortunes. The Gamecock coaches have worked diligently to build quality depth and add key pieces, either through high school recruiting or through the portal, to provide the components necessary for consistent success.
Defensively, the Gamecocks lost a lot, as five of last year’s standouts were selected in the NFL Draft. While there will be a drop-off in experience, talent remains at all three levels, beginning with sophomore Edge rusher Dylan Stewart, who has already established himself as one of the nation’s best. Defensive coordinator Clayton White figures to have his deepest unit yet, with the strength of the squad located in the secondary.
Second-year special teams coach Joe DeCamillis will be charged with replacing all the key components, most notably at punter following the graduation of five-year starter and two-time All-American Kai Kroeger.
Nothing comes easy in the uber-talented Southeastern Conference, and if the Gamecocks are able to reach their goals, they will have to run through another tough gauntlet of games that will test their mettle.
The season opens on the national stage with a non-conference neutral site game in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium against a program that Coach Beamer knows well, the Virginia Tech Hokies. It will mark the Gamecocks’ first appearance in Atlanta since playing back-to-back games in the Georgia Dome to end the 2010 season. The Gamecocks hope it won’t be their only appearance in Atlanta in 2025, as Mercedes-Benz is also the site of the SEC Championship game.
In-state FCS rival South Carolina State provides the competition in Carolina’s home opener on Sept. 6, before the Gamecocks begin an eight-game gauntlet against SEC opponents.
The conference slate opens on Sept. 13 with a home game against Vanderbilt with Carolina looking for its 17th-straight win in the series. The Gamecocks’ first true road game of the season is at Missouri on Sept. 20 when the Mayor’s Cup will be up for grabs. A home contest versus Kentucky on Sept. 27 wraps up the season’s first month.
After a bye week on Oct. 4, Carolina travels to Baton Rouge for an Oct. 11 date with the LSU Tigers. Oklahoma makes its first trip ever to Columbia on Oct. 18, followed by a visit from perennial power Alabama on Oct. 25 as the university celebrates its annual Homecoming.
The Gamecocks will try to make it another “November to Remember” when they play at Ole Miss on Nov. 1. After their second bye week, Carolina travels to College Station for a Nov. 15 date with the Texas A&M Aggies with the Bonham Trophy in the balance, which wraps up the conference slate.
Carolina’s final two games of the regular season are both against in-state opponents, as Coastal Carolina comes to Columbia on Nov. 22 and Clemson visits on Nov. 29 for the annual Palmetto State showdown. The Gamecocks have never lost to Coastal and own two wins in the last three meetings over the best the ACC has to offer, including a 17-14 win in Clemson last November.
If the Gamecocks are able to answer Coach Beamer’s challenge and take it a step further, Carolina Football will have much more to look forward to as 2025 comes to an end and the calendar rolls into 2026.
