South Carolina Gamecocks 2026 Season Preview

The Gap Widens

Shane Beamer's sixth year produced a 1-7 league mark that looks nothing like a program ranked 23rd in power rating, and that gap between talent and results is the real story heading into 2026. A 4-8 season with a losing conference record does not square with a roster the ratings still like, which means the margin between close losses and a bowl bid has to close on the field, not in recruiting rankings. South Carolina has the horses by the numbers, it just has not turned that into SEC wins under Beamer.

Sellers Can't Do It Alone

South Carolina's offense finished 134th in points per scoring opportunity and 131st in sacks allowed a year ago, numbers that make it stunning LaNorris Sellers still threw for 2,437 yards and 13 touchdowns behind that mess. The line and red-zone finishing killed drives more than Sellers did, and until those 128th-ranked third-down and 118th-ranked success-rate numbers move, his return alone won't fix an offense that stalled everywhere but the explosive-play column, where it actually ranked 19th. The defense, meanwhile, quietly outplayed the offense at every turn, and if that gap doesn't close in 2026, another season gets buried by its own stat sheet rather than its quarterback.

LaNorris Sellers threw for 2,437 yards last season while getting sacked 43 times behind a line that finished 131st in that category, and the gap between his talent and a 4-8 finish is the whole story here. Nothing about the passing game numbers screams disaster (67th in yards per game) but the offense stalled constantly, converting only 31.9% of third downs and scoring at a 134th-ranked clip once it reached scoring territory. Beamer added Lucian Anderson III from Bowling Green and 4-star Landon Duckworth as depth, but 2026 is about whether Sellers can turn pressure and stalled drives into points, because the arm and legs were never South Carolina's problem in 2025.

Rahsul Faison's 470 yards walk out the door with a rushing attack that already ranked 119th in the country, so South Carolina rebuilt this room almost entirely through the portal rather than trust what was left behind. Christian Clark arrives from Texas with 236 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns and looks like the new lead back, joined by Penn State's Jabree Coleman and Ohio State's Sam Dixon as unproven depth pieces behind him. Matt Fuller's 260 yards give the room some continuity, but with sacks allowed and third-down rate both bottom-ten nationally last year, the ground game's outlook rides more on the line in front of Clark than on the back himself.

South Carolina rebuilt this room from the outside rather than trust internal growth, adding five wideouts through the portal after an offense that stalled at 31.9% on third downs and 2.61 points per scoring chance. Nyck Harbor's 618 yards headline the returning group, but the real bet is Purdue transfer Nitro Tuggle, whose 505 yards and 4 touchdowns are meant to replace the production lost when Vandrevius Jacobs (548 yards, 4 TD) left. With Jayden Sellers and Donovan Murph also back and DJ Black arriving from UCF, the talent at receiver looks upgraded, but that group still needs an offensive line that allowed 43 sacks to actually get them the ball.

Brady Hunt was the closest thing this group had to a target last season, and 21 catches for 168 yards without a touchdown tells the real story of a South Carolina passing game that couldn't create explosive plays through its tight ends. Jordan Dingle's 10 grabs are gone, and the Gamecocks didn't chase a big name to replace him, instead adding UCF transfer Max Drag, who caught just 3 passes for 19 yards last year. With Maurice Brown II and Mike Tyler barely used and Reno Roehm unproven, this remains a blocking-first room propping up a rushing attack that finished 119th in yards per game, not a unit built to fix an offense that ranked 134th in points per scoring opportunity.

A line that allowed 43 sacks and cleared just 112 rushing yards a game last season is getting almost entirely overhauled, with 14 departures wiping out whatever cohesion existed up front. Shane Beamer went to the high school and transfer ranks to answer for it, landing four-star signees Darius Gray and Zyon Guiles alongside NC State transfer tackle Jacarrius Peak, while seniors Emmanuel Kojo Poku and Nolan Hay carry what little experience remains in the room. With more talent leaving than coming back in raw bodies, 2026 is a ground-up rebuild up front, and the rushing attack likely stays a problem until Peak and the incoming linemen prove they can hold up in the SEC.

Dylan Stewart is the anchor here, coming off 11.5 TFL and 4 sacks, but South Carolina went out and rebuilt the depth around him after losing Nick Barrett and Monkell Goodwine off the interior. Tomiwa Durojaiye transfers in from Illinois with 4.5 TFL already on his résumé, and Caleb Herring joins via the portal from Tennessee bringing 6 TFL and 4 sacks of his own, giving Beamer two proven edge pieces to pair with Stewart immediately. The talent influx matters because the production wasn't there last year, 21 sacks ranked 100th nationally and the group still finished 83rd in tackles for loss, so the bet for 2026 is that Durojaiye and Herring turn Stewart's disruption into a rotation instead of a one-man show.

South Carolina loses its most disruptive edge presence in Jatius Geer and Desmond Umeozulu, but the tackle-makers stay put: Justin Okoronkwo (63 tackles, 4 TFL) and Fred Johnson (62 tackles, 3.5 TFL) form a proven core, with Shawn Murphy (49 tackles) rounding out a group that already handled the bulk of the workload. The bigger question is pass rush juice, since the departed names combined for most of the sack production this room had, and 3-star Oxford addition Keenan Britt arrives without a track record to offset that. This unit projects to keep a defense that ranked 43rd in yards per play allowed steady against the run, but finding more TFL disruption than last year's 83rd-ranked group managed will determine whether it climbs or just holds serve.

South Carolina loses its two leading tacklers in the secondary, DQ Smith (64 tackles) and Jalon Kilgore (54), which guts a group that finished 59th in pass yards allowed a year ago. Peyton Williams (50 tackles) becomes the clear anchor, with Vicari Swain and Judge Collier filling in around him, but the more interesting addition is a recruiting haul rather than a portal fix: four-star signee J'Zavien Currence arrives from South Pointe to compete for snaps at safety, joined by corners Kosci Barnes and Quay'sheed Scott, the latter bringing 39 tackles of experience over from Kentucky. This is a young, remade back end leaning on high school talent to replace departed production, and until Currence and Barnes prove ready, the coverage numbers are more likely to slip than climb.

South Carolina's placekicking job is a full reset. William Joyce, who hit 12 of 15 field goals with a 49-yard long, is gone, and the returning options, Max Kelley and Mason Love, combined have made 0 of 1 kicks in Gamecock uniforms. The answer likely comes from outside the building: Upton Bellenfant arrives from Texas Tech having gone 6 of 6 with a 33-yard long, and that clean track record makes him the favorite to take over the job Joyce leaves behind.

Rebuilding Around Sellers

A 1-7 league mark with LaNorris Sellers still at quarterback is the real red flag here, and 2026 is about surrounding him with better parts after South Carolina lost Rahsul Faison, Vandrevius Jacobs and Bryan Thomas Jr. off both sides of the ball. The portal fix leans heavily on skill talent, Purdue's Nitro Tuggle and Texas back Christian Clark arrive to replace lost touches, while Illinois transfer Tomiwa Durojaiye and Tennessee's Caleb Herring try to rebuild a front seven that lost Thomas Jr.'s 7 sacks. None of the 25 newcomers are blue-chip fixes, so Sellers' improvement matters more than any single addition to actually move the record.

LaNorris Sellers, Take Two

A 4-8 finish happened with LaNorris Sellers throwing 13 touchdowns against 8 interceptions, and closing that gap is the whole season. Nyck Harbor gives him a proven vertical target and Christian Clark arrives from Texas to soften the loss of Rahsul Faison's workload, but South Carolina's ceiling rises or falls on Sellers cutting down the turnovers that stalled last year's offense.

Competitive Cover, Ugly Record

South Carolina finished 4-8 but broke exactly even against the number, and the split tells the real story: this was a team that kept games close without closing them, going 0-6 straight up against ranked competition while still covering three of those six. The bounce-back number stands out most, a 5-2 cover mark the week after a loss under Shane Beamer, suggesting a roster that did not fold after bad nights even as the win column stayed empty. As a home favorite South Carolina covered just 2-3, and fixing that specific leak, not the schedule or the ranked-team results, is what would turn a break-even bettor into a profitable one in 2026.