W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
Ladies, gentlemen, friends, family and all - we have made it - it is officially, truly, finally time for Carolina football, which means the return of Final thoughts. The hay is in the barn, as they say, the game plan is in, the Friday walk through is complete, and the Gamecocks are currently in the Queen City for the opener against North Carolina.
** It's usually not extremely difficult to get word on which players will start, but I've yet to find out definitively which running back will start, despite my best efforts, and I believe that to be by design. It has been reiterated to me that Rico Dowdle and Tavien Feaster are essentially 1A and 1B and that they'll split carries, especially until one gets the hot hand.
Dowdle and Feaster are also different runners. Feaster has better hands and more top-end speed. Dowdle, when healthy, is a better power runner who can also make defenders miss. Ideally, I believe the staff will look to use them in different ways.
One thing that I believe will be worth keeping an eye on is how the staff uses Feaster when he's motioned out of the backfield. A lot of the big plays from the offense last year came when they did just that, motioning the back out to spread the defense further and then attack down the field. On most of those plays the running back is a decoy, a checkdown, or basically put in his position to hold a defender in place while running a receiver behind him.
That's usually the extent of it with most backs, but with a back with Feaster's skillset, it opens up the playbook to all kinds of other possibilities and tweaks. Feaster said earlier this week than he and Dowdle haven't been on the field at the same time in practice, but I still have to believe that will be a part of what they do at some point this season too.
** To that same point, I've heard some interesting things throughout the preseason about the continued evolution of this offense this offseason. Obviously, I'm not going to post details online, but look for there to be new wrinkles and a more multiple offense this season with a veteran group that's now comfortable with the base offense.
** One of the questions on everyone's mind is clearly how the Gamecocks will use Dakereon Joyner both this game and this season. It's something that head coach Will Muschamp has been purposely coy about. What we know right now is that Joyner will definitely see time this week and that his role this season is going to be more than just "change of pace" quarterback. There are plans within the framework of the offense to utilize Joyner's unique skill set and I'd imagine we see only the surface of those plans in Week 1. From what I've been told, Joyner looks comfortable and effective in his new role and that he's natural...
** I've done quite a bit of reading on new North Carolina defensive coordinator Jay Bateman and the defensive scheme he has employed at past stops. Bateman, like any good coach, believes in molding his scheme to fit his current players, so clearly there will be some adjustments to fit North Carolina's personnel, but the main concept of his defense should remain the same.
First of all, Bateman's defense is designated as a 3-4 base from a depth chart standpoint, but he actually is multiple up front, like South Carolina, and will spend the game transitioning back and forth between three-man and four-man fronts. It's actually more of a 50/50 split than one lean to another.
Bateman is known as an aggressive, blitzing DC and you'll see that play out with an extra defender rushing the passer on a lot of plays (5-man pressures), but he's not an "all out" blitzer and rarely calls 6-man pressures. His defense is predicated on bringing five rushers and forcing the offense to pick and prepare for the right five. If I'm him, I'm going to force the two new starters on the offensive line to show they're ready.
North Carolina has a solid defensive front, though it lacks depth, questions at linebacker, and some good players in the secondary, though their best, cornerback Patrice Rene, will miss the first half of the game due to a suspension from the ACC.
** I gave my thoughts on the North Carolina offense here.
** Senior safety J.T. Ibe is still a game-time decision and if he can't go, I would expect a secondary of Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu at cornerback, Jamyest Williams at safety, and R.J. Roderick and Jammie Robinson in some combination at the other safety spot and nickelback. Even though Robinson is listed as the starting nickel, he's actually worked quite a bit at safety too.
** While we've heard all the rumors about tight end Nick Muse potentially getting a waiver for immediate eligibility, as of this posting (7 p.m. Friday), there's still no official final word.
** On paper, this is certainly a game that South Carolina should win. Sure, Week 1 can be unpredictable, but its just hard for me to see this Gamecocks team, in Year 4 of Muschamp, losing to Mack Brown in Year 1. While South Carolina certainly has some questions, still, North Carolina has plenty of outright holes. For that reason, I'm picking the Gamecocks 31-10.
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