South Carolina football 2023 spring game guide: Kickoff time, stream, parking, weather

The third year of the Shane Beamer gets its unofficial kickoff this weekend.

South Carolina will hold its annual Garnet & Black Spring Game on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Beamer guided the Gamecocks to their second-straight bowl game following an 8-4 regular season in 2022. This weekend also marks the first time South Carolina will play in front of a crowd in Columbia since the November upset of No. 5 Tennessee.

Here’s a look at how to watch and the major storylines entering the weekend:

South Carolina spring game details

What: Garnet & Black Spring Game

Where: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, SC

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

TV: None

Stream: SEC Network Plus via the ESPN app

Admission: Free

Weather: Partly cloudy, upper 70s at kickoff, low 70s by end of game

Gates/seating: All gates open at 5:30 p.m., with clear bag policy in effect. Seating in lower bowl is general admission. Fans should fill Sections 1-9 first.

Parking: Gamecock Park opens at 2:30 p.m. Parking is free and on a first-come, first-served basis. Once Gamecock Park fills up, fans can park in the Woodstock lot (behind the football indoor facility) or the Key Road Lot. LMC Fair Park will open at 3 p.m. and is $10 per vehicle.

Traffic alert: Interstate 77 southbound will be closed from Bluff Road to the I-26 interchange from 9 p.m. Friday, April 14 through Sunday, April 23. SCDOT encourages drivers to plan their detour routes in advance. Traffic and road closure information is available at 511sc.org and on the SCDOT 511 mobile app.

Top South Carolina football storylines

▪ How will Spencer Rattler look in Year 2? Last year’s Garnet & Black game offered the first look at quarterback Spencer Rattler in a non-practice setting. This year brings fewer unknowns, but questions are still to be answered.

Rattler was lights out in wins over No. 5 Tennessee and No. 8 Clemson and performed admirably in the Gator Bowl loss to Notre Dame. The expectation is the Gamecocks will go as far as their quarterback will take them. The former five-star recruit has been lauded for his leadership ability over the offseason. There’s also a quiet optimism that Rattler’s teaming with new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who’s spent the bulk of his coaching career in the NFL, will bear productive fruit.

To use Loggains’ word, Saturday will be a “vanilla” look at Rattler and how he’s progressed with an offense that will have to replace some major pieces. The spring game won’t determine how many games the Gamecocks win this fall, but it’s at least a brief glance at where things stand with a little less than five months until the season opener against North Carolina in Charlotte.

▪ The defensive line and linebackers will get a new look South Carolina remains rail thin at defensive end leaving the spring following the departures of Jordan Burch (Oregon) and Gilber Edmond (Florida State). The Gamecocks are expected to be active in the transfer portal along the edges, but Saturday could give some idea of who’s in the mix for major snaps right now.

Second-year edge Bryan Thomas played in 10 games a year ago out of necessity as much as anything. He performed admirably considering the situation he was thrown into and should get plenty of snaps Saturday. Tyreek Johnson, one-time N.C. State transfer Terrell Dawkins and four-star freshman Desmond Umeozulu also all figure to be big pieces this year.

Linebacker, too, will get a different look. Sixth-year seniors Brad Johnson and Sherrod Greene have moved on. That leaves some combination of Debo Williams, Stone Blanton, Grayson “Pup” Howard and Bam Martin-Scott to replace them. Williams is almost assuredly guaranteed to be a starter and has played a rotational role the past two seasons. Blanton has received ample praise this offseason and should also be a major piece.

Neither defensive end Jordan Strachan nor linebacker Mo Kaba will play this week as they continue to recover from ACL tears. Strachan and Kaba will both be starters when they return, but the spring game will give some idea of the depth behind them.

▪ What will South Carolina do at running back? South Carolina will have to replace three of its top four rushers from a season ago — including MarShawn Lloyd, who’s since transferred to Southern Cal.

Juju McDowell, Newberry College import Mario Anderson and Dakereon Joyner should all get plenty of run at tailback in Saturday’s scrimmage. McDowell is the leading returning rusher, but it’s unlikely he can handle a full load in the fall given his 5-foot-9, 177-pound frame. Anderson an is intriguing option after he was a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy (Division II Heisman) last year. It’ll be USC fans’ first look at him.

Joyner has played just about every position on the offense short of offensive line at this point. Early returns about his taking reps at running back are positive, but it’ll be interesting to see him actually do so in a pseudo-game setting.

South Carolina 2023 football schedule

• Sept. 2 — vs. North Carolina (in Charlotte)

• Sept. 9 — vs. Furman

• Sept. 16 — at Georgia

• Sept. 23 — vs. Mississippi State

• Sept. 30 — at Tennessee

• Oct. 7 — OPEN

• Oct. 14 — vs. Florida

• Oct. 21 — at Missouri

• Oct. 28 — at Texas A&M

• Nov. 4 — vs. Jacksonville State

• Nov. 11 — vs. Vanderbilt

• Nov. 18 — vs. Kentucky

• Nov. 25 — vs. Clemson