Column: South Carolina should be better than what the SEC preseason media poll tells us

In fairness, you can probably understand the reasoning. After a down year, it’s not completely unexpected.

But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be right.

Every year, the SEC releases its annual preseason media poll. As you can imagine, it usually sparks plenty of controversy and debate. And that’s the idea behind it. It’s something that will get people talking with another month until college football season begins.

This year, the media picked South Carolina to finish 13th overall in the conference standings. That only puts the Gamecocks ahead of Arkansas, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. It’s quite the departure from projecting to finish third in the SEC East last year.

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It’s not earth-shattering news that South Carolina wasn’t thought very highly of this time around. After winning eight games in 2022, the Gamecocks followed it up with a 5-7 year and missed a bowl game for the first time under Shane Beamer.

Even Beamer himself knew this ranking was coming.

“When you guys do your picks on Thursday, we’ll be picked 14th, 15th, or 16th, I’m sure. But I’m excited about this group,” the fourth-year head coach said on Monday at SEC Media Days.

For better or worse, the media has always gotten it wrong with South Carolina in Beamer’s first three years. In 2021 and 2022, when the media had the Gamecocks towards the bottom of the SEC, they exceeded expectations. Then last year, they finished worse than where they were projected to.

So it’s not far-fetched to say the trend won’t continue in 2024. In fact, I expect this team to be much improved. I’m not saying it will be one of the best in the conference. But they could certainly have a better year than teams ahead of them like Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Auburn, Kentucky and Florida.

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Now, if I were voting this year, I probably would’ve had the Gamecocks somewhere around the nine or 10 range. For one, they’ll get head to head matchups with Oklahoma, A&M and Kentucky. And with how tough Florida’s schedule is, I could see things going real bad down in Gainesville. As for Auburn, I think seven to eight wins is on the table. Then again, the Tigers could drop some other games along the way.

But getting back to South Carolina, I just think this team is better than what the media is thinking. The Gamecocks will return 11 starters in total, four on offense and seven on defense. Obviously, replacing Spencer Rattler at quarterback is no small task. But if he wins the job, I think LaNorris Sellers can really do wonders as a guy with much more mobility in his bag of tricks.

The questions for me will be the offensive line and receiving corps. It’s hard to imagine how much worse the front five could be after giving up 41 sacks last season. But Tree Babalade and Trovon Baugh are back for their second years after becoming full-fledged starters as freshmen. Plus, Vershon Lee and Jakai Moore will bring a lot of value and experience as returning starters. And Cason Henry should be fully healthy after dealing with some injuries last year. That’s all without mentioning the any of the newcomers joining the Gamecocks on the line.

With the passing attack, I don’t expect Sellers to sling the ball 35-plus times, like Rattler did in six games in 2023. But when he does have to throw, it will be to one of the many new faces in that receivers room. The Gamecocks brought in Jared Brown, Gage Larvadain and Ahmari Higgins-Bruce from the portal to replace the likes of Xavier Legette, Juice Wells and Ahmarean Brown. Then there’s Nyck Harbor, who could really breakout as a sophomore with the startling size and speed he possesses.

But if there’s one thing I know will be different this year, it has to be the run game. South Carolina averaged an SEC-worst 85.1 yards per game on the ground, which made the offense feel very one-dimensional and put more pressure on Rattler. To fix that problem, the Gamecocks added Rocket Sanders, Jawarn Howell and Oscar Adaway III out of the portal. If all three can stay healthy, this could turn into the bread and butter of the offense.

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Defensively, it wasn’t pretty last season. There were a lot of issues, like the fact that South Carolina didn’t force a turnover for well over a month at one point. But something clicked in those final four games for Clayton White’s group. There’s much more talent returning on this side of the ball. It’s just going to come down to whether or not the defense can finish off games and keep opponents in check. If so, it really boils down to what the offense does.

So while I see why the media picked South Carolina where they did, I don’t fully agree with it. As I look at the schedule, which I know many complain about how tough it is, there are four wins for the taking: Old Dominion, Akron, Vanderbilt and Wofford. That leaves the Gamecocks with eight other games where it gets much tougher. But in some cases, it could go either way.

For me, what this season will really come down to is what they do in some of these toss-up games. I’m looking at Kentucky, LSU, Oklahoma and Texas A&M as being winnable. The other four, Ole Miss, Alabama, Missouri and Clemson, could be as well. But not as much as those others I just listed, in my opinion.

I may be completely wrong on this take when I eventually circle back to it at the end of the season. And that’s fine if I am. But with so much on the line, I do think South Carolina could have what it takes to get back to 2022 form or better.