South Carolina football season preview 2020: Record predictions, depth chart analysis, breakout players

South Carolina football season preview including game-by-game schedule predictions, depth chart analysis of the roster and breakout players to watch.

Everything has to go right for South Carolina football this year, but the team is so up against it.

2020 is year five of the Will Muschamp era in Columbia. While things look to be on the come-up for him after his second year leading the team in 2017, the South Carolina Gamecocks regressed in each of the last two years. From 9-4 and a bowl victory in 2017, South Carolina went 7-6 with a bowl loss in 2018, only to follow that up with a dreadful 4-8 campaign in 2019.

Though he surely had to love beating his alma mater Georgia Bulldogs and his former college teammate Kirby Smart in double overtime in Athens last year, that was the Gamecocks’ only saving grace. Their three other wins were vs. SEC East foes Kentucky and Vanderbilt, as well as over FCS Charleston Southern. That’s it. South Carolina dropped three non-conference games.

After falling to Mack Brown’s North Carolina Tar Heels in the season-opener, neutral-site affair in Charlotte, South Carolina would fall to Eliah Drinkwitz’s Appalachian State Mountaineers out of the Sun Belt. It’s okay because Drinkwitz is now Muschamp’s Battle of Columbia rival leading the Missouri Tigers. And falling to the in-state rival Clemson Tigers was completely expected.

Despite a bad season all-around, the Gamecocks did have four players drafted, including defensive end Javon Kinlaw by the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Bryan Edwards by the Las Vegas Raiders. The other positive from last year was the emergence of starting quarterback Ryan Hilinski. While he’s not top-half in the SEC yet, he has the potential to be in the next few years.

So what we have here is an incredibly important year for South Carolina football. Muschamp needs to approach .500 to keep his job. While perpetual nemesis Clemson isn’t on the schedule this year, South Carolina may only have a couple of SEC wins readily available on the schedule. Thus, the Gamecocks will need several young players to step up to overachieve relatively low expectations.

Here is the 2020 South Carolina football season preview. Who are the Gamecocks playing? How many games will they win and do they have a shot at upsetting a few teams? We’ll look at their depth chart, as well as a handful of breakout stars we can’t wait to see get to work on the gridiron. Let’s get to it then!