Logistically speaking, if South Carolina were to sculpt a real-life homage to its football program, it’d probably be located somewhere along Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in the Palmetto State.

Luckily the exercise in hypotheticals can be constructed here for a mere fraction of the cost and a lot less damage to the environment.

We mulled several names in trying to round out our Mount Rushmore of South Carolina football. All-time leading receiver Alshon Jeffery — king among Gamecocks wide receiver names such as Sterling Sharpe and Sidney Rice — was among them. As were quarterbacks Steve Taneyhill, Connor Shaw and Todd Ellis and running back Marcus Lattimore.

But four Gamecocks have shaped the program into the SEC stalwart that it is today.

Here’s a look at who we’d chisel into South Carolina football’s Mount Rushmore.

WHO IS IN

George Rogers

George Rogers is the George Washington of South Carolina football. The bruising Rogers is not only the lone Gamecock to win a Heisman Trophy, to do so, he beat out Herschel Walker in his prime (by 445 votes).

Rogers finished his tenure in Columbia with 31 touchdowns and 5,091 rushing yards, including a nation-best 1,781 during his 1980 Heisman campaign. That same year, South Carolina made Rogers’ No. 38 the school’s first jersey number ever retired by an active player.

Rogers is the Gamecocks’ all-time leading rusher with 2,086 more yards than No. 2 Harold Green, with whom he’s also tied for most career touchdowns. The running back rushed for more than 100 yards 27 times during his career.

Career numbers: 5,091 rushing yards; 31 TDs; 5,480 yards from scrimmage
Individual superlatives: 1980 Heisman, Consensus All-American, College Football Hall of Fame

Steve Spurrier

Spurrier will always be associated with Florida, but after a decade, he’s etched out a legacy in Columbia, S.C. as well. He’s turned South Carolina into a perennial contender and a player in the SEC among touted recruits.

The Head Ball Coach is 84-45 at the helm of South Carolina. He not only led the Gamecocks to their first-ever 11-win season, he did it three-consecutive years. The Gamecocks have been to nine bowl games in 10 seasons under Spurrier and are riding a four-game bowl winning streak.

Spurrier beat Clemson in 2012 to move into first place on the program’s all-time wins list. The SEC and AP awarded him their Coach of the Year awards in 2005, a conference honor he repeated in 2010.

If there was a Mount Rushmore dedicated to the greatest quote machines in college football history, Spurrier would be on that one, also.

Jadeveon Clowney

Jadeveon Clowney makes the South Carolina Mount Rushmore based on his freakish talent, and not just because we want to see the poor sculptor try to etch all those famous Clowney dreadlocks into the side of a mountain.

Clowney was as intimidating a force as there was in college football en route to being the second Gamecock picked No. 1 overall in the NFL draft.

Clowney’s sophomore year was the most dynamic in Gamecocks history with 13 sacks, 23.5 tackles for loss and 3 forced fumbles. He jumped to legendary status in front of a national audience in the 2013 Outback Bowl: Clowney lit up Vincent Smith milliseconds after the Michigan running back took a handoff.

He finished his three-year career with 24 sacks and 47 TFLs. The Houston Texans selected Clowney with the No. 1 pick, even though his numbers declined during his junior season and minor off-the-field issues plagued him.

Career numbers: 129 tackles; 24.0 sacks, 47.0 TFL, 85.0 solo tackles, 9 forced fumbles
Individual superlatives: No. 1 pick NFL Draft (2014), Unanimous All-American, SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Hendricks Award, two first-team All-SEC selections

Lou Holtz

Holtz gets the nod, despite finishing his Gamecocks career with a losing record (33-37), replete with an 0-11 season to kick off his time in Columbia.

Holtz followed up his winless first year by guiding the Gamecocks to 8- and 9-win seasons, respectively, in 2000 and 2001 and a pair of Outback Bowl wins (both over heavily-favored Ohio State). Improving from zero wins to eight was the third-greatest single-season turnaround in NCAA history.

The turnaround put South Carolina back on the map, making football relevant in Columbia for the first time in a long time. In short, without Holtz, there is no Spurrier at South Carolina. Holtz resurrected the program and Spurrier took it to the next level.

Unfortunately, the Holtz era was slightly tarnished by NCAA violations, but, by then, Holtz had the program facing North.

There you have it. Which Gamecocks would you carve onto the South Carolina version of Mount Rushmore?