W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
** I'm not quite sure how much we can take away from the win over Akron in what was a sloppy game in sloppy conditions. The primary objective of scheduling that one is to get a seventh win, and that was obviously achieved. It also allowed Carolina's seniors one more opportunity to go play. Otherwise, the word "blah" keeps coming to mind when describing the game, the atmosphere and the entire day.
** As much as we've harped on Carolina's defense struggling this season, they deserve credit for doing what they were supposed to do against a struggling Akron offense and shutting them down, despite the Gamecocks playing a ton of freshmen on that side of the ball.
The difference in the game was the Carolina front four's ability to make plays and get pressure on the Akron quarterback. Even when Carolina sat back in coverage and just rushed four, the defensive line was able to win those battles up front. Frankly, that was an undersized and not very athletic Akron front, so that's what you'd expect to happen, but credit to those guys for going out there and doing what needed to be done, and in a game when the Carolina offense wasn't playing its best ball.
The fact that, at one point there were six freshmen on the field at one time for Carolina, and they were still able to control the game is a nice positive for the future.
** J.J. Enabare had his best game as a Gamecock. The staff has felt that he has a chance to be special for some time and he was nearly unblockable at times. He's going to be one of those guys that can line up inside and on the edge and his first step gave the Akron front fits. Obviously, the entire defensive line played pretty well, but Enagbare was a notch above the rest on this day.
Same for R.J. Roderick, who announced his presence with several big hits in the game. South Carolina hasn't seen a thumper like that from the position since, well, you know who. Roderick hasn't had the luxury of growing at his own pace this year as he was forced into the fire in the latter part of the season and has had to learn on the job against SEC offenses. Not an enviable task and there were probably some humbling moments, but it will pay off in the long run and he's a future leader on this defense and the type of player/worker that you want in your program.
Israel Mukuamu also caught my attention on defense as he seamlessly moved back and forth between cornerback and safety. On one pass breakup on a slant, he showed why coaches get so excited about someone with his extreme length as he used his long arms to reach in and bat the pass away without interfering. Teaming freshmen like Roderick, Mukuamu and Jaycee Horn up with the incoming class in the secondary, should make for a bright future at that position.
Sophomore linebacker Sherrod Greene also had one of better games in my opinion. When Greene is confident and flying to the football, rather than hesitant, you can see flashes of the player that he has the potential to be and reasons that the staff was so high on him during the recruiting process. I thought Greene was outstanding against Texas A&M earlier this year and was pretty good the next week against Tennessee. Maybe this is a game that he can build off of, because there's ability there if he can put it all together and become more consistent.
The surprise of the day for me was probably JUCO transfer defensive lineman Jabari Ellis, who I liked a lot out of GMC but hadn't played since Week 2 before this Saturday. Ellis was playing on the edge, and may have even been at the BUCK position, and I was shocked by his first step off the line. With a strong offseason in the weight room, I think he's in the conversation on the two-deep next season.
** As good as the defense was, South Carolina's offense has a game it will want to forget. The weather may have played a factor, but the unit as a whole was sloppy for most of the game and was especially bad in the third quarter when it had opportunities to put the game away for good and couldn't due to turnovers. As good as the offense has been for the final half of the season, that's one they'll look to learn from and just move onto the next.
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