Matthews is suffering from a dislocated shoulder, and has already been ruled out for this weekend's game with Arkansas and next weekend's game with Florida.
The loss of Matthews is a huge blow to the Gamecocks' defensive line.
"I am not going to put him out there and jeopardize his career," defensive line coach Brad Lawing said. "I'm not going to do that. I don't believe in that. Cliff's a tough kid. And with him, we've got to make sure that he really is able to be out there.
"That's tough to lose a guy like that. He's probably our most high-energy guy on defense. He makes plays, disrupts a lot of stuff. So that's tough."
