5 reasons to believe South Carolina football can be better than expected on offense

5 Reasons South Carolina Football Will Be Better on Offense in 2024:
Wide Receiver

It might seem strange to say that a team that lost Xavier Legette (NFL, Carolina Panthers), Juice Wells (transfer portal, Ole Miss Rebels), and Ahmarean Brown (NFL, Cleveland Browns) could be better at wide receiver in 2024, but that seems to be the trajectory for this team.

Legette is a major loss, no doubt, but Wells and Brown both were limited by injuries and, in the case of Wells, limited by choosing to sit out after recovering from an injury. The combined production from Wells and Brown was just over 300 yards and just 2 touchdowns last season. Because of the injuries and some inexperience and poor production elsewhere, the receiver group felt like it was "Legette or bust" far too often.

This year's receiver group isn't quite as top-heavy, but it is much deeper. Physical freak Nyck Harbor is now in his second year as a wide receiver, 5 transfers (Gage Larvadain, Jared Brown, Ahmari-Huggins Bruce, Dalevon Campbell, and Vandrevius Jacobs) all should contribute, veterans Luke Doty and Payton Mangrum will be solid if called upon, and freshmen Mazeo Bennett and Debron Gatling have high ceilings as players. That doesn't even include other younger players like Tyshawn Russell, Elijah Caldwell, and CJ Adams who have the talent to be good college receivers.

The group is reminiscent of the 2012-2014 receiver position rooms. Just like this year's team, most of the contributing wideouts were small (only Shaq Roland was taller than 6'0" and had more than 10 catches in a season during those years), but those offenses were some of the best in school history. Head coach Steve Spurrier dialed up ball plays that utilized his players' speed and quickness, and if the 2024 Gamecocks can do the same thing, the new-look wide receiver group could be a strength.

The tight end group should be good, too, as Josh Simon, Brady Hunt, and freshman Michael Smith will take some of the attention off of the players out wide. They also will be more free to help out in the passing game this year as the offensive line improves. Last year, Trey Knox and Simon had to block a lot, even in the passing game, and it limited how much they could impact the game and make life easier for the rest of the team's pass-catchers.

Mike Furrey's unit is a question mark heading into the fall, but the group is deep and has plenty of talent. Several weapons should emerge from that group (and Shawn Elliott's tight end room) for quarterback LaNorris Sellers, which will be an improvement on last year's situation of having just one consistent weapon (Legette).