South Carolina came out of Saturday’s 41-34 loss to Mississippi State with more than just a defeat on the scoreboard. The Gamecocks also left Williams-Brice Stadium dealing with a handful of injuries, and Shane Beamer said Sunday that several players will be evaluated to see how serious those issues are.
Among the players who did not finish the game were defensive tackle Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, defensive back Gerald Kilgore, linebacker Shawn Murphy and running back Jabree Coleman. Beamer said on his weekly teleconference with local reporters that South Carolina does not believe any of them are dealing with long-term injuries, but all four were set to be tested Sunday to gauge the severity.
“Hopefully we’ll get good reports back,” Beamer said.
Beamer also said offensive lineman Carter Miller, who did not play against Mississippi State, is expected back next weekend against Alabama. Cornerback Vicari Swain and tight end Maurice Brown II, both of whom were injured Saturday, are also expected to return for that game.
Edge rusher Dylan Stewart was another player who didn’t finish the matchup. Stewart made his season debut after missing the entire offseason while recovering from a back injury, and Beamer said the plan was for him to play about 15 to 20 snaps.
“And if we got out there and felt like he could do a little bit more, he would - we would,” Beamer added.
Stewart ended up logging 14 snaps, with most of his work coming on third down. He finished with one tackle for loss, but he also hit Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor twice and spent much of the day disrupting the backfield before the back issue returned.
“Nobody can question his want-to last night because he was throwing his body around,” Beamer said. “That back just wasn’t feeling great in the fourth quarter. We’ve got a lot of football left and we had gotten out of him what we wanted to get out of him, particularly early in the game.”
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It changed in a hurry after halftime. South Carolina managed only five yards in the third quarter while the Bulldogs piled up 17 points, and LaNorris Sellers two interceptions in the second half directly turned into 10 Mississippi State points. For a team looking for a win it could have grabbed, the Gamecocks instead left with the familiar regret of an SEC game where the opening chances were there, and the middle stretch decided everything. [Read more 🡒]