South Carolina’s special teams picture is still taking shape, and Matthew Smiley is in no rush to force it.
The Gamecocks’ new special teams coordinator is getting his first real look at the competition ahead of the 2026 season, and the biggest jobs are still open. Kicker, kick returner and long snapper all remain active battles, and Smiley said the staff is letting the process play out instead of setting a hard deadline.
“It’s been a good competition up to this point.”
That’s how Smiley described the kicker race after watching the group work through camp. He said the staff has been giving the contenders plenty of chances to show what they can do, with reps coming in field-goal periods, two-minute situations and even smaller in-between segments designed to mimic game pressure.
“We try to put them in as many game-like situations as we can,” Smiley said. “There are periods where we’re just field goal versus field goal block, and you’re getting just rep after rep after rep.
But Coach has been great, whether it’s a two-minute drive or different situations where they have to be up and ready. We’ll even sneak them reps between periods when it’s just snapper, hold, or kick or run out.
Just in an effort to get them in front of the team as much as possible and to get them as many of those types of reps as possible. And they’ve been doing a good job with those.”
Smiley said there’s no set date for naming a winner in the kicking competition. He compared it to quarterback battles only to point out that it doesn’t work that way on special teams.
“I don’t think there’s a timeline,” he said. “I think kickers are different than, like, if you were figuring out a starting quarterback.
So I don’t know that there’s we haven’t established, and in talking to Coach, there hasn’t been a conversation of, ‘Hey, this is the date, this is the guy.’ We’re letting those guys compete and really letting it unfold in front of us.
As guys start to say, ‘Hey, this is my job,’ and move ahead, we’re letting that happen naturally.”
That same approach is carrying over to the return game. South Carolina worked on kick returns during camp, and Smiley said he saw “three or four guys” getting work back there and looking comfortable catching the ball. He added that he still needs to get deeper into the film from that session.
One of the players drawing attention in the return game is Vicari Swain, and Smiley said the next step for him is continued comfort fielding every ball. On a recent day of work in a short-punt “Sky” situation, Smiley said Swain handled the assignment well.
“Yeah, he’s doing a great job,” Smiley said. “We had yesterday, we did, we call it Sky.
It’s the short punt situation. So the returners got a lot of that work just with gunners and just him working his decision making back there, his catchy, his all the other stuff we’re talking about, the decoy stuff, went unfair of catching it.
He did a great job yesterday. He continues to be real good back there and real comfortable which is nice.
He’s working hard.”
Smiley also praised the long-snapping group, saying those players have done their part while the kickers sort things out. He said the snappers have handled both short and long snapping well, along with the coverage responsibilities that come with punt work. Mason Love is the holder.
“Those guys have been doing a real good job,” Smiley said. “And that’s nice to see with those long snappers because sometimes it’s tough when you have a kicker battle if your long snappers are not pulling their weight because those kickers are on the edge of their seat for every rep.
The snappers have done a great job. Mason Love is the holder.
They’ve been serving up good snap-holds to those kickers as those kickers compete to fight for that spot.”
Smiley said he’s been in kicker competitions before, though he noted the NFL usually brings a smaller setup than South Carolina’s current three-man situation. He also said he would rather avoid leaning on live game reps to settle the issue, because that usually means something has gone wrong.
“You would really not like to use game reps because that means that whoever you sent out there didn’t stay out there,” he said. “But we’re all about scoring points, so I think and I’m sure Coach would echo this at any position it’s not like, hey, there’s your starting fill-in-the-blank, and the backup is never going to see the field the whole year.
So it doesn’t matter who goes out there for the first extra point. The rest of the guys are working their butt off to compete because we’ve got to keep scoring points.”
Smiley even left the door open for a split-role setup at kicker if that’s how the competition shakes out. He said a specialized arrangement would be worth considering, especially if one kicker proves more reliable from shorter range while another has the bigger leg for long attempts.
“Definitely entertain it,” Smiley said. “I think that would have to be specialized.
That would have to be an interesting situation because I think if a guy is accurate from, let’s call it, short distances, he could probably make that 51, 52. Now, when you’re talking about, let’s call them 56, 57, end of half, end of game, now potentially that could be a specialty guy.
And then you get into the conversation where what’s the percentage of your specialty guy? Let’s call it 59 yards, as opposed to is a Hail Mary an offensive play better?
So yes, definitely a possibility. I don’t know that that’s I don’t know if that’s how it’s going to unfold.”
For now, though, Smiley’s message is simple: keep competing, keep stacking reps, and let the depth chart reveal itself.
In Other News...
South Carolinas Opener Outlook Just Got Tougher On Defense
South Carolinas season-opening defensive picture has gotten a little murkier, even as the Gamecocks continue to make progress in camp. Shane Beamer said Dylan Stewart and Jacarrius Peak are unlikely to be ready when the season begins, though both are still moving toward clearance, and the team did get through a full scrimmage that simulated game conditions without any new injuries.
Ethan Johnson is another name to watch as the calendar turns toward September, after a court ruling left his eligibility in focus. Beamer sounded confident Johnson will be available by September 1, which would help soften some of the early-season uncertainty, but for now the Gamecocks are still waiting on a few defensive pieces to line up before the opener arrives. [Read more 🡒]
South Carolinas Harris Twins Are Giving Gamecocks Fans Early Defensive Hope
Spring practice always brings a little optimism, but the arrival of Aiden and Andrew Harris has given South Carolina fans something more specific to latch onto. The identical twins enrolled at the University of South Carolina and got their first taste of work with the Gamecocks this spring, with Aiden stepping in as a four-star defensive lineman and Andrew arriving as a three-star linebacker. Both are already spending time together in the playbook, which is exactly the sort of early connection a program hopes for when two new defenders come in at once.
For a defense looking to keep building momentum, the Harris twins offer an interesting early storyline because their coaches have already seen enough to speak positively about their potential impact. There is still plenty to sort out as they settle into college football, but having two young defenders learning the system side by side gives South Carolina a chance to develop depth and competition in two important spots. The real test will come when the pace picks up, but for now the early signs are enough to make fans pay attention. [Read more 🡒]
South Carolinas Defense Has A Transfer Question Fans Cant Ignore
South Carolina has spent the buildup to the season opener against Kent State leaning on a familiar offseason theme: new faces on defense. Among the most intriguing additions are defensive lineman Tomiwa Durojaiye, EDGE rusher Caleb Herring and nickelback Quaysheed Scott, three transfers who have already started to stand out in preseason preparation and could factor into the rotation sooner rather than later.
For a defense trying to reload while keeping its standard high, the question is not whether those newcomers have upside, but how quickly they can turn promise into reliable production once the games count. The Gamecocks have options across the front and in the secondary, and the early signs suggest these transfers could become important pieces in 2026, but the opener will offer the first real look at how much trust the staff is ready to place in them. [Read more 🡒]