South Carolina wide receiver Jayden Sellers (17) is seen on the second day of practice in Columbia on Saturday, August 8, 2026.
Sam Wolfe
Special To The State
South Carolina wide receivers Jayden Sellers and Jayden Gibson will both miss the 2026 season, the team announced Sunday night.
“Each endured season-ending, lower body injuries this week in practice,” USC said in a news release ahead of Sunday’s practice.
Sellers, the younger brother of Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers, was expected to start for South Carolina this season after catching an impressive 22 passes for 337 yards in seven games as a true freshman last year.
Gibson, an Oklahoma who become the Gamecocks’ first portal commitment this offseason, was seeking a fresh start at South Carolina after missing both the 2024 and 2025 seasons with injuries.
After a sophomore season in 2023 where he caught 14 passes for 375 yards and five touchdowns, he tore his patellar tendon weeks before the 2024 season opener. He suffered another injury ahead of the 2025 season and, in October, he and the Sooners parted ways.
That led the way for Gibson to land at South Carolina, which recruited him as a four-star prospect years earlier. Because Gibson missed all spring practice rehabbing, it was unclear where he stood in the receiver rotation.
While he was expected to garner playing time in 2026, Gibson likely wouldn’t have cracked the starting lineup over Nyck Harbor, Jayden Sellers, Georgia/Purdue transfer Nitro Tuggle and other options.
In Sunday’s news release, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said he was “extremely disappointed” for both players and said the program is ready to support Sellers and Gibson as they recover this fall.
Sunday’s news release didn’t give specifics on either player’s injury past calling them “lower body.”
“I know how hard each of them has worked over the spring and summer in getting ready for 2026 to help our team,” Beamer said in a news release. “I have full confidence they will both overcome the adversity they’re facing, and we will help them in whatever way we can throughout the rehab process moving forward.”
South Carolina’s Jayden Gibson during a 2026 spring football practice. Dwayne McLemore dmclemore@thestate.com
This story was originally published August 16, 2026 at 7:01 PM.
