COLUMBIA — There were 25 players who signed with South Carolina football on national signing day Wednesday, with likely more on the way via the transfer portal.

Coach Shane Beamer has talent carrying over into the 2025 season on the Gamecocks roster but there are gaps to fill and players to replace.

Here’s who could have an instant impact in the 2025 season after national signing day:

Tight end Mike Tyler

Tyler flipped his commitment from LSU to South Carolina and is from Columbia, playing at the Hammond School.

The Gamecocks are losing Josh Simon, who has a team-high 450 receiving yards and six touchdowns this season. On the depth chart now, there’s true freshman Michael Smith, who has nine catches for 96 yards and a touchdown.

Brady Hunt and Connor Cox are two other tight ends who played. If Smith slips into Simon’s go-to spot, there might be a new No. 2 and No. 3, where Tyler could play.

“We’ve had some pretty good success with Columbia, guys that have come here and thrived and think he’ll do the same,” Beamer said of Tyler.

Kicker Max Kelley

Alex Herrera is in his final season as is his backup William Joyce. It’s expected that freshman Mason Love replaces long-time punter Kai Kroeger, but Kelley is the No. 1 kicker in the class of 2025 and could be starting next season.

South Carolina loses key defenders after 2024 season

The Gamecocks are losing starters Alex Huntley and Tonka Hemingway on the defensive line, in addition to linebackers Debo Williams and Demetrius Knight, and edge defender Kyle Kennard. All five players have been instrumental to South Carolina’s success in 2024. Plus, defensive back Nick Emmanwori may declare for the NFL draft.

No. 1 junior college recruit Zavion Hardy may see early action on the defensive line. Either four-star edge Jaquavious Dodd or Donovan Darden could play opposite Dylan Stewart to replace Kennard.

Running back Jaquel Holman

Rocket Sanders has been a huge portal success for South Carolina but he’s gone after this year. Behind him has been Oscar Adaway, who does return. Jawarn Howell announced he plans to enter the portal.

Holman, a four-star running back ranked No. 10 in South Carolina, could play next season.

Gamecocks sign multiple four-star wide receivers, signing day highlights

Beamer called receivers coach Mike Furrey’s part of the recruiting class a “grand slam” after five signed, including starting QB LaNorris Sellers’ younger brother Jayden.

Malik Clark, Lex Cyrus, Brian Rowe Jr, and Jordon Gidron are all four-star signees with potential to play as true freshmen like Mazeo Bennett did this season. With many WRs returning, it’s not likely they will all instantly play but they were some of the best signees for South Carolina Wednesday.

South Carolina football’s signing day surprises

In addition to Tyler and Hardy, offensive lineman Damola Ajidahun flipped from Georgia Tech and the Gamecocks signed Christian Ingram, a DL from Georgia who picked them over Kentucky and Southern Cal.

South Carolina football recruiting rankings after national signing day

The Gamecocks still sit in the bottom half of rankings in the SEC but improved four spots in the national rankings.

South Carolina’s 2025 recruiting class is No. 20 nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, and No. 12 in the SEC. The Gamecocks are above Mississippi State, Kentucky, Arkansas and Vanderbilt but sit below a majority of conference opponents.

FULL LIST: South Carolina football signing day updates: Recruiting rankings, best players in 2025 class

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

Associated Press

Samford Bulldogs (7-2) at South Carolina State Bulldogs (4-5)

Orangeburg, South Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Samford looks to keep its three-game win streak alive when the Samford Bulldogs take on South Carolina State.

The South Carolina State Bulldogs have gone 2-0 in home games. South Carolina State is fourth in the MEAC scoring 77.1 points while shooting 45.5% from the field.

The Samford Bulldogs are 1-2 on the road. Samford scores 92.9 points and has outscored opponents by 15.3 points per game.

South Carolina State is shooting 45.5% from the field this season, 1.9 percentage points higher than the 43.6% Samford allows to opponents. Samford averages 24.0 more points per game (92.9) than South Carolina State gives up (68.9).

TOP PERFORMERS: Drayton Jones is scoring 11.6 points per game with 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists for the South Carolina State Bulldogs.

Jaden Brownell is averaging 15.6 points for the Samford Bulldogs.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Nothing is finalized yet, but Alabama football sits on the doorstep of the College Football Playoff.

The CFP rankings released Tuesday night fell exactly how the Crimson Tide needed them to fall. Alabama moved up to No. 11 after winning the Iron Bowl. That means, if the season ended today, the Crimson Tide would own the No. 11 seed and head to South Bend, Indiana to face Notre Dame.

The most significant part of Tuesday’s reveal was that Miami fell to No. 12 after it lost to Syracuse. Also, Ole Miss was ranked No. 13 and South Carolina was put in the No. 14 spot.

One of the biggest questions heading into the rankings Tuesday night was where these four teams would be ranked. Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina are all 9-3 and won’t play another game before Selection Day. Meanwhile, Miami is 10-2 but doesn’t have a top 25 victory.

It doesn’t sound like the order of these four teams will change, no matter what happens this weekend in conference championships.

“Any team that is not playing right now, we don’t have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranked,” CFP chair Warde Manuel said on ESPN. “That is set in terms of how we see them going into the final week of championship week. There’s nothing that’s going to change for us to evaluate any of them differently than we have now.

“Those teams who are not playing cannot be adjusted in terms of where they are compared to other teams that are not playing. But the championship teams, we will evaluate that data point to determine if there needs to be any movement based on how the performance of the game goes.”

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.