South Carolina football is gearing up for the official start of preseason practices.
Shane Beamer enters his fifth season as coach of the Gamecocks with star quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who had a breakout season in 2024 and led them to great success. The bar is set high, as the program reached nine wins for the first time since 2017.
Here are five questions for South Carolina ahead of the 2025 season with the first preseason practice scheduled for Aug. 2.
Will Oscar Adaway III lead South Carolina football’s running back room?
In 2024, Rocket Sanders carried the run game and behind him was Oscar Adaway III, who had 295 rushing yards on 77 carries (3.8 yards per carry) with three touchdowns.
As of July 21, South Carolina doesn’t know if transfer running back Rahsul Faison can play, but even if he’s granted eligibility by the NCAA, it could be Adaway leading the charge.
With such a versatile quarterback in Sellers, having strength in receivers and running backs is vital, and Adaway knows what it’s like to play with Sellers already. If he leans into that, he could step into the role that Sanders had in 2024.
How will South Carolina’s new offensive coordinator Mike Shula do in Year 1?
Mike Shula isn’t new to football or South Carolina, but he was promoted from an analyst to offensive coordinator in December.
Dowell Loggains, the former OC, seemed to gel well with Sellers. Loggains had a lot of youth to work with in September −even October −of last year, but by the end of last season, he established a highly productive offense.
Beamer stressed how critical continuity was in the hire, but in the Citrus Bowl, where Shula called the plays, it was rocky at times.
Sellers has proved stellar at scrambling − though with a stronger offensive line he would have more time in the pocket to see the play develop − but in the bowl game, he sometimes looked hesitant to run at all.
Major questions for 2025 will be how Shula and Sellers produce as a duo and how Shula handles the offense as a whole.
Who will be South Carolina football’s new kicker and punter?
South Carolina will have a new punter, place-kicker, kickoff specialist, holder, snapper, punt returner and kickoff returner this season.
Both the punter place-kicker jobs could go to redshirt freshman Mason Love. In the spring, Beamer said he wasn’t against the idea of Love handling both but didn’t want to cause an adverse affect on his performance at one by having him do both.
For the past five years, Beamer had star punter Kai Kroeger, who averaged 44.6 yards per kick, the second-best in school history.
No position battles are complete until Beamer says so, but an educated guess is that Love will replace Kroeger. If he doesn’t replace Alex Herrera as place-kicker and kickoff specialist, who will?
Will it be redshirt senior William Joyce, whom Herrera beat out for the job last August or will it go to a younger guy like freshman Max Kelley or redshirt sophomore Peyton Argent?
The place-kicking battle went deep into August last season, and Herrera went on to miss some key field goals. Maintaining excellence in terms of punting and improving field goal percentages will be huge aspects to 2025.
Will South Carolina edge rusher Dylan Stewart continue his dominance?
Kyle Kennard came to South Carolina in 2024, led the SEC with 11.5 sacks and left with the Bronko Nagurski Award.
He was a one part of the lethal edge rush duo with Dylan Stewart, now just a sophomore. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound Stewart had 6.5 sacks and forced three fumbles last year.
If he continues to dominate and South Carolina builds some success around him, it’s going to be a powerful defense but the question is, will Stewart have a sophomore slump?
Can South Carolina football avoid a rocky start to 2025?
Last year, the Gamecocks lost heartbreaking games to LSU and Alabama. They also took a bad loss to Ole Miss and were 3-3 in mid-October but won their last six regular-season games.
South Carolina has the potential be 5-0 when it arrives in Baton Rouge for revenge, if it’s able to take care of Vanderbilt on Sept. 13 and Missouri on the road Sept. 20.
Beamer stressed both last postseason and this preseason that the Gamecocks learn that every play and every point matters. Three- or two-point losses can be the difference between a berth in the CFP and one in a bowl game.
Will South Carolina learn from its mistakes in 2024 and pick up some big key wins before late October?
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
