These 5 Gamecocks stood out as South Carolina wraps spring with Garnet & Black game

South Carolina’s football team was back under the lights of Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday for the Gamecocks’ annual spring game.

The Gamecocks did an NFL-style draft a few days earlier to pick who was suiting up for the garnet and black teams. On Saturday night, it will be the Garnet team eating well after a 17-0 victory over the Black team.

Here are five guys who stood out Saturday night.

QB LaNORRIS SELLERS

Yes, South Carolina is still holding a quarterback competition and, yes, the Gamecocks probably aren’t naming a starter until the fall.

Coach Shane Beamer and Co. want Sellers and Auburn transfer Robby Ashford to keep competing. Also, in the transfer portal era, there is risk that the guy who doesn’t win the gig decides to leave. So the competition will rage on.

But, based on Saturday, Sellers will be QB1.

The redshirt freshman, who won South Carolina’s Offensive Player of the Spring Award, was spectacular. Through the air, there were very few highlights. Just Sellers making the smart play, the correct play time after time.

After one half, he had completed 9 of his 11 passes for 70 yards, going the entire first quarter without an incompletion.

But forget the arm.

Sellers’ legs are ridiculous. Think of all the great dual-threat college quarterbacks of the last 10 years — Sellers flashes the rushing potential of lal those guys.

First off, he is fast. Really fast. If he gets around the edge — goodbye. But he doesn’t need to just run in space. Sellers has no problem running straight at defenders, trusting his 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame will bulldoze them. And then there is the smarts. He does not run because he’s scared to throw, he runs because it’s the right play.

Early in the first quarter, Sellers took a snap from the 13-yard line. The entire play was developing on the right side of the field. Sellers stood there, bobbing, surveying his receivers. No one was open. No problem. The left wide of the field was clear and Sellers took off for the walk-in score.

EDGE DYLAN STEWART

There was a was game inside the game to watch on Saturday night.

More fun then tracking the ball was tracking No. 6 in black — freshman EDGE Dylan Stewart, the former five-star defender from Washington D.C. who was the jewel of the Gamecocks’ 2024 recruiting class.

It seemed like Stewart was ending up in the backfield on every play. Primarily playing as a standup EDGE, Stewart was running through his arsenal of moves to make offensive linemen look silly. He’s bullrush them, swim past them, juke the big men — whatever it took.

At one point in the second half, he blew 325-pound redshirt junior Sidney Fugar, pushed his way to the A-gap and met running back Djay Braswell behind the line of scrimmage like a sledgehammer.

That was routine.

Towards the end of the first half, Sellers looked to be running plays away from Stewart, likely realizing the best way to neutralize Stewart is to avoid him.

EDGE BRYAN THOMAS JR.

It’s easy to forget about the pass rushers South Carolina returned when you look at all the newcomers it added: Stewart, Georgia Tech transfer Kyle Kennard, Florida State transfer Gilber Edmond, etc.

Thomas reminded folks on Saturday not to forget about him.

The 6-3, 245-pound junior from Florida played in all dozen games last year, totaling just 22 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.

On Saturday, he was perhaps the biggest defensive disruptor of the night, making life a little hectic for black-team QBs Robby Ashford and Dante Reno. He totaled a game-high 7 tackles and a game-high 2.5 sacks.

WR TYSHAWN RUSSELL

South Carolina needs wide receiver depth. Beamer has already noted that the Gamecocks will likely try and add a few scholarship offensive linemen and pass catchers from the portal this spring.

With seven scholarship WRs leaving after last season — headlined by Xavier Legette and Juice Wells — someone needs to step up. The likely cnaidate is sophomore Nyck Harbor, who didn’t play in the spring game because of track obligations.

But others will contribute too. Others like Russell, the sophomore from Pennsylvania.

With Sellers throwing to him in the first half, Russell caught two passes for 31 yards, inlcuding a really nice 17-yard crossing route that led to Sellers’ rushing touchdown.

Last year in Columbia, Russell caught just five passes — but one of them was a 50-yard touchdown from Sellers. Perhaps QB1 has a comfortable target.

CB VICARI SWAIN

Outside of the quarterback battle, the most interesting positional competition was at cornerback, where three guys are competing to earn a starting spot alongside O’Donnell Fortune.

One of those is redshirt freshman Vicari Swain, who started at corner for the black team on Saturday.

Swain arrived in Columbia last fall with some not sure if he was going to play wide receiver or cornerback in college (He played both in high school). The Gamecocks quickly made it clear he was sticking to defense and the past year has been spent with DBs coach Torrian Gray trying to rid Swain of his “wide receiver footwork.”

He looked more than capable on the outside during the spring game, including coming up with the first turnover of the night. Late in the third quarter, Swain picked off Reno on fourth down — a wild, one-handed, juggling interception.

It will be a few months before we learn if Swain wins the starting job, but he made a great impression on Saturday.