'Nothing's held them back': South Carolina's freshman receivers setting high bar for 2025

Cutter Woods isn’t the biggest fan of roller coasters.

In late July, a handful of South Carolina’s freshmen wide receivers spent a day in Charlotte at Carowinds, right before fall camp started. Woods, who tagged along, wasn’t having much of it as he quickly felt motion sickness coming on.

“The lines were really short at Carowinds, and they were all riding the roller coasters,” said Woods, entering his freshman season with the Gamecocks as a quarterback. “I was like, ‘This ain’t it.'”

Woods’ new teammates got a good kick out of it, though.

“He didn’t do nothing. Not even a water slide,” Malik Clark said. “He got one water slide. He won’t ride any roller coaster. It’s backwards to me.”

Now, Mike Furrey, on the other hand? Complete opposite of Woods when it comes to going on rides.

“He’s like super into roller coasters, so he was trying to get us on all of them,” Eriq Rice said. “We started off with the Fury and then went to the Intimidator, then back to the Fury. I think we rode the Fury like three times, the Intimidator twice, then like two or three other rides. … But it was fun.”

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Going into his second season as the Gamecocks’ receivers coach, Furrey has brought a lot of high energy, evident by his excitement to ride multiple big, daring rides. He’s also brought in a strong group of freshmen who could help make a big impact in 2025.

“It’s crazy, because the whole time I felt like we were at Carowinds, they were just talking about football,” Furrey said. “Whether it was practice or something that they were doing in summertime, or some type of route they were doing, and some of their player-led deals, or some of the conditioning and how they were pushing each other and things like that. I wouldn’t even ask a question. I was just listening.”

Finding the right fits

South Carolina hired Furrey on Feb. 29, 2024, less than a month before the start of spring practice. His hiring came so late in the process because James Coley, who head coach Shane Beamer hired as receivers coach a month earlier, left for Georgia just 44 days into his new job.

As soon as Furrey came aboard, he dove straight into catching up to help recruit the Class of 2025.

“It was almost immediately,” Furrey said. “Heck, I was working with Darren Uscher all the way up through almost October, November, when we helped out with (Donovan) Murph and (Jordan) Gidron, you know, getting them to reclassify and all that kind of stuff. It’s a process.”

When it came to recruiting at the receiver position, Furrey looked for players who were the right fit. But there were other traits and qualities he had in mind as well.

“First of all, just as a person, their character, their work ethic. Then you want to find out how smart they are, in regards to just, you know, street smart, football smart, having that football IQ,” he said.

“Obviously, they’re talented. That’s why you’re recruiting them. And so, what are their main traits? What are they really special at? That’s why they’re who they are, and why they’re on so many people’s boards, because of the traits they have.”

Within a year of his hiring, Furrey landed five four-star receivers, all top 50 players at their position.

In total, the Gamecocks added six high school receivers, with only one not recruited by Furrey. Jayden Sellers, the younger brother of Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers, was recruited by former receivers coach Justin Stepp and committed on Oct. 26, 2023. Other than that, the rest were all Furrey’s doing.

“They fit in here at South Carolina, with what Coach Beamer is trying to build and what he’s been collecting over the years,” Furrey said. “… They’ve just gone out and continued to work, which shows you their character. It’s allowed all of them to set themselves up for a lot of success here.”

‘We’re confident in our game’

At South Carolina’s team media day on July 31, Sellers was put on the spot with some rapid-fire questions.

“Best route runner? Beezy,” he said.

How about the quickest freshman receiver?

“I’ll give that to Beezy too,” Sellers said. “He’s shifty and very explosive.”

Beezy, more commonly known as Brian Rowe Jr., was a popular pick for players being asked the same questions as Sellers. Rowe, who played at Jay M Robinson High in Concord, North Carolina, had a breakout performance in South Carolina’s spring game, catching five passes for a team-high 45 yards.

“I think just like how quick he is,” said Woods, labeling Rowe’s best attributes. “He’s just very quick, and he’s a fun person to throw to, and has great hands.”

In addition to Rowe and Sellers, the Gamecocks have Lex Cyrus, Donovan Murph, Jordan Gidron and Clark joining the group. All are players who have South Carolina excited for the future.

“There’s no doubt about why they were highly recruited out of high school,” Woods said. “So the relationships, I think, are all really strong. We enjoy each other, have fun together, and like I said, they’re just uber talented.”

Clark is another interesting player who, like Rowe, had a solid showing in the spring game earlier this year. He caught two passes for 21 yards and had the only touchdown of the evening, a 16-yard pass from Luke Doty as time expired going into halftime.

“I feel like I’m well balanced. I can do a little bit of everything,” Clark said. “I’m fast enough that I can take the top off of the defense, and I can run good enough routes so I can be that intermediate guy. I feel like I’ve got enough quickness to be that gadget guy and catch short passes to take them long distances.”

Clark, an in-state product who played at Rock Hill, was the highest-rated receiver as the No. 11 player at his position. As confident as he is in his abilities, though, he feels the same way about the rest of the freshmen in the room.

“I wouldn’t say no fear, but it’s like, yeah, we’re confident in our game,” he said. “We feel like the work that we put in is going to show, and that we work hard enough to be confident. We’ve earned the right to be confident in our abilities.”

‘Nothing’s held them back’

During the first day of South Carolina’s Citrus Bowl prep last December, Furrey looked back over his shoulder and saw Nyck Harbor standing about 15 feet away. He didn’t say anything. He just looked at him.

“All of a sudden, a couple of minutes later, I see Nyck scooting up a little bit to these guys, and then all of a sudden, he’s getting involved,” Furrey said. “He’s trying to help them get lined up and all those kinds of things. And so that goes back to the camaraderie in the room, but it also has pushed people in our room.”

So far, the relationship between the older and younger receivers has been good and has driven both sides in earning playing time.

“They’re all funny. So they don’t take everything seriously, like I thought they would be before I came up here,” Sellers said. “They’re like big brothers to us, basically telling us where to go, telling us what to do, telling us how to better our craft. It’s just been fun working with these guys.”

With the season approaching, the Gamecocks will have important decisions to make as far as who starts and who doesn’t. The veterans of the group, Harbor, Jared Brown and Mazeo Bennett, figure to be the early candidates to start right away, seeing as they have the most experience.

That doesn’t mean the freshmen aren’t vying for reps, though. Because they certainly are.

“Nothing’s held them back,” Furrey said. “That kind of pushes people in the room that haven’t been pushed before.”

And the older players who are still fighting to become the team’s top target are aware of this.

“They come to practice, work hard every day,” said Brown, who’s going into his second season as a Gamecock and fifth overall in college football. “They came in early, so they’re a step ahead of some of the other guys who came in in the summer. That’s also a good thing, too. They’re showing a lot of maturity. Like I said, they’re hard-working. So I love to see it.”

Rice, now in his fifth season as a walk-on at South Carolina, said it’s been a “competitive” battle in fall camp.

“It’s super talented from top to bottom. Everybody put up good stats, high school film, everything. And now we’re just coming together and gelling. So it’ll be fun to watch,” Rice said.

“Everybody wants to be the best. I feel like that’s a good thing to have in a room like that. Everybody’s striving to be the best.”

When a depth chart eventually comes out, it will be hard for Furrey, along with the rest of the coaching staff, to determine who should start in Week 1. Until then, he knows things will work themselves out with the number of talented receivers fighting for those spots.

“It’s going to be a lot of competition,” he said. “Whoever’s going to be at the top, whoever’s our one, whoever’s our two, three, whoever’s out there, are going to be really stinking good, because of the room that we have. We’re excited about it, for sure.”

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