W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
Chris and I agree on a lot of things and hear a lot of the same things, so I'm going to try to not repeat from his excellent Insider Report here, but with the spring game set to take place Saturday, it's a good time to assess where the team is right now and dive deeper into some comments from the coaches that have stood out to me.
** Diving into comments from Muschamp and offensive line coach Eric Wolford - plus what I've seen and heard from practice - South Carolina feels good about its starting five on the offensive line. Can they be dominant? I don't know if any offensive line in today's college football is dominant, but they'll start four seniors (Stanley technically is a junior again after given a sixth year, but he's a senior in experience) and a very solid redshirt sophomore in Sadarius Hutcherson.
They've got the girth and strength up front to hang in this league and that's all you can ask at this point. The year-to-year offseason improvement of both Dennis Daley and Blake Camper is a very positive sign. I also like the move of Malik Young back to the offensive line where he can almost be a sixth man of sorts and will likely be the first off the bench at any of the five spots if there's an injury.
Past those six guys, Carolina is talented but very raw and inexperienced. When injuries happen, some of those guys will surely get thrown into the fire, but it's obviously not ideal. I've said it before but worth repeating again, I really like Max Iyama's future and upside. With Zack Bailey out of practice Thursday, and Young still injured, Jordan Rhodes was the next guy up at guard, so that gives us another little snippet of who stands where on the pecking order.
Long story, short, Carolina is in good shape with its top six guys, but Wolford wants the young guys to take another step this summer in order to build true quality depth at the position (as opposed to just numbers).
** I think about everyone is high on South Carolina's receiving corps, but with injuries forcing multiple guys to miss practices this spring, this summer is going to be huge for the timing between Jake Bentley and the receivers. Getting the group back completely healthy and keeping them healthy will be key this season. This group will be very limited Saturday, though, with so many guys banged up.
** I think it's safe to say that South Carolina is going to run more three-man fronts this year than they have in the past. Since Muschamp arrived, they've used both four-man and three-man fronts, but the three-man looks may suit this bunch a bit better. While the moves of Keir Thomas and J.J. Enagbare inside has been talked about some, it's important to remember that even though they're now "defensive tackles" they're actually playing a "defensive end" spot when in a three-man front.
Which gets me to the next point, I think there's more depth there than we initially thought there was coming into the spring. Part of the reasoning for that is the way they've been able to crosstrain players across multiple positions and now those players have some experience in the system which lets them get comfortable at multiple spots. Keep in mind that Thomas can play tackle or end, D.J. Wonnum can play BUCK or end, Bryson Allen-Williams and Daniel Fennell can play BUCK or SAM -- having that versatility is going to help the defense in the long run. And having some experience back with a bunch of guys who have played in this scheme is going to help them be more multiple in my opinion.
** I know we all want to see the new offense in action, but don't expect to see a lot new on Saturday. We might see some of the tempo stuff - maybe - but other than that Will Muschamp has never been one to give any scheme cues in the spring game. Shoot - during his first year, they literally only ran plays that Roper used at Florida or Duke - everything else was off limits. That said, don't get disappointed if you see a somewhat boring offense. That's going to be by design for now, and I'm sure they'd love to save stuff for not only Coastal in the opener but Georgia in Week 2.
** Spring games are all about the young players and getting them reps. Some of the guys I'm most curious to see, and see how they respond to the game, are QBs Jay Urich and Dakereon Joyner, RB Deshaun Fenwick, WR Darius Rush, BUCK Brad Johnson, DL JJ Enagbare, LB Rosendo Louis and CB Israel Mukuamu. I'd expect all of those guys to get a bunch of reps.
Who are you looking forward to seeing the most?
**********
Today’s Carolina Confidential is brought to you by Herring Insurance Services. Call, email, or PM Gamecock Central member Brent Herring today to discuss your home and auto insurance needs.
Located in Lexington but serving all of the Carolinas
803-356-0763
Brent@BrentHerring.com
@BHerring06
Last edited by a moderator:
