Reassessing the South Carolina wide receiver room after newest portal additions

After losing Xavier Legette, Ahmarean Brown, and O’Mega Blake from last year’s wide receiving corps, South Carolina took to the transfer portal this offseason as it attempted to remake that position on the roster.

After adding three transfer wide receivers during the first transfer portal window of the offseason, the Gamecocks went back into the portal during the spring window, adding former Nevada leading receiver Dalevon Campbell and an inexperienced but talented Vandrevius Jacobs from Florida State.

Barring a last-minute surprise — always possible in today’s college football world — South Carolina is now pretty much set at the position, which makes it the perfect time to reassess proper expectations for the position group.

The newest additions

We’ll start with Campbell, who is the most likely of the two newest additions to make an immediate impact.

The 6-foot-4, 218-pounder tallied 69 receptions for 1,053 Yards and three touchdowns during the last two seasons combined despite having less-than-stellar quarterback play on his team. Campbell fills the immediate need for more height at the position and has the size and speed of a true outside X receiver, something the Gamecocks very much wanted to add to the room.

While that initial trio of receivers from the portal — Gage Larvadain, Jared Brown, and Ahmari Huggins-Bruce — has played on the outside some, they have more experience playing in the slot, whereas Campbell spends most of his time on the outside.

A downfield threat who led his conference in yards per catch, Campbell should immediately contend for a starting spot on the outside.

While Campbell has just one year of eligibility to make an impact, expectations for Jacobs should be treated more like that of a talented incoming freshman. It wouldn’t be a complete surprise if he pushes for playing time right away — he’s a former four-star prospect with athleticism who can make defenders miss and received high praise from FSU head coach Mike Norvell last year — but if he doesn’t make an immediate impact, that shouldn’t be treated as a failure either.

From a scholarship breakdown standpoint, Jacobs is essentially a replacement for former redshirt freshman Kelton Henderson, who transferred out of the program.

Projecting a depth chart

There are still a lot of unknowns here. But South Carolina appears to have littered the depth chart with potential options.

How much progress does Nyck Harbor make, especially with so much of his focus this spring on track? An Olympic hopeful in track, Harbor joined the program with the promise of being able to compete in the sport, so it’s only right that he’s been able to devote so much energy to that. But it’s still got to be a part of the conversation when discussing his progress on the football field.

Campbell will likely battle with Harbor for that starting X spot. Whoever doesn’t win that spot will likely serve as backup or slide over to the other outside receiver position.

Either way, the addition of Campbell could allow the other receivers to slide into positions that may better fit their skillsets.

Among the initial trio of transfers, Larvadain appeared to generate the most buzz this spring, and it seems a safe bet that he’ll be in the startling lineup somewhere. Brown also was singled out for making a big play in two scrimmages. One of those guys, it would seem, will be the starter at slot with the other in the mix at the other outside receiver spot (opposite the X).

Additionally, Mazeo Bennett made quite a bit of noise as a true freshman while Luke Doty can be a steady veteran presence.

Another wildcard could be Tyshawn Russell who has shown flashes in the past and had a great showing in the spring game, just needs to consistently put it all together.

Debron Gatling and Jacobs are others we’ll be curious to watch this preseason and are unknowns since Gatling was injured during the spring and Jacobs will have just arrived in the summer.

While the Gamecocks don’t know all of the answers yet, there’s reason to believe the answers are at least among the guys in this group — maybe not to have an Xavier Legette type to take over a game, but to potentially have a more well-rounded group that makes up that production as a committee.

This is the absolute roughest of drafts but an early shot at a depth chart could look like this…

X – Campbell OR Harbor / Russell
Z – Brown / Huggins-Bruce
F (slot) – Larvadain / Bennett OR Doty

The WR roster

Dalevon Campbell, 6thSR, 6-4, 218
Luke Doty, RSSR, 6-1, 210
Payton Mangrum, RS SR, 6-0, 194
Gage Larvadain, SR, 5-10, 176
Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, SR, 5-11, 175
Jared Brown, RSJR, 6-0, 190
Eriq Rice, RSJR, 6-1, 190
Aaron Morton, RSJR, 5-8, 175
Nyck Harbor, SO, 6-5, 242
Tyshawn Russell, SO, 6-0, 188
Elijah Caldwell, RSFR, 6-1, 195
C.J. Adams, RSFR, 6-2, 218
Vandrevius Jacobs, RSFR, 6-0, 175
Mazeo Bennett, FR, 5-11, 188
Debron Gatling, FR, 6-0, 194

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