W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
Just some random Thursday thoughts and notes for you guys...
** In one of my reviews of this past Saturday's game, I watched 50, Sadarius Hutcherson, on every single play and I was amazed by how well he handled himself in his first career action. I don't claim to know his assignment one very single play, so I'm sure there are things to clean up, but as far as physically being able to block the man in front of him, Hutcherson never once seemed to be overmatched and also appeared to know where he was supposed to go all game. That's no easy feat for a guy who is not only playing for the first time, but was also primarily a defensive end in high school and has put on a ton of weight since arriving in Columbia.
As I've mentioned before in some of our summer workout scoop, Hutcherson is a driven kid who is willing to do everything asked of him to succeed. I'm looking forward to watching how he matches up against an SEC opponent, but I came away thinking he's got a big future ahead of him.
** The staff is always working to try and get its best five offensive linemen on the field. With Cory Helms out, the staff opted to shift Donell Stanley to right guard and insert Hutcherson at left guard, where he's worked in practiced. I've been asked by a few people about DJ Park and I'm told that he was a bit banged up in practice last week. Park has been back at it this weekend and has been working primarily at right tackle. Park has spent some time with the ones at that spot this week, so I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a chance to play this weekend. Obviously, the time for Park to make an impact in Columbia is growing small, so it would be an important opportunity for him if it comes to fruition.
** The more I look at the first four games, the more I'm reminded about the fact that a team's offense and defense will always be married. The offense is going to have to play better if this team is going to get to the 7 win mark (that's an important mark in my eyes), but the word I keep going back to is efficiency. As long as South Carolina is playing its current style of offense and defense, then it's probably rarely going to put up huge raw numbers (like say a hurry-up offense and attacking defense would), but it does need to be more efficient.
At this point, the staff has to protect the defense and put them in a position to succeed. In turn, if they're facing an offense that doesn't make mistakes and can stay on the field, that's always going to mean limited possessions for the offense. This team is going to be at its best when the defense is able to force turnovers and when the offense is able to take advantage of the short field. Before anyone jumps on me, I'm not making excuses for the offense. Just pointing out the current brand that the team plays.
** To that point, I continue to hear that the offense remains confident and there hasn't been finger pointing. The offense has shown it can execute in practice and there's confidence that they can translate that to the game field. Some of that, is just simply getting more and more comfortable with the freshman receivers. As I said before the La Tech game, there's a sense that it's only a matter of time before OrTre Smith breaks out and I think we saw flashes of that Saturday. There's no doubt that Deebo Samuel was the leader of that bunch, but I've been told by multiple people that Bryan Edwards has become more of a vocal leader in Samuel's absence.
** I tend to think Saturday will be a very tough matchup for South Carolina, but Muschamp's defenses have had success against against Kevin Sumlin's offenses, especially compared to their season averages.
Last year, South Carolina held A&M to 24 points (34.8 season average). In 2015, Muschamp, as Auburn's DC held them to 10 points (27.8 average) in an Auburn win. And in 2012, Muschamp, as Florida head coach, held them to 17 points (44.5 average) in a Florida win.
** Speaking of the Texas A&M offense, I went back and watched the Aggies win over Arkansas and particularly paid attention to the way they use freshman quarterback Kellen Mond. While this is the same offense that A&M has always run, they do appear to simplify things at key moments so that Mond can play fast without having to think too much. In short to medium yardage, the Aggies will "slant" teams to death, but they also use their speed to mix in the simple deep fly routes to keep defenses honest.
** One quick recruiting note, I've confirmed that former Berkeley safety Israel Mukuamu, a Florida State commit, plans to take an official visit next weekend for the Arkansas game. Mukuamu has been taking official visits to the other schools in the final four he had before announcing for FSU and was in Indiana this past weekend. I spoke briefly with Mukuamu, who didn't rule out the possibility of a flip, but also said he wasn't sure what it would take for that to happen.
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