South Carolina football: best and worst case scenarios for the 2021 season
By Jacob Elsey
South Carolina football kicks off its season on Sept. 4th.
The South Carolina football team is preparing for its inaugural season under first-year head coach Shane Beamer. The program is coming off of back-to-back losing campaigns, posting just six wins over its last 22 contests. The team hasn’t reached the postseason since 2018, but coach Beamer is doing his best to flip the script.
While expectations for this year will be minimal, it’s fun to project how the Gamecocks might perform in 2021. There are pieces coming back, most notably in the backfield, where the team returns Kevin Harris, ZaQuandre White, MarShawn Lloyd, and Luke Doty. Both the offensive and defensive lines should be a strength, too.
Unfortunately, there are too many question marks in other areas to realistically see the program making a 2000-type turnaround, where the team went from an 0-11 campaign to an eight-win season and top 25 final ranking under Lou Holtz. Who steps up at wide receiver? Will the secondary be able to replace five major contributors? Can the defense cut down on the 36 points per game it allowed last season?
Time will tell on those answers, but we’re expecting South Carolina to be competitive. With the way the schedule lines up, the Gamecocks could feasibly be close to bowl eligibility at the season’s midway point. The team will be favored in four of its first seven games, three of which come in the non-conference slate. Of course, we could have another slow start and late season slide, which we’ve seen in each of the last two campaigns. South Carolina faces a brutal November that features Florida, Missouri, Auburn, and Clemson. Texas A&M is also thrown in the second half mix.
Let’s break down the best and worst case scenarios for South Carolina football in 2021.