Fall camp starts this week; Five South Carolina football true freshmen to watch

South Carolina Football's 5 Freshmen to Watch this Preseason:
Wide Receiver Mazeo Bennett

Mazeo Bennett, a 4-star wide receiver from Greenville High School, originally spurned the in-state Gamecocks to commit to the Tennessee Volunteers, but, in the end, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer and his staff won out in his recruitment. It's a good thing for the 2024 version of the team, as well, as Bennett could be a major factor this fall.

Bennett is not a big receiver, but he is not the type of slot receiver who is a quickness-only player. Bennett has more toughness that a lot of similarly-sized wideouts, and he had experience in high school lining up in the backfield and taking goal line carries.

There will be opportunities for Bennett to win reps in the 2024 campaign. There is not much returning production from last year's team within the wide receiver room, but five transfers (Gage Larvadain, Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, Jared Brown, Vandrevius Jacobs, and Dalevon Campbell) all could play, and returns Nyck Harbor and Tyshawn Russell should have bigger roles than they did last year. Do-it-all player Luke Doty and former walk-on Payton Mangrum will provide veteran savvy to the position, as well.

If Bennett can separate himself from a few of those players during preseason camp, he will earn a spot in the receiver rotation. He shares a similar body type to a number of other players in the unit (Larvadain, Huggins-Bruce, Brown, Russell, Jacobs, Mangrum, Debron Gatling, and Elijah Caldwell are all also 6'0" or smaller), but his combination of route-running, quickness, and toughness will give him a good chance to get on the field.

Special teams likely will allow #3 to see the field whether he wins a receiver gig or not, and when he was in high school, he was a dangerous return man. Fans will see #3 on the field as a true freshman.