South Carolina expected to hire in-state head coach, former NFL receiver Mike Furrey as new assistant

According to Wes Mitchell of Gamecock Central, South Carolina has found their new wide receivers coach for the 2024 football season.

In a post on Gamecock Central, Mitchell reported the following news:

“South Carolina is expected to hire Limestone head football coach Mike Furrey as its new wide receivers coach, GamecockCentral has learned. The university has set a Board of Trustees meeting for Thursday morning at 8:30 to officially approve the hire.”

Per Mitchell, Furrey has informed his former school that he is taking the position with South Carolina.

“Furrey spoke to his team on Thursday morning and announced he was leaving and Limestone has already hired former NFL wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, according to a release from the school. The released noted that Furrey’s next steps would be announced soon.”

Furrey is a former NFL player as well as an assistant — he worked for rhe Chicago Bears for four years in between separate stops at Limestone. Now, he’s leaving but not going too far, just upgrading from D-II to D-I and in the SEC.

In that release from the school announcing Cotchery’s hire, Limestone provided a little background on their former assistant head coach who is now the leader of the program:

“For the past two seasons, Cotchery has served as Limestone’s assistant head coach and wide receivers coach as the Saints compiled a combined record of 16-8 and qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championship playoffs in back-to-back years. From 2022-2023, Limestone recorded a collective South Atlantic Conference record of 15-3 and was crowned co-champions of the Piedmont Division both seasons.”

Piedmont Division championships are no joke, and the Furrey-Cotchery combo really worked wonders for the Saints. Now, with Furrey making the jump to Division I to coach in the SEC, Limestone has opted to promote his second-hand man and the team’s own wideouts coach in Cotchery.

Also from the release, Limestone gave a brief outline of Jerricho Cotchery’s coaching career, which included a stint with the Panthers, who he once played for an even helped lead to the Super Bowl during the 2015-16 season:

“Cotchery served as the Panthers assistant wide receivers coach from 2017-2019. He worked with a receiving corps that included Kelvin Benjamin, Devin Funchess, and Curtis Samuel while also working with Christian McCaffery and Greg Olson. The Panthers posted an 11-5 record in 2017, earning a wild card playoff berth.”

Sounds like South Carolina and Limestone both got a good one in this coaching cycle.