Gamecock wide receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce has officially left the South Carolina football program, as confirmed by head coach Shane Beamer. The talented receiver he was “ rumored” to have been recently placed on the scout team, leading to his decision to depart from the team.

Huggins-Bruce transferred to South Carolina from Louisville this past January, but will never see game action for the Gamecocks. Rumors suggest that Huggins-Bruce may be returning to Louisville, where he spent the first three years of his college career.

During his time at Louisville, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound speedster was a key part of the Cardinals’ passing game, although some believed he was underutilized. In 39 games, including 12 starts, Huggins-Bruce recorded 80 receptions for 1,121 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also contributed on the ground with 11 rushes for 67 yards and an additional score.

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South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer hints at a new comer taking over the left tackle position for the Gamecocks.

While normally it takes a while for true freshmen to play in the SEC, there are a few players every year who are just too good to keep off the field. It seems the Gamecocks may have found one of those dudes.

On his call-in show, Coach Beamer talked about the left tackle position battle. While he didn’t drop a name on the show, it was pretty clear as to who he was talking about.

“Probably going to have a true freshman starting at left tackle,” Coach Beamer said on his call-in show.

While fellow freshman Kam Pringle is also battling for the spot, Josiah Thompson is the favorite to win the position ahead of Pringle, and sophomores Tree Badalade, and Cason Henry. Thompson has had a great summer and fall camp leading up to the season.

A four-star and the second ranked tackle in the 2024, Thompson is supremely talented with all the pysical traits it takes to be an elite left tackle in the SEC. His size (6-foot7 and 300+ pounds), length, and ability to go step for step with speed rushers will help him against great SEC caliber lineman.

South Carolina is less than 10 days away from taking on Old Dominion inside Williams-Brice Stadium. It won’t be long before several key battles will be settled with the first official depth chart coming next week.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Senate on Thursday started its homework assignment of coming up with a comprehensive bill to guide energy policy in a rapidly growing state and amid a quickly changing power- generation world.

The Special Committee on South Carolina’s Energy Future plans several meetings through October. On Thursday, the committee heard from the leaders of the state’s three major utilities. Future meetings will bring in regular ratepayers, environmentalists, business leaders and experts on the latest technology to make electricity,

The Senate took this task upon itself. They put the brakes a massive 80-plus page energy overhaul bill that passed the House in March in less than six weeks, and the bill died at the end of the session.

Many senators said the process earlier this year was rushed. They remembered the last time they trusted an overhaul bill backed by utilities.

State-owned Santee Cooper and private South Carolina Electric & Gas used those rules passed 15 years ago to put ratepayers on the hook for billions of dollars spent on two new nuclear reactors that never generated a watt of power before construction was abandoned because of rising costs.

But those dire memories are being mixed with dire predictions of a state running out of power.

Unusually cold weather on Christmas Eve 2022 along with problems at a generating facility nearly led to rolling blackouts in South Carolina. Demand from advanced manufacturing and data centers is rising. If electric cars grow in popularity, more power is needed. And a state that added 1.3 million people since 2000 has a lot more air conditioners, washing machines and charges for devices, the utility leaders said.

Senators stopped Duke Energy’s president in South Carolina, Mike Callahan, in middle of his presentation after he told them his utility’s most recent predictions for growth in electricity usage over the rest of this decade were eight times more than they were just two years ago.

“Growth is here, and much more is coming. We need clear energy policy to plan for that growth,” Callahan said,

The utility leaders told senators their companies need to know what kind of sources of power — natural gas, solar, nuclear, wind or others — the state wants to emphasize. They would like to have a stable rules from regulators on how they operate.

“A quick no is a lot better to us than a long-term maybe,” Santee Cooper CEO Jimmy Staton said.

Another complicating factor are federal rules that may require utilities to shut down power plants that use coal before there are replacements with different sources online, Staton said.

Others aren’t so sure the state needs a rapid increase in power generation. Environmentalists have suggested the 2022 problems that led to blackouts were made worse because power plants were nowhere near capacity and better cooperation in the grid would allow electricity to get to where its needed easier.

Those less bullish on the overhaul also are urging the state not to lock in on one source of power over another because technology could leave South Carolina with too much power generation in inefficient ways.

There will likely be plenty of discussion of data centers that use a lot of electricity without the number of jobs, property taxes or other benefits a manufacturer provides.

Staton estimated about 70% of Santee Cooper’s increased demand is from data centers.

“We clearly need them. I don’t want to go back in time,” committee chairman Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said. “What I’m trying to get at is a better understanding, a better handle on how much of the projected growth is based on data centers or on everything else.”

Massey has been hard on Dominion Energy, which bought South Carolina Electric & Gas after the abandoned nuclear project at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station. But Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam said it is important that all options, including a new nuclear plant, remain on the table.

“Everybody thinks if we build anything that we’re going to absolutely repeat what we did with V.C. Summer” Kissam said. “Well, I promise you, that ain’t gonna happen. OK? I’ll pack up and leave.”

Massey’s goal is to have a bill ready by the time the 2025 session starts in January.