South-Carolina
Missouri football preseason preview: What MU should expect from South Carolina in November
When Missouri football visits South Carolina in mid-November, the tone for its season will already be more or less set.
Mizzou is 46 days away from kicking off its season Thursday, Aug. 29, against Murray State on Faurot Field in Columbia. On Tuesday, Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz will be joined by wide receiver Luther Burden III, quarterback Brady Cook and defensive tackle Kristian Williams at SEC media days in Dallas.
The Tigers are among the group of teams expected to make a push for a berth to the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff. To get there, MU will need to win a minimum of 10 games, with an 11-win regular season likely the only sure path into the playoffs.
On Nov. 16, when Mizzou faces coach Shame Beamer’s Gamecocks in Columbia, South Carolina, it will have already faced the likes of Texas A&M and Alabama on the road, and it will be coming straight off a home game against former Big 12 foe Oklahoma.
Those games likely will decide whether or not Missouri will factor into the playoff committee’s consideration.
If the Tigers are still in contention, the road trip to South Carolina becomes oh-so-important.
Here’s what to know about South Carolina’s offseason, including key additions and playmakers to keep an eye on when the teams take the field:
More: Three transfers who could help define Missouri football’s success in 2024 season
Who are the opposing names to know when Missouri football visits South Carolina?
Quarterback: LaNorris Sellers is suiting up for his first season as South Carolina’s starter, getting his shot as a redshirt freshman as ex-starter Spencer Rattler heads to the league. Sellers threw four passes as a rookie, all against FCS Furman, and went 4-for-4 for 86 yards and two touchdowns. In two other reserve appearances, against Vanderbilt and Kentucky, he rushed for 45 yards and a touchdown on three total carries.
Offensive playmakers: Coastal Carolina transfer Jared Brown is an intriguing addition after a 1,051-yard, all-purpose year for the Chanticleers, as is Louisville newcomer Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, who brings three years of experience.
But the real linchpin of this Gamecocks offense will be running back Raheim Sanders, who rushed for 1,443 yards for Arkansas in 2022 but spent half of last season sidelined with various injuries. If he stays healthy, that’s a major grab for coach Beamer’s team.
Defensive playmakers: Debo Williams was an All-SEC linebacker for the Gamecocks last season and returns as one of their top playmakers in 2024. South Carolina also has some stout options at defensive tackle, including T.J. Sanders, who registered 9.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks last season, and Tonka Hemingway, who had six quarterback hurries, seven pass breakups and two fumble recoveries last year.
What did the offseason look like for Gamecocks?
Key additions: Rocket Sanders (RB); Kyle Kennard (EDGE); Bangally Kamara (LB); Dylan Stewart (DE); Jared Brown (WR); Ahmari Huggins-Bruce (WR)
Key losses: Xavier Legette (WR); Spencer Rattler (QB); Marcellas Dial (CB); Nick Gargiulo (IOL); Mario Anderson (RB); Stone Blanton (LB); Trey Knox (TE)
Key coaching changes: NA
Here’s Beamer’s biggest issue: The Gamecocks have lost their top three pass-catchers from 2023 in Carolina Panthers first-round pick Xavier Legette, tight end Trey Knox and wide receiver Ahmarean Brown. They’ve lost their leading rusher, Mario Anderson, to Memphis in the portal. They’ve lost Rattler, their quarterback, who was a fifth-round draft pick to the Saints.
In total, per a table from ESPN’s Bill Connely, South Carolina is returning 52% of its offensive production from last season. That ranks 94th in the FBS. For reference, Mizzou returns 79%, which sits at 16th in the country.
With 22 total commitments, 247Sports ranks South Carolina’s transfer class at No. 16 nationally, a couple spots behind Missouri. Plenty of that work was acquiring offensive playmakers.
Some in-season chatter circulated last season that USC defensive coordinator Clayton White might be on the hot seat, but he remains in the role for a fourth season after giving up the third-most yards per game (395.8) in the SEC last season.
Early forecast for Mizzou at South Carolina
This has been Missouri’s game since Drinkwitz arrived in Columbia.
Mizzou has won each of its past five games against the Gamecocks, including a 4-0 record in its current head coach’s tenure. As it stands, MU should be favored this time around, too.
There aren’t many easy road trips in the SEC, though, and South Carolina has some players that could, on any given Saturday, cause a team some serious problems. Sellers is a true dual threat, and Sanders can give any team the runaround.
Mizzou completely shut South Carolina down last season. If Missouri is a two-loss team at the time of its visit to Williams-Brice Stadium, it might have to put the same type of hurt on the Gamecocks to boost its resume. If it’s managed to keep single-digit losses or fewer, any type of win will do.
More: Missouri football preseason preview: What Oklahoma will bring when old foes reunite
More: Missouri football gets 5th commit in a week, lands 4-star East St. Louis safety Charles Bass
South-Carolina
Countdown to kickoff prediction series: South Carolina gets off to fast start in 2026
Last week, when the calendar revealed that it was 100 days until South Carolina kicked off the season, I posted a story on GamecockCentral entitled “100 predictions for the 2026 Gamecocks.” Now, that countdown is down to just 90 days.
The prediction paired with day 90 read, “The Gamecocks will be at least 4-1 heading into a key stretch that includes games against Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M.”
Let’s break down that prognostication.
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Getting off to a fast start
To reach a 4-1 start to the 2026 season, South Carolina will have to win four of five games against Kent State, Towson, Mississippi State, Alabama, and Kentucky.
Four of those five games come at home at Williams-Brice Stadium. The year will begin with three home contests before the Gamecocks head to Tuscaloosa for a tough road matchup. Then, Kentucky will be back in Columbia for the second year in a row in week five.
Shane Beamer’s team will likely be favored in the four home games.
With due respect to USC’s first two opponents, there should be no worries about the team’s quest to start 2-0. That would mean a 2-1 stretch would be required for Carolina to reach 4-1.
Mississippi State projects to be better than the Bulldog group that went 1-7 in conference play in 2025, but South Carolina sits in better spots in most preseason SEC power rankings.
The Alabama contest will be one of the toughest of the season. Even so, the Gamecocks have played the Crimson Tide in final-possession affairs the last two years. Plus, with Kalen DeBoer’s team’s proclivity for posting a stinker or two each season, a Carolina win wouldn’t be shocking.
Shane Beamer has beaten Kentucky four times in a row, and the 2026 Wildcats don’t project to be very good. However, morale is high in Lexington, and they should enter the South Carolina contest coming off a win over South Alabama.
Winning the two games at the start of the season, plus taking two of three against the next few SEC opponents would go a long way in helping South Carolina reach a solid win total in 2026.
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What it could mean
If the Gamecocks do work their way to a 4-1 overall record, that leaves them with seven regular season games left against Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Georgia, and Clemson.
For many prognosticators, the four games from October 10 through November 7 (Florida through Texas A&M) represent tough, but winnable, opportunities. Because of that, the quartet of SEC contests presents a huge opportunity for South Carolina.
Emerging with a winning record in those games likely secures a good record and potential College Football Playoff conversations. A losing record would mean that the Gamecocks would be fighting for bowl eligibility. A 2-2 split…well…things would be a little complicated.
Florida and Tennessee hold very similar preseason expectations nationally as does South Carolina. They are fringe top-25 teams that have the talent to do something more if the ball bounces the right way. However, like the Gamecocks, the Gators and Vols have enough questions about them to leave the door open for other possibilities, as well. Carolina travels to Gainesville, a place they haven’t won since Dylan Thompson’s walk-off touchdown run in 2014. Tennessee will come to Columbia, where the Gamecocks smacked them in 2022 in the last meeting at Williams-Brice.
Both Oklahoma and Texas A&M rank a little higher in preseason projections in the SEC. Pretty universally seen as top 15 teams, they each have cracked the top 10 in some offseason rankings. South Carolina won in 2024 in its only Norman road trip and owns a two-game home winning streak over A&M. Those previous results likely don’t mean much, but Gamecock fans sure would like to see the trends continue.
At this point of the offseason, South Carolina feels like a superior team to Arkansas. It also feels like a Georgia upset would be hard to manage. Then, the rivalry contest against Clemson could go either way, though Shane Beamer has never lost on the road in Memorial Stadium.
With so many potential toss-ups on the schedule, a 4-1 start is critical.
FLORENCE COUNTY S.C. (WPDE) — Today at 12:41 a.m., a fatal collision occurred, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
The collision happened on TV Road near John Road.
There were two units involved. Unit one was a 2014 GMC pickup truck. Unit two was a pedestrian, according to Joseph Rowell, master trooper.
MORE: Man charged in murder of missing Lumberton woman
The pedestrian died on the scene, according to reports.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol is asking if you have any information on the deceased to contact the Florence County Coroner’s office.
This remains an ongoing investigation by the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
South-Carolina
South Carolina’s Once-Thriving Theme Park Now Has Only An Abandoned Hotel Left Of Its Legacy – Islands
Near the northern edge of South Carolina stands an abandoned hotel tower in ruins, one of the last original remnants of one of America’s most infamous rise-and-fall stories. Fort Mill, the former home of Heritage USA, a Christian theme park built by pioneering televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, who were known for their wildly successful TV network PTL (Praise the Lord). Although it had traditional theme park elements like a water park, Heritage USA was more like a Christian Disneyland.
When it opened in 1978, it was a one-of-a-kind vacation destination. Offerings included a chapel modeled after a church in Jerusalem believed to be where the last supper was held and an amphitheater showing performances of Jesus’ crucifixion. As The Washington Post wrote in 1986, it was a “place somewhere between the Land of Oz and a strait-laced Club Med,” an alcohol-free park filled with friendly Christians whose smiles masked an undercurrent of pain and trauma. It was the country’s third-largest theme park by attendance with 4.9 million people annually, behind only Disneyland and Disney World.
But everything soon came crashing down amidst Jim Bakker’s financial and sexual scandals, leading the park to close in 1989, following further damage caused by Hurricane Hugo. While much of Heritage USA has been demolished or repurposed, the crumbling, unfinished 21-story Heritage Tower still stands as the most prominent ruin from this once-thriving theme park. Not only that, it was the construction of this now-ruined hotel that instigated Bakker’s downfall and the closing of the park. So, the Heritage Tower has become not just an interesting abandoned building, but also a provocative symbol of a quintessentially American story of the greed-fueled marriage of religion and capitalism.
Heritage Tower and the collapse of the PTL empire
The Bakkers always appealed directly to their viewers to donate to their projects, and so they did with Heritage USA. After it opened, Jim Bakker wanted to build a new 500-room high-rise hotel. But during the construction of the Heritage Tower in 1987, Bakker was embroiled in a financial scandal that bankrupted the park. For years, he had offered incentives to viewers: If they donated $1000 to PTL, they would get a free room at the Heritage Tower for life. There weren’t enough rooms for all who donated, and Bakker used the money to support his lavish lifestyle. Ultimately, this fraud initiated the investigation that sent him to jail. The incomplete tower was left abandoned, a reminder of what brought Bakker down (literally and figuratively, if Freud has anything to say about it).
In 2004, Rick Joyner, head of MorningStar Ministries (an organization currently implicated in a sexual abuse investigation), bought the hotel. He planned to turn it into a Christian residential living space, but 11 years of litigation left the hotel deteriorating into an eyesore for locals. Bricks are falling off, windows remain broken, and the roof is a home for birds.
In 2024, the lawsuits were dropped and MorningStar was given a deadline to show that the building can be renovated under current building codes. If that deadline isn’t met, it’ll be demolished. So if you want to see the Heritage Tower in its decaying state, check it out soon, as it could be gone or renovated within three years. Note that you can only view this private property from outside. While it’s not one of the creepiest abandoned amusement parks you can visit in America, it’s definitely one of the most unique thanks to its cultural significance.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
What you’ll find of Heritage USA today
While you can find other remnants of the theme park, most of it has been demolished and replaced by a suburban housing development. One of the most emblematic ones is the Upper Room Chapel, which was the main attraction of Heritage USA. This replica of a church where people believe the last supper was held was abandoned for years, making it one of South Carolina’s most interesting abandoned chapels. When Heritage USA was open, this chapel was the beating heart of the theme park, where people sought spiritual guidance. After years of being left empty, it was renovated and reopened in 2011. Now, it hosts services a few days a week and events, which you can find on its Facebook page.
Joyner bought up a few of the old Heritage USA properties and repurposed them for MorningStar use. The Heritage Grand, the theme park’s finished hotel, was turned into a MorningStar headquarters. It’s now used as a church, school, conference center, and publishing house. The old Main Street, an indoor mall that sold Christian-themed items – like “praise dolls” who declared “God is love” and “Jesus is Lord” when you squeezed them — remain in use by the dozens of MorningStar residents living on the premises. Heritage USA is just 30 minutes from the artsy shopping mecca of Rock Hill, and it’s the same distance from Charlotte, which makes it an easy trip for both visitors and locals in the Carolinas.
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