Climbing the Mountain : 2024 Rewind pt.1

 

Last season unfolded like a horse race at Churchill Downs as South Carolina started sluggish, lagging at the back of the pack, only to charge hard down the final stretch, nearly stealing the crown. That was the vibe in 2024, but the gate didn’t swing wide open against Old Dominion on August 31. A jittery fanbase watched LaNorris Sellers stumble through a freshman QB debut sailing throws high and wide, clutching the ball too long, and looking every bit like a freshman under pressure. An offensive line still finding its footing didn’t help, and his receivers weren’t exactly bailing him out. The Monarchs led most the way and had caused 3 Gamecocks turnover include a pick 6. The game was teetering on the edge of disaster until freshman phenom Dylan Stewart flipped the script, ripping a fumble loose inside the 10 with under four minutes left in the fourth, and the Gamecocks trailing 16-13. Two plays later, Sellers punched it in from 3 yards out, snatching a 23-19 win from the jaws of an ugly loss. Without Stewart’s heroics, we’d have been staring at 0-1 and a whole lot of grumbling in Columbia. This was by far Sellers worst performance of his career and in the following weeks it became quickly apparent that it was an anomaly. He had all the tools to become an elite difference level maker, it was just about putting it all together (and holding onto the ball). Reports had been coming out of the program since he stepped on campus about how special he could be, people were screaming it from the mountain tops. Boy were they proven right. They marched into Lexington as double digit underdogs the following week and beat the brakes off of Mark Stoops. The defensive line dominated from start to finish, Brock Vandagriff never stood a chance as his offensive line was thrown around like a bunch of ragdolls. They buckled under a relentless South Carolina front that racked up five sacks and 10 tackles for loss. LaNorris Sellers struck fast, firing a 24 yard touchdown dart to freshman Mazeo Bennett in the first quarter’s opening act that put the Cocks up 7-0 and set the tone.  Both offenses sputtered through the rest of the half, trading punts and field goals but South Carolina carried a slim 10-6 edge into the locker room. The third quarter is where the separation started Sellers, back from a brief injury scare, came out slinging, threading a touchdown pass to tight end Joshua Simon. Then Nick Emmanwori, the junior ballhawk, all but iced it, snagging a Vandagriff floater and bolting 24 yards for a pick-six at the end of the third, ballooning the score to 24-6. South Carolina’s D held the Wildcats to a measly 183 total yards, the lowest SEC output of Beamer’s tenure while the offense piled up 252 of their own. While this was far from an offensive clinic the defense did more than enough boasting four picks and five different sack artists on the afternoon. The final whistle blew at 31-6, and marked South Carolina’s third straight win over the Wildcats. Wins in the SEC always hit differently especially when it’s no secret that Stoops and Beamer are not very fond of each other. Stoops once took a swipe at Beamer, mocking the “stupid sunglasses,” but since then, Shanes flipped the script, stacking wins and turning heads around the country. Beamer has the fanbase buying stock and a program on the rise.