South Carolina Football mock draft: Stock up and stock down for Gamecocks after the Senior Bowl
By Kevin Miller
Every offseason, South Carolina football fans have one eye on April's NFL Draft. Over 70 Gamecocks have been drafted in the past 20 drafts, and this year will see multiple USC stars selected.
The 2024 NFL Draft will be the first in which South Carolina Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer will have one of "his guys" taken as the 8 players selected in the 2022 and 2023 drafts were all recruited by Will Muschamp. At least one transfer portal player recruited by Beamer (maybe more than one) will be taken from the University of South Carolina this April. The high school prospects recruited by Beamer likely will have to wait another year as TJ Sanders (class of 2021) elected to return to school.
The list of draft-eligible Gamecocks is long, and several players were invited to pre-draft collegiate all-star games like the Senior Bowl, the East-West Shrine Bowl, and the Hula Bowl.
Spencer Rattler (Senior Bowl), Xavier Legette (Senior Bowl), Marcellas Dial (East-West Shrine Bowl), Nick Gargiulo (Hula Bowl), Ahmarean Brown (Hula Bowl), and Trey Knox (Hula Bowl) all participated in these all-star showcases and have realistic chances of being selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. Other players like Dakereon Joyner, Jordan Strachan, Tyreek Johnson, Eddie Lewis, and Dante "Lil' Turbo" Miller all are out of eligibility but hope to catch on with an NFL franchise. Johnson played in the smaller Tropical Bowl.
For Rattler, Legette, Dial, Gargiulo, Brown, and Knox, the next couple of months will be spent getting ready for the 2024 NFL Draft. Rattler and Legette are locks to be picked, but the other four Gamecocks (Dial, Gargiulo, Brown, and Knox) could wind up going undrafted. However, they all will be training to earn their way into the draft or into a higher selection in hopes of becoming the next great NFL Gamecocks.
The most public training has already taken place for these players as the Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine Bowl, and Hula Bowl have already taken place. How did these players' performances in front of scouts impact their draft stock?