South Carolina football has high expectations from many in the college football world heading into the 2023 season. While total wins and losses have been up for much debate this offseason due to the Gamecocks’ difficult schedule, most of the national media has started to buy into the progress the program has made under head coach Shane Beamer.
While Beamer and his South Carolina football coaching staff have done a good job in Columbia, the biggest reason for progress and increased expectations for the fall is the players on the field. Several of these Gamecock players have seen their names grace preseason All-American and All-SEC lists, and now, preseason watch lists are liking the Gamecocks.
South Carolina football long snapper Hunter Rogers was the first Gamecock named to a preseason watch list (Patrick Mannelly Award), but two more joined him on Tuesday.
Spencer Rattler and Antwane “Juice” Wells are 2 of the 85 players to be named to the preseason Maxwell Award watch list. 16 schools are represented by two players each on the list, while 53 schools add one player each to the watch list.
The watch list is put together by the Maxwell Football Club (made up primarily of college football writers) and is created in conjunction with college football analyst Phil Steele’s analyst team and Pro Football Focus’ college football division.
The Maxwell Award, named for college football lifer Robert “Tiny” Maxwell, has been given annually for over 85 years to the “most outstanding player” in college football and traditionally has been given to the country’s best offensive player (the Bednarik Award goes to the country’s best defensive player).
Rattler was nominated for the Maxwell Award’s preseason list in 2021 while still at Oklahoma and in the summer of 2022 before his first season with the South Carolina football program.
Wells is a first-time inclusion to the preseason Maxwell Award watch list.
Both Rattler and Wells finished the 2022 season on a high note and turned down a start to their NFL careers to return to South Carolina for one last ride.
If the two USC stars can find themselves on the final list of Maxwell Award nominees, the Gamecocks will be in for a fun 2023 campaign.
No Gamecock has ever won the Maxwell Award. When George Rogers won the 1980 Heisman Trophy, a defensive lineman (Hugh Green of Pittsburgh) was granted the Maxwell Award in a non-traditional fashion.