Deebo Samuel

RS Sophomore

Wide Receiver

6' 0" / 205 lbs

Inman, SC (Chapman)

Recruitment:

A consensus 3-star recruit. Ranked the fifth-best player in South Carolina, the 35th-best wide receiver in the country, by 247Sports.

College Career:

Redshirted his first season in Columbia (2014). Last season, Samuel suffered a hamstring injury in the opener against the North Carolina Tarheels, and struggled with that injury for most of the season. Logged his first career catch against Kentucky, and started against Georgia before sitting the next seven games to address the hamstring issue. Caught four passes for 27 yards against the Citadel, before a 107-yard, 1 TD breakout game to end the season versus the Clemson Tigers. Over the spring, he was honored with the Big Plays award as well as the Joe Morrison Offensive Player of the spring.

2015 Outlook:

It’s hard to imagine, but Deebo Samuel is the top returning wide receiver on the Gamecocks roster. Despite having started just three games last season, he has shown flashes of the intangible qualities that have earned him high praise amongst the coaching staff and his teammates. You have to assume that Samuel, a fast, agile, strong receiver with big-play ability, will fit nicely into Kurt Roper’s offense, and if he stays healthy, will likely be a lynchpin for the Gamecocks young receiving corps. While we’re not sure that Deebo will assume the role that Pharoh Cooper played last year, he certainly has the ability to be a sparkplug in an offense full of young, talented, yet unproven offensive playmakers.

Potpurri:

Y’all think that Deebo is his real name? Wrong. Deebo, his nickname, is an homage to the character played by ‘Tiny’ Lister in the movie Friday. Hopefully this Deebo makes out better than the other one did (link is a little, NSFW, btw).

Oh, also, Deebo has got some game of a different sort: