Gamecocks' freshman WR Elijah Caldwell makes quick impression

COLUMBIA — The hype is worth it.
Ask anybody on staff about Nyck Harbor and the first word they’ll use in reply is “fast.” An athletic specimen with Olympic-sprinter speed, Harbor is working through the paces of South Carolina’s preseason, learning the intricacies of playing wide receiver at the SEC level.
He’s getting pointers from one of the other freshman receivers beside him, one that didn’t have a 50th of the attention, but has already wowed USC’s coaches with his ability.
“(Justin Stepp) came up and hugged me at the coaches’ clinic, said, ‘Thanks for giving us Elijah,’” Northwestern High coach Page Wofford chuckled. “Elijah was there in June, right after he graduated, and Stepp was calling us raving about him a week and a half later.
“He didn’t stick out. He belongs there.”
Elijah Caldwell watched like everybody else when Harbor made his choice of USC official, and gushes like everybody else when discussing just how gifted Harbor is when it comes to toasting a secondary. Caldwell made his decision around a week before Harbor did, having backed off a verbal pledge to West Virginia when the coaching staff, including his primary recruiter, was changed.
He decided to take the short drive down I-77 from Rock Hill, dubbed “Football City USA” due to its lineage of NFL talent (natives Mason Rudolph, Stephon Gilmore and Cordarrelle Patterson are currently on NFL rosters, while USC great Jadeveon Clowney is hoping to land a deal before the season begins).
A Shrine Bowl selection at Northwestern, Caldwell finished his senior year with 77 catches for 1,365 yards and 20 touchdowns, shining in an Air Raid offense and helping lead the Trojans to the Class AAAA state championship game.
Caldwell knew he was entering a stacked receiver room, with Juice Wells, Xavier Legette and Ahmarean Brown returning, Memphis transfer Eddie Lewis coming in and a flock of freshmen, sophomores and redshirt sophomores also trying to get on the field. Harbor was one more guy that Caldwell would have to move past to play this year.
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“We like to travel with seven to eight, it’s hard to rotate more than six to eight in a game,” Stepp said. “Of course, I say that and we got to the (Gator Bowl) and played five.”
With three weeks and change to go until the season begins, a lot can happen. Harbor is going to play because even as he transitions from tight end/defensive end to receiver, his speed will get him on the field.
But even with three returning standouts and Harbor, Caldwell looks to be in that six-to-eight-man rotation, at least for now.
“I just tell myself to stay hungry, stay humble. I’m still a freshman so it’s a learning process, so trying to learn from the older guys,” Caldwell said. “I just try to be myself, keep doing my thing. I’m trying to establish myself but by doing it my way.”
That’s showing everything in his arsenal since his first day on campus.
“So glad we took him. He works really hard, doesn’t say two words. Shows up every day, he just works,” Stepp said. “He’s smart, he’s picking things up well. We’re going to be glad we have him.”
Wofford saw it long ago, Caldwell earning a three-year starting role at a state powerhouse in an area bursting with football potential. There’s always pressure in Rock Hill to play and be a star, as so many have before, and Caldwell went on the typical learning curve before hitting the next rise.
“He worked, now,” Wofford said. “He put himself into position to be successful. It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, but when you got him calmed down, and got to know him, you knew he was a good kid with his best interests at heart.”
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Caldwell committed to West Virginia in July 2022 and was all in before the coaching change in Morgantown. Northwestern reached the state title game in his senior season, and then Caldwell was off to Shrine Bowl practice.
It was there he received inspiration from an unlikely place.
“He played with LaNorris and some of those other guys, they were the ones who were calling USC and saying, ‘Hey, you might want to take another look at this guy,’” Wofford said.
LaNorris Sellers, quarterback of the South Florence team that blitzed Caldwell and the Trojans for state, and several other Gamecock commits were telling Caldwell he ought to just come with them to Columbia. With that in his head, Caldwell played the Shrine Bowl and came back to Rock Hill, where he realized those guys were right.
He called West Virginia and told the new coaches he would not be signing with the Mountaineers. As soon as his name was back on the market, new USC offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains reached out.
“I met him and we clicked instantly,” Caldwell said. “He’s a real cool dude.”
Soon after, Caldwell committed to USC. He finished high school, came south, joked that he would let quarterback Spencer Rattler keep wearing No. 7 (Caldwell’s number with the Trojans), and hit the field for offseason workouts.
That started the calls back to coach Wofford praising Caldwell’s development and asking if he had any little brothers in the Trojan pipeline (he does, but he’s a toddler). Wofford grinned like a proud papa and wondered what took them so long to realize it.
“I’m not surprised that he’s impressing. Not surprised one bit that he’s giving himself a chance to play early,” he said. “They’ve done a great job with him and the things they’ve got in place. When I talk to him, he’s happy.”