W
Wes Mitchell
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** I thought South Carolina was the better football team Saturday, but it was a sloppy game all the way around as Carolina failed to completely put the game away despite multiple opportunities to do so. Here are some details to the game that I noticed after rewatching on DVR.
** Jake Bentley would be the first to tell you that he didn't have his best day. While he's missed receivers at times this year, he's not put the ball in danger much (I really don't count either throw against UGA) until the Florida game. On top of the three interceptions, the desperation pass to Hayden Hurst could have easily been picked off too. Not his best day as far as protecting the football, but to give him credit, he also stood in there and made several throws while getting hit. The Florida defense did not make it easy on him, but he gave his receivers a chance on a bunch of passes. He still deserves credit for that.
** I saw before the game in my final thoughts that I expected it to be a "hit or miss" type game offensively - big plays combined with no gains - and it played out that way to an extent. Florida likes to play a lot of man press coverage and that they did. Carolina had a bunch of explosive plays because of that, when its receivers or tight ends won the one-on-one battles, but there were obviously some negative plays produced because of the pressure that creates too.
Carolina had a big day on the ground statistically, but it was very hit or miss too. Florida seemed to take a lot of chances up front, either by design, or by defenders hitting the wrong areas and overlapping gaps. That caused rushers or linebackers blitzing to create some negative plays but also to run themselves out of the play and allow for big gains for the Gamecocks on the outside. Carolina was able to make enough of those big plays to win the game.
** It may not have seemed like it at first look, but I thought the exit of Shi Smith with an injury was a costly loss for Carolina. Against the aforementioned man coverage, having a speedy guy like Smith in the slot is a matchup that Carolina could have exploited and did early on with a great one-handed catch by Smith on a slot fade. With Deebo Samuel and KC Crosby already out obviously, the loss of Smith limited Carolina's ability to put another receiver on the field in the slot and forced them into their two-tight end personnel for the rest of the game. That allowed Florida to put a third linebacker back on the field when it wanted to and I noticed they cheated him over from the slot against the run at times.
** That said, I thought Jacob August played one of his better games as far as having key blocks that sprung runs. He blocked a defensive lineman and then climbed to the linebacker and took him out too on one of Mon Denson's runs. August also tripped up the Florida defender and saved a touchdown on Bentley's second interception. And I noticed him blocking well on several other plays that I watched him.
** I thought Kurt Roper called his best game of the season in terms of keeping Florida off balance and getting the Gamecocks in good calls versus what they were facing. When Bentley faced more and more pressure up front, Roper went to the screen game to the perimeter and had success. Florida does have good cornerbacks, so even though Carolina was able to win some of those battles at receiver, getting the ball to Turner and Hurst in the passing game made a lot of sense and Turner was able to make guys miss in space. It was similar to the Patriots plan against the Broncos Sunday night if anyone watched that game. The biggest difference between the offense in this game and the Georgia game was the fact that Carolina's skill players were able to make defenders miss. Against Georgia they weren't.
The announcers dinged center Alan Knott for getting called as an illegal man down field on a third down conversation, but I was surprised they didn't realize why Knott was down field. The play was designed that way but the pass has to be completed behind the line of scrimmage. Bentley had to wait an extra half-second for Turner to clear a Florida defensive lineman on the arrow route and it caused the completion to be past the line of scrimmage. For reference, Carolina scored on a similar play design to Marcus Lattimore against Alabama in 2010.
** I thought South Carolina's defensive line did a good job of pressuring the Florida quarterbacks and making them uncomfortable all game. Javon Kinlaw is quickly progressing into a future All-SEC type player and he made several big plays, including the batted pass that was picked off to end the Florida threat. Feleipe Franks has a big upside and great physical tools as a quarterback but struggles at this point in his career to stand in and go through a bunch of progressions and the Carolina front did a good job of speeding up his decision making. Even when they weren't sacking him, they were affecting him.
** Even though Chris Lammons was still technically a safety and Jamyest Williams a nickelback, the Gamecocks switched the two players, based on matchups, quite a bit against Florida. The Gamecocks played a lot of man coverage themselves and put Lammons in coverage over the slot receiver and Williams in more of a safety role, either as a deep safety or what Muschamp calls the RAT defender - basically a robber in the middle of the field who can sniff out crossing routes, slants and watch for the QB run. I believe that's a perfect role for Williams, much like LSU used Tyrann Mathieu at times and allows Williams the freedom to go make plays as opposed to being locked onto a specific receiver.
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** Chris covered a lot of the recruiting weekend in The Insider Report and I gave the latest on the guys with Tennessee connections in this post, but to add a bit more, I'd probably add three-star Louisville defensive end commit Jarrett Jackson to my list of projected additional Gamecocks in this class.
I was told, first of all, that Carolina was impressed with Jackson physically and he looks just like you'd want to draw up a defensive end in the SEC. Speaking of the SEC, that's a huge draw for Jackson, who likes the idea of competing in the conference and likes the defensive background of Muschamp and T-Rob.
One other interesting note is that Jackson has outstanding bloodlines. He is the nephew of NFL Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson. While the on the visit, Jarrett Jackson got to spend time with Gamecock Great George Rogers, who actually played with Rickey Jackson with the Saints, and is still friends with Rickey to this day. Jarrett is also kin to Anquan Bolden and has other family members who played college ball as well.
I'd say that the three schools to watch here are South Carolina, Louisville and Florida State. Louisville, obviously, because he's committed there. Florida State is the school that I think could potentially give the Gamecocks the most trouble, though, if they push for him and the Seminoles are worth watching here. But, again, right now, I really like Carolina's position. I'd expect a "final decision" in December for the early enrollee.
Here's my updated list of prospects who I would project to the Gamecocks:
Dylan Wonnum
Jaycee Horn
Rick Sandidge
Jarrett Jackson
ALSO SEE: The Insider Report - The latest from Chris Clark on visitors this weekend
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