The Verdict: Progress in 2023
South Carolina football superfan Chris Paschal writes a weekly column during the season for GamecockCentral called “The Verdict.” Chris is a lawyer at Goings Law Firm in Columbia.
The Verdict: Progress in 2023
South Carolina faces a football dilemma as old as the oak trees that grace the grounds of the University’s Horseshoe.
We have recruited well. We have developed well. We have some dang good football players. And yet almost every team that Carolina faces this season is just as good, if not better, than the mighty Gamecocks.
No, Gamecock fans, this is not Groundhog Day, and we are not Billy Murray. Instead, this is the reality of playing football in the SEC through the Saturday before Thanksgiving only to play the hated rival the following Saturday. For what feels like the millionth time, South Carolina enters yet another college football season with the hardest-ranked schedule in the entire nation.
[Win two FREE tickets to South Carolina vs. Furman from 107.5 The Game! 🏈]
Bobby Bowden said it best: “He who gets the best players usually wins.”
Recruiting is the lifeblood of a college football program, and fortunately for Carolina, Shane Beamer and his staff not only understand this maxim but live by it. The Gamecocks roster in 2023 looks better than the roster in 2022. In fact, from my vantage point, South Carolina has gotten better or stayed relatively the same at every single position group on this roster except for cornerback, where the standard has been set so high that it’s unfair to expect better play at that position. (I will gladly be wrong if this is proven incorrect.)
Yes, despite losing Marshawn Lloyd and Christian Beal-Smith, the running back position is better entering this season. From the wildcat position, Dakereon Joyner showed vision, acceleration, and the ability to gain the tough yards in 2022, especially against Tennessee. After a full spring and summer to get used to the position, along with gaining the weight needed to take those hits in the SEC, Joyner is primed to be the workhorse Carolina has been missing since Kevin Harris in 2020. I like Joyner’s vision, patience, and size more than Lloyd’s. Coupled with Joyner is playmaker Juju McDowell, powerful Mario Anderson, and speedster Djay Braswell. This foursome, if they stay healthy, will shock a lot of people in 2023.
Yes, despite losing three starters off last year’s offensive line, the 2023 rendition will be better due to the addition of Nick Gargiulo. So much of blocking is want-to. Of course, the requisite size and athleticism is needed as a baseline requirement of playing along the offensive line in the SEC, but beyond the footwork and hand technique is the attitude needed to say, “you might be a former five-star defensive tackle, but by God, I am going to put the screws of my helmet in your chest and move you off the ball.”
This offensive line will model the attitude of their new-found leader, IOL Nick Gargiulo. All returns from camp this summer point towards a man possessed. Gargiulo looks like and carries himself like an NFL offensive lineman. He’s mean. He’s tough. And he’s smart. And while he may be the anchor of this group, don’t sleep on some of these other offensive linemen who have not been as publicized during camp. They have pride, too. The recognition of Gargiulo, while celebrated amongst his teammates, can also light a fire under some of these guys – a fire that has been missing for over a decade now.
Of course, this piece is purely opinion and analysis from a thirty-thousand-foot view. It won’t be until toe meets leather in Charlotte in just a few days that we will know what the scheme, the roster, the identity, and the ability of this team truly is. The analysis and reporting by the Gamecock Central team this spring and summer has been fantastic, but until we see this team start blocking and tackling against elite competition, we truly don’t know.
[Garnet Trust: “We Can Build Champions!”]
Which leads to that pesky ole schedule. Man, Carolina could win the National Title if we didn’t have to play Georgia and Florida and Tennessee and Kentucky and Missouri and A&M and Mississippi State and Clemson and North Carolina. Hell, eventually we are going to lose to Vanderbilt again. When you are running around in shorts in an empty stadium, it’s easy to look the part. But with this schedule, that goes out the window quickly.
Reading the message boards and Twitter, I am reminded that some fans assume that Carolina will continue this trend of surpassing the previous year’s win total. While I would love for that to happen, it is foolish to assume that as inevitable. To assume that this freshman class and this class of transfers can step in and win Carolina ten or more games is a bold assumption. Kentucky thinks they are better this year. Missouri thinks they are better this year. Mississippi State is wildly underrated (and disrespected). Georgia is the reigning two-time National Champion. Neyland Stadium could potentially collapse with all those people dressed in that school bus yellow they claim to be orange when Carolina comes to town.
This team is better. This team I think could beat anyone on this schedule. You can’t watch what this team did to Tennessee last year and tell me they couldn’t beat every team in the country. But games are not played on paper, and they are not played with shorts on. As we enter the 2023 season, my barometer for success is less-so the number of wins, but how the losses play out. At the end of the season, even if Carolina’s win total does not increase, the season will be a success if there are no ugly losses. The joy of last season’s wins over Kentucky, A&M, Tennessee, and Clemson is easily matched by the bitterness and sadness of blowout losses to Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, and Florida.
The next step in the maturation of this Shane Beamer South Carolina program is to eliminate the ugly losses. Our roster is improved. We have a seasoned quarterback at the helm. Recruiting is going in the right direction with this 2023 class being one of the best in school history. Nobody (rationally) is expecting double-digit wins with a shot at the playoff. But I think what is reasonable, and what should be expected, is not wanting to throw the TV remote across the living room. This team may not be good enough to win the SEC, but it is certainly good enough to be competitive in every game it plays this season.
