The No. 13 South Carolina football team will open its season on Sunday, Aug. 31, against head coach Shane Beamer's alma mater, the Virginia Tech Hokies, in the Aflac Kickoff Game.
Beamer played for the Hokies from 1995 to 1999 as a wide receiver and long snapper and coached under his father, Frank Beamer, from 2015 to 2022 as an assistant head coach and running back coach.
Heading into the matchup, Beamer said the team accomplished a lot in its final preseason scrimmage. Now that the season has started, South Carolina will enter a new routine for the regular season.
“We’ve got close to 50 players, I think, that weren’t a part of our program last season, counting freshmen and transfers,” Beamer said. “So it’s a lot of guys that have not been through a game week, if you will. So (I) want those guys to understand what a normal game week is like around here.”
Both freshman edge Kobby Sayki-Prah and redshirt freshman cornerback Jackson Burger will miss the first game of the season due to injury. Beamer also said redshirt senior edge George Wilson Jr. will miss the first game this season as well.
“He’s going to be out for a while as well, which is unfortunate,” Beamer said. “We’ve kind of gotten hit pretty good at that one spot, which is disappointing … but a lot of guys that are there that are competing and working to get better.”
South Carolina has replaced players lost in both the transfer portal and to the NFL draft with freshmen and transfers on both offense and defense. One of the transfers at the cornerback position is NC State transfer junior Brandon Cisse.
“He’s really smart and he’s been a great addition to not just our secondary and not just our defense, but our football team,” Beamer said.
Redshirt sophomore Vicari Swain, one of the returners for the secondary, said he is confident about where the group is heading going into this season.
"I'd say everybody is coming along as one. The younger guys, they're coming up right behind us, and we're just mentoring the young guys," Swain said. “I feel like, as a whole, we’re going to be one of the tightest groups on the team.”
On offense, redshirt sophomore LaNorris Sellers is returning for his second full season as the starting quarterback and will look to work with freshmen receivers, including his brother, Jayden Sellers, as he strives to improve upon his season last year.
New offensive coordinator Mike Shula said he is optimistic about the new receivers this year despite the inexperience of the six true freshmen.
“I think the younger guys … are a very mature group,” Shula said. “I think the older guys that have been here, they’ve done a really good job of embracing the fact that there’s younger guys that are going to help us and that are going to be on the field.”
Outlook on Virginia Tech
The Hokies come into this game looking to improve upon its last season, where it had a losing record of 6-7, including a loss in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Virginia Tech hired new coordinators this past offseason in Phillip Montgomery as offensive coordinator and Sam Siefkes as defensive coordinator.
Montgomery is entering his 32nd season as a coach this year. Last season was his first and only at the professional level for the United Football League (UFL) as the co-offensive coordinator for the Birmingham Stallions. He was also the head coach for the University of Tulsa from 2015 to 2022 and has served as an offensive coordinator at schools such as Auburn, Baylor and Houston.
Siefkes is also returning to the collegiate level after coaching at the professional level last year. He's served as a linebacker coach for two NFL teams, the Arizona Cardinals and the Minnesota Vikings, and was the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin-Plattevile, Florida and Wofford.
Redshirt senior quarterback Kyron Drones will lead the offense for the Hokies. Last season, he played nine games and passed for 1,562 yards, throwing 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. Drones missed the last three games of the season, including the Duke's Mayo Bowl, due to an injury.
He’ll look to bounce back this season with transfers in Bowling Green transfer Terion Stewart at running back alongside two wide receiver transfers in graduate receiver Donovan Greene and junior receiver Cameron Seldon.
On defense, the Hokies bring back returners as well as some transfer players. Eastern Michigan transfer graduate student James Djonkam and Texas State transfer fifth-year student Ben Bell will look to produce success on the defensive line, while East Carolina redshirt junior transfer Isaiah Brown-Murray will bring experience to a secondary that will feature five freshman cornerbacks.
Both teams will look to start the season off with a win after losing their bowl games to end the season. South Carolina will enter as 7.5-point favorites against Virginia Tech, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
What’s next?
The Gamecocks set to open the season in the Aflac Kickoff Game against the Virginia Tech Hokies on Sunday, Aug. 31. The game will kick off at 3 p.m. from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, and will be broadcast on ESPN.