The more I study this South Carolina football team, the more I like them.

I know there are plenty of people out there who aren’t expecting much from the Gamecocks this year. That’s fine. I’ve been going through this roster, looking at the schedule and trying to figure out exactly where this team is better than it was a year ago.

And I keep coming back to the same conclusion.

This team could be pretty damn good.

Start with the obvious. South Carolina has three players in LaNorris Sellers, Dylan Stewart and Nyck Harbor who have the ability to completely change a football game.

Sellers and Stewart aren’t just good football players. They’re game changers.

Sellers gives you a quarterback who can beat you with his arm or his legs, and when a play breaks down, that’s sometimes when he’s at his most dangerous. Stewart can wreck an offense from the other side of the football. You don’t have to blitz all over the place when you’ve got somebody who can get to the quarterback on his own.

Then there’s Harbor.

We’ve been waiting for all that ridiculous athletic ability to translate into consistent production on the football field. If it does this year, you’ve suddenly got another weapon who can change a game with one play.

My biggest concern with South Carolina was the offensive line. It had to get better. Period.

The Gamecocks knew it, too, and they went into the transfer portal and addressed it heavily. Now we have to see how quickly all those pieces come together, but I like the fact that they identified the problem and attacked it instead of pretending everything was fine.

Then look at the schedule.

South Carolina opens with Kent State, Towson and Mississippi State, all three at Williams-Brice.

I believe this team will be 3-0 and ranked in the Top 25 after Week 3.

Then things get really interesting.

Week 4, South Carolina goes to Alabama.

Everybody is going to look at that game and automatically pencil in Alabama because it’s Alabama and the game is in Tuscaloosa.

I’m not doing that.

South Carolina has played Alabama tough the last two times they’ve met. They lost 27-25 in Tuscaloosa in 2024 and had Alabama in trouble again last year before losing 29-22.

So why can’t they beat them?

If South Carolina goes into Tuscaloosa 3-0 and pulls off that upset, we’re suddenly talking about a 4-0 Gamecock team that could be sitting inside the Top 20 — and maybe knocking on the door of the Top 15.

That’s when the entire conversation about this football team changes.

I’ve already said I think there is a path for South Carolina to win nine games. The more I study them, the less crazy I think that sounds.

Does everything have to go right? Of course.

The offensive line has to come together. Sellers has to stay healthy. Harbor has to become the weapon his athletic ability says he can be. Stewart has to continue developing into one of the most disruptive defensive players in college football.

But the pieces are there.

And I’ll tell you this much.

I’m getting more excited about this South Carolina team every time I look at them.

There is a hell of a lot more talent in Columbia than people nationally seem to realize.

This could be a very interesting year for the South Carolina Gamecocks.