Lowcountry’s 15 Biggest Player Storylines

Players returning from injury. Others electing to transfer. Those ready to prove they can be even better than they were last fall.   The Lowcountry is full of massive individual storylines weeks prior to the start of the 2025 season.   We started off our wide-angle look at the Southeast corridor of the state with <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/07/lowcountrys-best-zones-top-10-players/">our picks for the zone's top 10 players</a>. But the impacts on the field don't even come close to stopping there.   In fact, this three-part series will continue even further. But for now, we wanted to break down 15 players who will have every opportunity to take their next steps.   [player_tooltip player_id='473027' first='Meliq' last='McGowan'] RB, Goose Creek - Not long after the start of his junior season, McGowan suffered an AC joint sprain in his shoulder and was forced out of the lineup for more than a month. Some of his absence was a precaution to make sure he was 100 percent before he got back on the field. All he's done since returning is prove that he'll have every opportunity to be even more of a menace than he was as a sophomore (~2,000 total yards, 16 touchdowns). The 6-foot, 195-pounder is obviously going to be the focal point for the Gators' offense, especially after 12 players left the program since the end of last season.    [player_tooltip player_id='1592310' first='Quinn' last='Mahoney'] QB, Bishop England - Much like McGowan, Mahoney easily could have taken up one of the spots in our Top 10 list for the zone. In his first season as a starter after transferring from Oceanside Collegiate, he was a program changer. Mahoney threw for 2,461 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushed for anther 469 yards and nine more scores. His favorite target is back. The Bishops' defense is going to be very good. Everything on paper is a positive. But? Replicating success and production is going to be much tougher this time around. Mahoney is no longer an enigma. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound quarterback has earned the right to have every opposing defensive coordinator game plan against him.    [player_tooltip player_id='1422535' first='Jayvin' last='Risher'] ATH, Hilton Head - Each of Risher's head coaches - Rob Hanna at Hampton County and now BJ Payne at Hilton Head - have raved about his pure athletic ability. When he's on the field, his 22 mile-per-hour speed makes the 6-foot, 180-pound two-way player a threat to make a play. After transferring earlier this summer, the Seahawks immediately started building a game plan for him. He's going to be the team's second tailback (they used two last year and it worked out pretty well) while taking on the Spur position on defense in order to give Hilton Head another seasoned hybrid. Still, change doesn't always come easy. Risher will don pads with his new program for the first time in August. How quickly he adjusts is completely up to him.    [player_tooltip player_id='1036774' first='Amare' last='Patterson'] WR, Bluffton - The Bobcats' newest receiver might not be as highly regarded as position mate [player_tooltip player_id='402486' first='Carnell' last='Warren'] - but he's not far off, not to mention a year behind. But this fall will be huge for the former Beaufort Eagle. In addition to Patterson going from a run-based offense to a spread on steroids, he's also going to be making his return to the field after missing the majority of 2024 with an injury. Regardless, Patterson is going to get his targets. He's an elusive route runner who even during the spring was able to hit 21.45 miles per hour during the Carolinas Coaches Combines when he wasn't at 100 percent. And he's now doing it for a squad that threw the ball an average of 27 times per game last fall.    [player_tooltip player_id='1639684' first='Tyree' last='Patton'] LB, Summerville - Even with such a huge influx of transfers (more on that below), Summerville is one of those programs that was already loaded. And on defense, what Patton did last fall can't be overlooked. He put up more than 125 tackles and was second on the squad with just shy of 20 tackles for loss. He's got plenty of help in the middle with [player_tooltip player_id='1267285' first='JT' last='Williams'] also back. For everything Patton does on the field, though, he's also going to be charged with getting a whole bunch of new faces accustomed to playing for one of the state's powerhouses and navigating a season filled with monster expectations. His attention to detail and play will dictate so much more for Summerville than simply putting up a ton of tackles along the way.    [player_tooltip player_id='1615105' first='Kermit' last='Davis'] DL, Stratford - If you're looking for a youngster to watch develop in real-time, we suggest you put Davis near the top of the Lowcountry list. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound defensive end may very well be 6-foot-4 by this time next year. More importantly, he's going to start getting significant reps after not playing the entirety of his freshman season. During that window, he recorded a sack in two of his last three games, including one in the first-round playoff loss to Fort Dorchester. Davis is a beast athletically. He knocked out 20 reps on the 185-pound bench and recored a 35.9-inch vertical and 110-inch broach jump at the CCC. If you're going to learn to be a force in the state's largest classification, it certainly helps to have that type of physical ability. Davis doesn't need to be the best defensive end in South Carolina as a sophomore to prove he's good. But even some progress and more experience should do the trick.    [player_tooltip player_id='473024' first='Ryan' last='Campbell'] RB, Ashley Ridge (pictured) - Campbell has been a dynamic playmaker with all the potential in the world since he burst onto the scene as a freshman at Fort Dorchester back in 2022. He earned valuable carries, became a part-time starter and then took over the starting job. Ultimately, he transferred to Ashley Ridge in January and immediately joined a team that needed to replace Jayden Acosta, who rushed for 1,500 yards and 19 touchdowns last fall. That's not too shabby considering the Swamp Foxes are perceived to be a pass-first bunch. With respect to Acosta, Campbell is one of the most dangerous ball carriers in the state and has a ceiling that most running backs only wish they did.   [player_tooltip player_id='1025774' first='Sawyer' last='Arnold'] DL, Oceanside Collegiate - Oceanside has spent much time collecting headlines on the offensive side of the ball during its back-to-back state championship runs that many folks overlook how good the other side as been. The Landsharks allowed an ultra-respectable 18 points per game last year, a number that was heavily inflated by lopsided losses to Class 5A state finalists Dutch Fork and Irmo. Arnold's role in creating havoc has also been a bit overlooked, even for a guy who committed to Appalachian State last month. His 23 sacks were among the state's best, and he packaged it all with 10 additional tackles for loss and 68 total stops. We get one more season to see what he can do at this level, and his expectations are sky high.    [player_tooltip player_id='1172364' first='Mah'ky' last='Green'] RB, Cross - Green has been an excellent soldier for the Trojans while biding his time to be the team's starting tailback. While Karmello Jones spent 2023 building himself up and then exploding for 1,900 yards and 32 touchdowns last fall, Green used his lesser touch count to rush for just shy of 1,500 yards and 21 touchdowns. He also helped in the defensive backfield, and will likely to continue to do so moving forward. But how much he's going to be counted upon to help this offense will be priority No. 1. Green is one of the fastest players in the state; it's been more than a year since he first hit a verified 22 miles per hour. He's not as big as Jones, but even at 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, his home run capability makes him one of the biggest threats for a breakout campaign in all of Class A ball.    [player_tooltip player_id='1267220' first='Zion' last='Britt'] OL, Berkeley - As a 270-pound sophomore, Britt wasn't eased into much for the Stags. He was asked to protect freshman phenom [player_tooltip player_id='1036733' first='Henry' last='Rivers'] in the passing game while also remaining active enough to let Rivers use his athleticism in the rushing attack. It would be idiotic to say that Britt's two seasons of that task have not been successful. At that same time, there's so much left in the tank we see 2025 as Britt's opportunity to not just play well, but to dominate. He's now 6-foot-2 and 305 pounds and has increased his strength significantly since  his first starts. Britt also has a much higher understanding of the game and the Berkeley offense as a whole. For good measure, his verbal commitment to Howard puts most of his recruiting worries in the rear view. Rivers may still get most of the headlines, but having a left tackle like Britt doesn't hurt.   [player_tooltip player_id='1036782' first='Jagger' last='Spivey'] WR, Ashley Ridge - The Swamp Foxes' offseason has been an eventful one, and not always in ways fans of this program hoped. But the fact remains that the offense is a juggernaut that is still going to want to throw the heck out of the football with [player_tooltip player_id='402509' first='Trevor' last='Kalisz'] back for one more run at Ashley Ridge. Will Spivey get as many targets as Derrick Salley (108) did in 2023 or even Jaiden Deweese (89) last fall? Maybe not. But what we do know is that this team has had no issue throwing to a favorite receiver in lopsided fashion. Of the returning receivers, Spivey (46 receptions, 668 yards, five touchdowns last fall) is the most polished. He's a precise route-runner who can shift back and forth from the slot to the outside with ease. If he and Kalisz get into a rhythm, Spivey's influence here will skyrocket.   [player_tooltip player_id='1592194' first='Jaemin' last='Pinckney'] DL, Woodland - Pinckney is 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds. He's got a wingspan right around 80 inches. He's got 21-mile-per-hour speed. And he's an absolute nightmare coming off the edge, whether he's starting in a standing position pre-snap or with his hand on the ground. Did we mention he's verbally committed to South Florida? We run through some of those credentials because if there's a future Power 4 player who has slipped under the publicity radar in the state, we're not sure we've found one. Pinckney will be looking to put his name front and center for SCFCA All-State honors, not to mention the coaching staffs of the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas or the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl. An extended push in the playoffs would help his individual cause, and vice versa.   [player_tooltip player_id='1061146' first='Teru' last='Davis'] WR and [player_tooltip player_id='1615021' first='Dexter' last='Chavous'] DL, Summerville - Davis (Goose Creek) and Chavous (Silver Bluff) were already freshman sensations at their previous schools. They were attracting college interest even at their young ages and were huge parts of the future plans for their respective former programs. Independently, and months apart, they both elected to take advantage of the SCHSL transfer policy and join a team that has formed into one of the state's true Class 5A power programs again. Nothing, not even playing time, is written in stone. But how each of these two handle not being the center of attention at times will craft not only their production and work loads as sophomores, but create their individual paths in the years ahead.    [player_tooltip player_id='367827' first='Bristol' last='Biegenzahn'] DL, West Ashley - Biegenzahn spent his offseason getting the attention of some excellent mid-level college programs before ultimately verbally committing to Elon in the back half of June. Most of his recognition factor with the colleges came after he put his physical skills on display during several camps. He'd already more than backed it up on the field. Last fall, for instance, he had 68 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, eight pass break-ups and seven sacks. His final run for the Wildcats, though, will be about something else. After some transfers out of the program prior to Rashad Graham's hire, Biegenzahn is the guy for a team trying to usher in a new era of West Ashley football. His legacy will only partially be credited to how much time he spends in the backfield as a senior.

Players returning from injury. Others electing to transfer. Those ready to prove they can be even better than they were last fall.