MARLER: Questions as spring camp starts for Florida and South Carolina

Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

By Chris Marler

Two SEC programs open spring football this week, with Florida beginning the Jon Sumrall on-field era Tuesday and South Carolina set to start practice Wednesday. Both teams went into last season with lofty expectations, and both finished the season home for the holidays, missing a bowl game with identical 4-8 records.

Here are my main questions for the first two teams taking the field this week.

Florida: Who is going to separate themselves at quarterback?

The Billy Napier era is finally over and I can only assume coming from Louisiana, Jon Sumrall has saged The Swamp and exercised the demons left behind by Sun Belt Billy. The biggest question for Florida this offseason will be the same one for ten teams around the conference: who will be this year’s starting quarterback?

Only six teams in the conference return their starting quarterback from a year ago. In Florida’s case, they are one of the teams that must break in a new quarterback, offensive coordinator, and head coach.

Sources: Florida is expected to hire Buster Faulkner as the school’s next offensive coordinator. He’s the successful OC at Georgia Tech, who brings SEC experience from to stints at Georgia.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 4, 2025

Both Aaron Philo and Trammell Jones Jr. will battle for the spot of QB1. Most people this offseason have given their nod of approval to Philo who transferred to Florida from Georgia Tech where new Gators OC Buster Faulkner was the last several seasons.

The Gators offense got worse every year under Billy Napier, and they’ll be ushering in a new era with one of the best young offensive minds in the sport.

Neither signal caller has much experience, with the two combining for 63 pass attempts a year ago and just three touchdowns behind their respective starters. The key for each quarterback may not be how much they can air it out but rather how little they can turn it over. Faulkner’s offense is a run-heavy offense that ranked 14th and 18th in rushing and total offense in all of FBS during his three year stint at Georgia Tech.

Aaron Philo to Eric Singleton Jr. back in 2024.

Might be seeing a lot of this in 2026. pic.twitter.com/CbaexF48ri

— Nick Marcinko (@marcinko_nick) January 13, 2026

South Carolina: Who is going to be healthy enough to play on the offensive line?

South Carolina might actually be cursed. The wave of injuries that has hit not only this team, but the entire athletic department over the past year has been unbelievable.

Returning All-American Chloe Kitts tore her ACL last October and has missed the entire season for women’s basketball. Starting LHP Jake McCoy generated a lot of preseason buzz with his 98 mph fastball. He became the second consecutive opening day starter for the Gamecocks baseball team to miss the entire year before seeing any game action.

Then, there’s football.

The prize of the portal for Shane Beamer, Jacarrius Peak, will miss the entire offseason, and hopefully be back in time for the season to start. That’s due to a lower body injury he suffered in a team organized 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

On Tuesday, it was announced that two-year starter on the offensive line Josiah Thompson will be out the entire year for surgery on an existing injury.

The question for South Carolina is probably two fold. Who is going to play either tackle spot this Spring, and will they leave spring practice healthy enough for fall camp when it begins in four months?

Both of the Gamecocks projected starters at offensive tackle are now injured.

5⭐️ transfer OT Jaccarius Peak out for at least spring ball and summer workouts, and now former Freshman All-American & 5⭐️ Josiah Thompson out for the year.

Literally can’t have anything man… https://t.co/Xb5ClrSTWP pic.twitter.com/bzBnymM6Xu

— Rob (@RobbieDidThat) March 3, 2026

Shane Beamer knew this offseason would be key at rebuilding the offensive line. The unit has been one of the worst in the country over the last few years, allowing 40 or more sacks in each of the last three seasons. Beamer brought in a new offensive line coach Randy Clements from TCU, along with his new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. They brought in eight offensive lineman in the transfer portal, but five of those are considered to be interior offensive lineman. Who will man each tackle spot?

Out of the gates, I would look for one of the new enrollees from the portal coming from the lower ranks of college football to get some early looks. Dayne Arnett played left tackle at Ferris State, Armando Nieves started at right tackle at New Mexico State, and Seth Smith started 25 games at left tackle at Northern Arizona. Those three have nearly 50 career starts between them, but a bulk of them came at the FCS level.

There’s also mammoth interior offensive lineman Emmanuel Poku. He was recruited to play guard, but the 6-foot-5, 330 pounder played some right tackle at East Carolina, as well.

Regardless of who goes out there on Wednesday, the main objective is keeping the guy behind them upright because without LaNorris Sellers this team is in big trouble well before the first whistle is ever blown.