South-Carolina
South Carolina looking to limit production of Missouri's star wide receivers
South Carolina, like it has in past weeks, will prepare its defense for the possibility of two different quarterbacks taking the field when it faces Missouri on Saturday.
Brady Cook, who has been the Tigers’ starter for much of the 2024 campaign, is listed as doubtful for this weekend’s game, per the team’s latest injury report. Drew Pyne will play in Cook’s stead should he be unable to suit up.
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But head coach Shane Beamer said the Gamecocks must also be prepared for Missouri’s wide receivers, regardless of who is under center.
“They have arguably the best receiving corps in this conference when you talk about Luther Burden, who will be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft, and Theo Wease, who took over that game last week against Oklahoma in the fourth quarter,” Beamer said.
Burden has been a dangerous threat to opposing defenses long before this season began. He was among the SEC’s top wideouts in 2023, finishing third in receiving yards behind only Malik Nabers and Xavier Legette. Over the course of 13 games, Burden caught a team-high 86 passes for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns. That strong play led to him earning All-SEC First Team honors, in addition to being named a Second Team All-American by the Associated Press and CBS Sports.
The start of the 2024 campaign has been less productive for Burden, though. He has been limited to just 505 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 45 receptions in his first nine contests. Burden has yet to record 100-plus yards in a game this season, something he did six times last year.
Despite Burden’s downtick in yardage, he remains a key part of Missouri’s offense. And Beamer said the Tigers have found creative ways to keep him involved on that side of the football.
“They get the ball to Burden in a lot of different ways, whether it be handing the ball off to him on a fourth-and-one the other night against Oklahoma on a jet sweep. Or, they get in an unbalanced formation, and he’s off the ball to the field, and they motion him in, motion him out, and he runs an out-and-up for a 50-yard touchdown,” Beamer said. “They just find different ways to get the ball in his hands.”
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While Burden is a familiar face for Beamer, Wease was on the same sideline as Beamer at one point. Wease spent the first four years of his college football career at Oklahoma. For two of those seasons, Beamer served as the Sooners’ assistant head coach and tight ends coach.
Wease caught 49 passes for 682 yards and six scores during his first season with the Tigers in 2023. And he is well on his way to surpassing those totals this year. He has recorded 552 yards and three touchdowns across 41 total catches.
Wease’s physical attributes make him a difficult player to defend, Beamer said.
“Wease is a really big receiver, also. He’ll catch a ball, and then he does a really good job of getting vertical,” Beamer said. “He’s a hard guy to bring down. He’s a twitchy, shifty, tall, big, athletic guy.”
Beamer understands that holding either Burden or Wease to zero catches will be a tall task. But keeping them from turning routine plays into big gains will be a key to success for South Carolina’s defense.
“They’re going to get their catches. It’d be great if I looked at the stat sheet after the game Saturday night, and they didn’t have any catches. Is that realistic? Probably not. What we’ve got to do is do a really good job tackling. “It’s really impressive watching those two guys, what they do once they catch the ball,” Beamer said.
“Let’s limit their catches. But when they do catch the ball, make sure we’re limiting what they do (with) yards after the catch and after contact.”
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer has been nominated for a position in foreign diplomacy.
The White House on Tuesday listed Bauer as a nominee to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Belize, a Central American country bordering Guatemala.
It’s unclear when a confirmation hearing will take place. WIS has reached out to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee for more information.
Bauer was South Carolina’s lieutenant governor from 2003-2011, serving under then-Gov. Mark Sanford. Before that, he served terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate.
More recently, Bauer entered the race for U.S. Senate in July 2025, looking to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary. He ended his campaign the following month.
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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
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