South-Carolina
2024 Alabama Football Early Opponent Preview, Game 6: South Carolina
With the addition of Texas an Oklahoma to the SEC snd elimination of divisions in the Southeastern conference, South Carolina forever gets the distinct honor of being the last SEC East team to beat Alabama in the regular season.
In front of a packed house at Williams-Brice Stadium, the Gamecocks upset Alabama in 2010. The Crimson Tide made the trip back to Columbia in 2019, but South Carolina hasn’t played inside Bryant-Denny Stadium since 2009. That changes this season when Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks roll into Tuscaloosa for Game 6.
Beamer took South Carolina to bowl games in each of his first two seasons as head coach before a disappointing 5-7 finish last season. The Gamecocks got off to a 2-6 start before rallying down the final stretch of the season. Beamer isn’t necessarily on the hot seat heading into 2024, but he can’t afford to get off to another poor start with a challenging SEC slate ahead.
South Carolina’s offense was pass-reliant in 2023 with Spencer Rattler at quarterback and first-rounder Xavier Legette at receiver. Both players are gone now, so offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains will be working with a new QB in his second year with the Gamecocks.
Beamer named redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers the starter after spring football. Sellers appeared on three games for South Carolina last season with just four total pass attempts, but two touchdowns against Furman.
Not only did the Gamecocks not have an individual 1000-yard rusher last season, but the offense barely crossed 1,000 yards total rushing as a team. Leading rusher Mario Anderson transferred to Memphis, but Beamer added two running backs out of the portal in North Texas’ Oscar Adaway III and Arkansas’ Raheim Sanders. The former Arkansas back missed time with injury last season, but 1443 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2022.
Returner Nyck Harbor (12 catches for 195 yards) and transfers Ahmari Huggins-Bruce (Louisville) and Jared Brown (Coastal Carolina) will look to pick up the production gap left behind by Legette. With a lot of new faces to work into the offense at the skill positions, South Carolina does bring back a lot of experience along the offensive line. All five starters up front have at least one start under their belt with the Gamecocks. The O-line will need to show improvement after allowing 41 sacks a season ago.
Defensive coordinator Clayton White has been with Beamer all three seasons in Columbia so far, but has never had a defense finish higher than 41st in the country. They have really struggled the past two seasons finishing 89th in 2022 and 90th in 2023, allowing nearly 400 yards per game last season.
South Carolina obviously needs to improve on those numbers if it wants to have more success in 2024. The defense is headlined by all-SEC linebacker Debo Williams, who led the Gamecocks with 113 tackles a year ago.
The Gamecocks have three talented returners leading in the secondary with sophomore Jalon Kilgore, who earned freshman all-American honors with 76 tackles and an interception last season in 10 starts, junior Nick Emmanwori and redshirt senior O’Donnell Fortune.
Junior defensive tackle T.J. Sanders led South Carolina with 4.5 sacks last season and looks to build on that breakout season in his redshirt junior campaign alongside redshirt senior Tonka Hemingway.
South Carolina faces Alabama in the middle of a brutal three-game stretch for the Gamecocks against three straight projected top-25 teams starting with Ole Miss at home followed by road games at Alabama and Oklahoma.
For Alabama, the schedule will be a little lighter at this point with a matchup at Vanderbilt the week before. However, the Crimson Tide does have a big road game at Tennessee after facing South Carolina, so Alabama could get caught looking ahead. Both the Crimson Tide and Gamecocks will have already had one of their two bye weeks for the season ahead of this matchup in September.
Alabama will likely by double-digit home favorites over South Carolina for this mid-October matchup. Both teams should be settled into the season by this point, but the Gamecocks have a lot more questions surrounding their team than the Crimson Tide. Jalen Milroe will be returning as starting quarterback for Alabama, and South Carolina will either be breaking in a redshirt freshman or transfer at the position.
Beamer has done a good job trying to turn around the South Carolina program over the last three years, but Alabama still has a much deeper and more talented roster.
South Carolina only has one win in Tuscaloosa all time (2004), and I don’t see that changing this season.
Date: Oct. 12
Time: 11 a.m. CT
TV: TBD
Location: Bryant-Denny Stadium
Series history: Alabama leads, 11-4
Last meeting: Alabama beat South Carolina 47-23 in Columbia in 2019. Tua Tagovailoa threw for 444 yards and five touchdowns.
Coach: Shane Beamer, fourth season, 20-18 record
Offensive coordinator: Dowell Loggains
Defensive coordinator: Clayton White
2023 record: 5-7 (3-5 SEC)
2023 rankings: Total offense (83rd), Total defense (90th)
Returning Starters
11 (four on offense, seven on defense)
Players to Watch
RB Raheim Sanders, WR Nyck Harbor, LB Debo Williams, DT Tonka Hemingway, DB Nick Emmanwori, DB Jalon Kilgore
Top Newcomer:
Arkansas transfer running back Raheim Sanders will bring a new dynamic to the South Carolina offense if he can stay healthy. His career with the Razorbacks was hampered by injuries, but he has 2,230 yards and 17 rushing touchdowns in his career.
Biggest Question
Will Sellers be able to settle into the starting quarterback job, or will Beamer have to turn to Auburn transfer Robbie Ashford or Pitt transfer Davis Beville?
Location: Columbia, South Carolina
Founded: 1801
Enrollment: 53,455
Nickname: Gamecocks
Colors: Garnet, black and white
Mascot: Sir Big Spur
Last time beat Alabama: 2010
Last time won SEC: Never
Last time won SEC East: 2010
National championships: None
Playoff Appearances: None
Conference championships: 1 (1969 in ACC)
Bowl record: 10-15
Last season missed bowl: 2023
Heisman trophies: 1 (George Rogers- 1980)
2024 NFL Draft:
Last four recruiting class rankings: No. 22 (2024), No. 16 (2023), No. 24 (2022), No. 80 (2021)
Aug. 31: Old Dominion
Sept. 7: at Kentucky
Sept. 14: LSU
Sept. 21: Akron
Oct. 5: Ole Miss
Oct. 12: at Alabama
Oct. 19: at Oklahoma
Nov. 2: Texas A&M
Nov. 9: at Vanderbilt
Nov. 16: Missouri
Nov. 23: Wofford
Nov. 30: at Clemson
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Six Republican candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next governor met in downtown Charleston for a wide-ranging debate that put abortion, infrastructure and the future of data centers at the center of the race.
The forum was held at the Sottile Theatre, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, Lowcountry businessman Rom Reddy and Attorney General Alan Wilson took the stage.
Questions included whether they would support a state hate crime law, how they would address concerns about growth and infrastructure, how to navigate collaboration, abortion and the future of data centers in the state.
One issue that drew near-unanimous opposition was state Senate Bill 1095, a proposed total abortion ban that passed out of committee earlier in the day. All of the candidates opposed the bill, but they differed on what they would do if it reached the governor’s desk.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
Norman said he would sign it.
“You know, this is an emotional issue, but I will tell you if this bill came to my desk as governor. If it passed the House and the Senate, I would sign it,” Norman said.
All of the other candidates on stage said they would veto the bill if it came across their desk as governor, with Reddy arguing the question should be decided by voters.
“The Supreme Court did not say the loudest voice in the ruling class prevails. It said it’s up to the people in the state, so let’s put it to a referendum,” Reddy said.
On infrastructure, candidates discussed reforming the South Carolina Department of Transportation and allowing private-sector involvement to help pay for improvements.
Wilson outlined ideas that included leasing interstate easements and expanding private express lanes.
“We privatized that grass between the interstates. We turn it into private express lanes that can be told we leased the easements on the sides of interstates to telecommunication companies and energy companies, and charge them for natural gas line and fiber optic fiber optic cables,” Wilson said.
Evette also pointed to public-private partnerships and the possibility of fast-pass lanes.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
“We want to make sure that we’re innovative public private partnerships coming in and creating fast pass lanes to allow people that are in a hurry to be able to utilize that,” Evette said.
The final question focused on data centers, with candidates agreeing corporations should “pay their way.”
“They should pay for their water. They should pay for their infrastructure, any roads around it, and we should look at what Governor Ron DeSantis has done in Florida with the large data centers that are coming to Florida. That should be the model in South Carolina and everywhere,” Mace said.
Kimbrell said the state should set limits to protect natural resources and guard against higher power costs for residents.
“Put parameters around data centers to ensure that the water consumption does not impact places like the ACE Basin,” Kimbrell said. “Ensuring that the Public Service Commission makes absolutely sure nobody’s power rate goes up and we try to get behind the meter energy grids in place so they can be self-sufficient.”
Two more debates are planned ahead of the primaries on June 9.
A bill that could make it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion is moving to the full South Carolina Senate with just a few weeks left in the legislative session.
The South Carolina Senate medical affairs committee continued a debate of Senate Bill 1095 on April 21 in Columbia. The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, builds on a restrictive abortion bill that failed to progress in the fall.
The committee passed the measure in an 8-4 vote, moving it to the full Senate for consideration. Lawmakers have until May 14, the last day of the 2026 legislative session, to pass the bill for it to become law.
Senate Bill 1095, also called the “Unborn Child Protection Act,” bans performing an abortion or supplying abortion drugs. It makes it illegal for a woman to get an abortion, with the only exception being to save a pregnant woman’s life.
It also makes mifepristone and misoprostol Schedule IV controlled substances. Alprazolam (Xanax) and zolpidem (Ambien) are two other examples of Schedule IV substances.
Pro-Life Greenville, an anti-abortion organization based in Greenville, responded to the bill’s progress with “full endorsement” of the legislation.
“Unborn children, like all human beings, deserve to have their lives protected under law here in the Palmetto State,” Pro-Life Greenville stated. “Today’s vote by the SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee brings that urgent need one step closer to reality.”
Under the bill, a woman who has an abortion could face misdemeanor charges. The maximum sentence would be two years in jail with a $1,000 fine.
Those found guilty of performing an abortion or providing a pregnant woman with abortion-inducing drugs could face felony charges, a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, and a possible $100,000 fine.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT), a firm opponent of the bill, decried the Senate committee passage. PPSAT Director of Public Affairs Vicki Ringer said in a statement that the bill will cost people their lives, and it will make it more difficult for women to get reproductive and pregnancy healthcare.
“Abortion bans have and will continue to cost people their lives,” Ringer stated. “As this ban inches closer to the governor’s desk, it is becoming increasingly clear just how many of our lives anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to endanger in service to their agenda.”
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
BARNWELL, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – An officer was injured, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has issued a Blue Alert for an “armed and dangerous” woman.
According to the Blue Alert, Cushman is wanted in connection with an officer being injured.
The location of the assault was Gardenia Road in Blackville, S.C.
On Monday night around 10:35 p.m., officials said they were looking for Lacey Cushman, 37, a white woman who is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs about 210 pounds.
According to SLED, she has brown eyes and an unknown hair color. Her hairstyle and clothing are unknown.
She was last seen driving a 2011 white Chevrolet Traverse with an S.C. tag, 706IRU, in Barnwell County.
Her last known direction of travel was toward Bamberg County.
If you see her or have information, call 911 immediately.
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