South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer ruled star receiver Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr. out for this weekend’s matchup against Tennessee during his Tuesday press conference.
Wells led South Carolina in receiving a season ago catching 68 passes for 928 yards and six touchdowns including an 11 catch, 177 yard performance against Tennessee. But the senior receiver has dealt with injuries all season.
The 6-foot-1 playmaker dealt with a foot injury in fall practice that’s limited him early this season. Wells played sparingly in South Carolina’s first two games this season totaling just one catch for five yards.
Wells caught two catches on the Gamecocks’ first drive against Georgia including a 17-yard touchdown. But Wells re-injured his foot on the play and has yet to return to the lineup since. Beamer stated last week that Wells visited a specialist in Charlotte and that Wells wouldn’t be out for the entirety of the season.
But after not playing in South Carolina’s 37-30 win over Mississippi State, Beamer ruled out Wells for this weekend’s critical SEC East matchup against Tennessee.
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South Carolina’s passing attack has been one of its biggest strengths early in this season. Quarterback Spencer Rattler has been one of the SEC’s best quarterbacks through four weeks and receiver Xavier Legette has stepped up as a No. 1 receiver in Wells’ absence.
“He’s a really good player,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said of Rattler Monday. “He’s played at a high level. He’s played a lot of football. He’s playing extremely well right now. He was dynamic in that football game but he has that in his arsenal.”
It wasn’t all bad news for South Carolina on the injury front Tuesday with Beamer sharing that receiver Ahmarean Brown is returning to the lineup Saturday after missing the Georgia and Mississippi State games. Brown totaled nine catches for 86 yards in the Gamecocks’ first two games this season.
Kickoff from Neyland Stadium is at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday night. Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers and Cole Cubelic are on the call for the SEC Network.
One Response
Right. He’s doing exactly what Cedric Tillman did at Tennessee last year. He’s saving himself for the NFL.