South Carolina Gamecocks football QB announce his departure

How the Kentucky Wildcats (1-0, 0-0 SEC) and the South Carolina Gamecocks (1-0, 0-0 SEC) match up at each position for the 2024 SEC opener — with a game prediction:

Quarterbacks

▪ In his first college start, Kentucky’s Brock Vandagriff made two bad throws early in UK’s weather-abbreviated 31-0 season-opening win over Southern Mississippi. One of the bad passes was intercepted to snuff out a potential UK scoring drive; the second probably would have been a pick six except the USM DB dropped the ball. After the rough start, Vandagriff, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound redshirt junior, settled in and played well. In a game that lasted only 35:04 because of lightning, the Georgia transfer completed 12 of 18 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns and ran five times for 35 yards.

▪ South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers also made his initial college start last week. In the Gamecocks’ closer-than-expected 23-19 win over Old Dominion, the 6-3, 242-pound product of Florence, S.C., ran 22 times for 68 yards and scored the game-winning TD on a 3-yard jaunt with 6:11 left in the contest. Sellers was not as effective through the air, completing 10 of 23 passes for 114 yards. Last season, in South Carolina’s 17-14 win over Kentucky in Columbia, Sellers carried the ball twice and gained 9 yards.

▪ Mark Stoops says Kentucky will again be without Ohio State transfer Chip Trayanum (broken hand) this week. In the win over Southern Miss, Demie Sumo-Karngbaye ran effectively, gaining 59 yards on eight carries with a touchdown. In last season’s loss at South Carolina, Sumo-Karngbaye ran twice for 5 yards and caught a pass for 3 yards. True freshman Jason Patterson, a 5-10, 206-pound product of Sneads, Florida, looked promising against Southern Miss, gaining 28 yards on only four carries. Redshirt freshman Jamarion Wilcox gained 8 yards on two rushes vs. USM.

▪ Two seasons ago at Arkansas, Raheim “Rocket” Sanders ran for 1,443 yards and 10 touchdowns and caught 28 passes for 271 yards and two more scores. After an injury-plagued 2023, the 6-foot, 230-pound senior transferred to South Carolina seeking a fresh start. That effort began with promise vs. ODU, as the 6-foot, 230-pound product of Rockledge, Florida, ran for 88 yards on 24 carries with a TD run. Senior Juju McDowell ran twice for 16 yards vs. ODU. In his career against Kentucky, McDowell has rushed 10 times for 30 yards and caught three passes for 20 yards.