South Carolina Gamecocks News: 2024 Football Commit, Weekend Trouble, Senior Bowl, Men’s and Women’s Basketball Games, Tennis Sweep
By Kevin Miller
Here’s the South Carolina Gamecocks news from a packed weekend, starting with a 2024 pledge from an in-state player.
Greenville High School’s Mazeo Bennett (a former Tennessee commit) committed to the Gamecocks on Friday afternoon. Bennett is a four-star athlete who is being recruited as a wide receiver. Bennett joins four other blue chip prospects in the Gamecocks’ 2024 class as OT Kam Pringle, QB Dante Reno, TE/WR Michael Smith, and LB Wendell Gregory had previously made public pledges to Head Coach Shane Beamer.
Three freshmen were suspended from the football program.
On Friday, news became public that three Gamecock freshmen were suspended indefinitely from the football team and the University pending an investigation into weapons charges. January enrollees Monteque Rhames and Cameron Upshaw and redshirt freshman Anthony Rose had their suspensions announced by Shane Beamer, but the few details available regarding the situation have come from a release by the school and Richland County arrest records.
The three Gamecocks at the Senior Bowl performed very well.
Before Saturday’s game, Darius Rush and Zacch Pickens were voted by their peers at the 2023 Reese’s Senior Bowl as the Defensive Back Practice Player of the Week and Defensive Line Practice Player of the Week, respectively. Jovaughn Gwyn, a late addition to the Senior Bowl, only had one practice before the game but performed well as an interior offensive lineman.
Men’s basketball lost again.
A losing streak of six games swelled to seven after a home loss to Arkansas. The Gamecocks struggled to get going offensively, only scoring 27 points in the first half. Josh Gray had a very good individual performance, but even a poor second half from the Razorbacks wasn’t enough as the Gamecocks could not pull out the victory. The Hogs won 65-63.
Aliyah Boston notched another double-double in a road victory over UConn.
On Sunday afternoon, Dawn Staley’s squad faced off against Geno Auriemma’s UConn team for the first time since drubbing them in last year’s national title game. A hard-fought battle ended with the Gamecocks keeping their perfect record intact as they knocked off the Huskies. Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso had double-doubles and were the difference-makers in the 81-77 victory.
Men’s tennis remained undefeated after a dominant sweep at Clemson.
Friday’s tennis matchup between the Palmetto State rivals went the way of the Gamecocks in impressive fashion. South Carolina won every matchup en route to a 7-0 sweep of the Tigers and extended their win streak in the series to seven straight seasons. The Gamecocks remain undefeated on the season, and their top doubles and singles players also stay undefeated.
NCAA President Mark Emmert is stepping down…finally.
The long-embattled NCAA President is stepping down as former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker will replace Mark Emmert in March. With a new regime incoming, several big names across collegiate athletics are hopeful for some clear guidelines to be put in place regarding difficult-to-navigate NIL and transfer portal policies and for changes to the high school recruiting calendar for football.