They will be a conference game in the future. Who would ever thought that possible!

DALLAS — More content from off the podium in Dallas, where Alex Huntley, Debo Williams and Luke Doty talked to local media for a little bit before facing the conference-wide and national media in the main room. Here are some comments from all three:

Alex Huntley:

On being a Columbia kid playing out a full career at South Carolina:
“I feel like every move I make, everything I do, I’m doing it for myself and my family but also Columbia. The city has welcomed me so much. Everything I can do to represent the city as best I can, I try to do that.”

On being at Media Days:
"The fact that I can do this and be able to do this is a blessing. It goes to show how much I appreciate my coaches and my team, that they are okay with me coming here and are fine with me representing them. I'm just appreciative of them."

On what people should know about 2024 South Carolina football:
2024 SC:
“Just keep sleeping on us. I don’t hear too much of the media, but I’ve heard enough. I’m okay with what’s being said, that’s fine. But to those people saying those things, they’re going to be a little upset when the season goes on with what we do.”

On the experience of the defense:
“It does a whole lot. I feel like I could lead a scout or a whole practice defensively by myself just because of how much I know signaling all the plays, coverages, stunts, formations, whatever it is. So having that second nature with not just me but almost half the defense it feels like, we’re all on that same page so it helps a lot.”

On the summer work:
“One thing about us is we work very, very, very hard. I think that’s something we tell guys that come on official visits, like don’t come here if you don’t want to work. We work really hard in the weight room, but that kind of helps us. To really become brothers and really become a family, you’ve got to go through those hardships and be doing those workouts. This year we’ve been really focusing on having those lows in the workouts, but also getting those highs in, doing things together, having fun, everything like that.”

On the player of this defense people don't know now but will this season:
“We have a lot of players on the defense who I’m excited about, who I feel don’t get enough attention. But probably Nick Barrett. It’s a little bit of D-line love; he’s a D-line guy. We have a lot of depth this year at D-line, but he’s really going to be one who makes people start talking and asking about him.”

On if last season has been used as motivation:
“You definitely have those moments where you kind of think back. It’s not fun to think about, it’s not something I like to think about. But I kind of have the same mentality as I did two years ago when we were coming off a somewhat alright season. It was what it was, it’s in the past. We have a new team, new coaches, it’s a whole new season. I try not to think about it too much and just prepare for what’s coming.”

On what having new players on the edge does for interior defensive linemen:
“It does everything. Being able to push the pocket knowing if we just push it really, they’ll flood the quarterback out. We have great pass rushers, great all-around defensive ends who clean up the play or vice-versa. They can force the quarterback to step up in the pocket and we’ll be right there. Having great edges no matter what position you are will help you so much. Even DBs, the quarterback has to throw it faster. That’s a very big help.”

On the low pre-season projections for this team from national media:
“You never like to see stuff like that. But I think the older I’ve gotten and the more I’ve seen certain things from the media, I kind of just brush it off the shoulder. Nobody is in the building with us, nobody is there when we’re working out, nobody is there in film study, so I can never take it for too much. I can understand it for what it is — like Coach Beamer was saying, he gets it — it is what it is, but none of them are there when we’re working.”

On the 3-3-5 defense:
“It helped us out a lot last year. Our whole game plan this year will be just do what we’ve got to do to win. If a team needs this look to kind of mess them up a little bit, we’re going to give them that look. We’re just going to have a winning mentality and do whatever formation and play we need to do.”

Live updates here.

DALLAS — Checking in from SEC Media Days, where Shane Beamer will hit the podium in about half an hour. He just spoke to the South Carolina media off the podium and away from cameras, and here is the full rundown of what he said to us:

On the injury front:
“We’ll get back in as a staff next week and get an update injury wise, but at this point everybody is good and guys that were limited in spring practice are full speed ahead. Rocket Sanders and those guys have had a great summer from a health standpoint, and we expect everybody to be full go once we get going.”

On the theme for this pre-season:
“The theme going all the way back to January would be the hunger that this team has. We’ve got three fantastic leaders here today that have played a lot of football for us here at South Carolina, along with a lot of other leaders. When you think about it, two of the guys that we brought to media days last year are still on our team in Tonka [Hemingway] and Kai [Kroeger] as well. We’re an older team that’s very, very hungry. They’ve shown that since August. The theme for us is just to continue to build on that and embrace that.”

“We’ve got a lot of new faces obviously, coaches and players, and will continue to get acclimated and just get better. But I really like this group. I like the way they’ve worked since January. They’ve had a fantastic summer, and we’re eager to get going.”

Said Boogie Huntley and Debo Williams were voted as permanent captains by their teammates at the end of last season, part of why they are at Media Days this year.

On analysts now being allowed to coach on-field and if he’s in favor of that rule change:
“Absolutely I am. Every school is going to be different. You may have some coaches that just hire an army of analysts, and you’ve seen that. Some coaches in the last 2-3 months have left some coordinator jobs at the FCS level to go be an analyst somewhere else, and more power to them. But I think it’s great. It takes kind of the gray area out of who’s allowed to do what. We try to do things the right way at our place, but not everybody I don’t think has always followed that rule the way it’s supposed to be followed.”

While all of these sports won't be for everyone.

Wimbleton Final
Tight leaderboard in the Scottish Open final round
COPA Final
Euro Final
Full MLB Day
Day 1 of the MLB Draft (P.J. Morlando maybe)

Has anything good happened for
University of South Carolina football program in recruiting in last five weeks. All the committed 3 stars with just 2 four stars is not impressive.

Is there a window for the Gamecocks to compete?

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We should all know how this one shakes out tomorrow. Through much of the process, I've felt confident he was going to land at Penn State, and it seems like everyone around him still hopes that is the case, but there is growing sentiment that Cyrus wants to leave his home state and venture out his own, and if he sticks with that, South Carolina and WR Coach Mike Furrey have put themselves in prime position for his commitment. I don't feel strongly enough to put a futurecast in either way, but at this moment I very much believe he could be a Gamecock. I will keep you folks posted if I get any other trickles of info prior to his announcement.

He’s an Upstate kid that won Max Prep player of the year in SC.

curious what any locals think of him?

I don't see this one going the Gamecocks way.

Decision could be coming soon as it's now a three-team race:

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This was one I noted last week in the weekly recruiting wrap up.

I'm looking for a silver lining here, but I am not impressed at all...