South Carolina football wide receiver coach Mike Furrey stepped into a tough situations this offseason. Not only were the Gamecocks replacing a coach at his position (Justin Stepp was moved to tight ends before leaving the program altogether to be the wide receivers coach for the Illinois Fighting Illini), but they were replacing a coach twice as James Coley was on the job for about 45 days before bolting to join the Georgia Bulldogs staff.
Furrey has done a nice job to secure a commitment from 4-star high school wide receiver Brian Rowe, but his room needs some help in the immediate, as well. The Carolina receiver group is low on numbers and low in stature as the team only has nine receivers currently on the roster who came to the school on scholarship, and none of them who are currently practicing full-time with the team (Nyck Harbor is still with Gamecock Track, and CJ Adams is injured) are taller than 6'1".
Furrey and the USC staff are recruiting some transfer portal receivers in hopes that they can bring in some reinforcements, preferably ones with some size.
Late on Wednesday night, one of those transfer portal targets announced his college decision, but it did not go the Gamecocks' way.
According to a report from 247Sports' Mike McAllister (SyracuseOn247), transfer portal wide receiver Justus Ross-Simmons is transferring from the Colorado State Rams to the Syracuse Orange.
If Furrey can bring in one or two players (especially if one of them has some size), the USC receiver room will look a lot better heading into the 2024 season. Missing on Ross-Simmons hurts, but the transfer portal has plenty of other receivers looking for new homes. Carolina has been linked to Florida State transfer Vandrevius Jacobs, and there are several other big-time targets that would make sense for the Gamecocks.
Players like Tyshawn Russell, Nyck Harbor, Mazeo Bennett, Luke Doty, Jared Brown, Gage Larvadain, and Ahmari Huggins-Bruce should be able to contribute some (how much remains to be determined), but that group is far from elite. Adding another good player or two to the mix could be the difference between a below-average passing offense and a good one for the 2024 Gamecocks.