South Carolina’s secondary is about to find out a lot more about itself.
When Mississippi State comes to Columbia on Saturday afternoon for the SEC opener, the Gamecocks will be staring down an offense that has made its biggest noise through the air. Through two games, the Bulldogs have piled up 644 passing yards and seven touchdowns, with their wide receivers responsible for 586 of those yards and every one of those scores.
That’s the challenge waiting for a South Carolina defense that has handled the first two opponents well enough in coverage. The Gamecocks have held Kent State to 79 receiving yards and Towson to 182, with those two teams averaging 130.5 passing yards overall against them. But Shane Beamer made it clear Sunday that there’s still room for cleanup.
"I think they've been solid," Shane Beamer said on Sunday when asked about the Gamecocks' secondary. "You give them credit, but a couple things last night were, I think they had four explosive passes as we count them last night.
Now, that's four too many, and we've got to be better. I look at it last night, one time we were in a zone coverage and the quarterback scrambled out of the pocket to his left and our linebackers pushed in the zone coverage a little bit too far and then had a receiver get behind us, and then we missed a tackle and turned it into an explosive pass.
"There was the play y'all asked Vicari about last night in the press conference that was a touchdown. There was another scramble over there on their sideline where we've got to do a better job of what we call plastering when a quarterback scrambles, attaching on to people and whatnot.
"I think our secondary has been good, and we'll need them to be that and be even better Saturday against this squad coming in here."
Mississippi State’s passing game has been spreading the ball around, but four receivers have started to separate themselves as quarterback Kamario Taylor’s preferred options. Anthony Evans III has been the biggest problem so far, catching 14 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns in the first two weeks. He also put together an 831-yard, 67-catch season in 2025.
Marquis Johnson, the Missouri transfer, has added four catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. Zion Ragins and Sanfrisco Magee have combined for 175 yards and four touchdowns on 14 receptions.
Beamer said Tuesday the Bulldogs’ wideouts have shown enough early on to force South Carolina into a much sharper performance.
"He's throwing to four receivers that are absolute track stars," Beamer said on Tuesday. "I don't know if they are on the track team at Mississippi State or not, but they should be. They are track stars."
Evans, listed at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, leads the SEC in receiving early in the 2026 season. He’s posted nearly identical stat lines in Mississippi State’s first two games, going for seven catches, 118 yards and a touchdown against ULM, then seven catches, 121 yards and a touchdown against Minnesota.
Defensive coordinator Clayton White pointed to Evans’ speed, hands and ability to play bigger than his frame when asked about the matchup Wednesday.
"He's definitely playing on a very high level," defensive coordinator Clayton White said on Wednesday. "Very fast receiver, strong hands, plays bigger than his size," White said.
"Has, I think, a really good receiver coach. They've done a really good job of just giving him the ball in space.
Like I said, he still plays a lot bigger than what he is. For us, it's just make sure we stay in the process, make sure we understand what we have going on, and play within the system."
South Carolina defensive back Gerald Kilgore said the focus this week has to be on preparation, technique and tight coverage against a receiver group that can run.
"Just understanding our competition. Just understanding and watching the film on their receivers and everything.
They have some really fast guys," Kilgore said. "Just knowing what technique to play, how to play it, know to play before it's coming.
Try to put formations together, and just stay on top of everything and come down, tackle it down if we have to. But just tight coverage is what we're thinking all week, for sure."
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