South Carolina's offensive line took another hit Tuesday when coach Shane Beamer announced that starting left tackle Josiah Thompson would probably miss the 2026 season with a lower-body injury.
Thompson, who started 24 of 25 games at left tackle the past two seasons, will undergo surgery, Beamer told reporters in a news conference Tuesday.
"I don't anticipate Josiah being able to play this upcoming season," Beamer said. "[It] is an injury that really goes back to a couple of years ago, a lower-body issue that he's been dealing with that we knew a couple of years ago that surgery was the most likely end result for him.
"He kind of played through it last season, but in order for him to be at his best as a football player beyond college, it's one of those things that kind of needed to happen at some point."
Beamer didn't specify Thompson's injury, but said it wasn't "long-term."
"I don't anticipate him being back [from] that surgery in order to play this upcoming season," Beamer said.
The Gamecocks, who are trying to rebound from last season's 4-8 campaign, were already without NC State transfer tackle Jacarrius Peak, who injured his knee in the team's 3-on-3 basketball tournament last month.
Peak will miss spring practice and will be limited in summer workouts, but he should be ready for the start of the regular season, according to Beamer.
"It's not a catastrophic season-ending injury where it's all gloom and doom," Beamer told reporters last week.
Peak started 33 games for the Wolfpack in three seasons. He was the No. 7 player in ESPN's transfer portal rankings after allowing only four sacks in more than 1,100 career snaps in pass protection, per ESPN Research.
Thompson, who was only the second offensive lineman named South Carolina's Mr. Football in 2023, entered the transfer portal in January, before opting 11 days later to return to the Gamecocks.
