In this Insider Report, I’ll break down some of the spring storylines and pass along some team-related notes that we have picked up along the way.
We’ll lead with a couple interesting stories relating to the high school coaches clinic that was put on by the staff this weekend. Muschamp has always been a very approachable coach and makes that known; he had an email sent out to the state’s high school coaches upon his hiring in December 2015 in an effort to gather contact information and let them know that his door was open. Along those same lines, a story that a high school coach that attended this weekend passed along to us…
He went up to introduce himself to the Gamecocks’ head man and during the conversation also asked about how Muschamp countered a certain look that an offense may give. Muschamp’s response? He proceeded to take the coach into one of the meeting rooms and drew it up for him on the white board.
I also was told that Marcus Lattimore spoke to the group of coaches during the event and that he appears to be very comfortable and happy in his new role with the team. He’s seemed to hit the ground running with the position. As part of USC’s expansion of the “Beyond Football” program, Lattimore recently met with a group of hundreds of businessmen from across the state of South Carolina in an effort to establish helpful future connections for Gamecock student-athletes once football is over for them.
Back to the team now…
Israel Mukuamu’s height and length have been discussed here often; it’s actually jarring in person to see his 6-foot-4 frame playing out wide at corner. USC’s staff believed during the recruiting process that he could play out there, and so far, so good based on spring. Mukuamu has shown during practices that he can be disruptive in coverage and he’s had practices in which he’s had multiple pass breakups. It would not be a huge surprise to see him play in year one, although the defensive back competition will ramp up once the Gamecock staff gets some guys back healthy.
For many reasons, Tyreek Johnson came without a lot of fanfare in the 2018 class. He was already an under-the-radar prospect when he committed to the Gamecocks in the 2017 class. He then grayshirted while recovering from shoulder surgery and did not show up on the commitment list the following cycle, prompting some to seemingly forget about him. Johnson was a guy that USC thought was raw coming out of high school, but someone the staff pegged as having potential to grow to 275-plus; you don’t find those type of guys that are athletic growing on trees in your backyard.
Fast-forward to spring 2018 and Johnson has turned heads and could be classified as a surprise. I am still not sure if he will help this season, but he’s noticeably bigger and I have been told he’s been impressive in his approach and how he’s taken coaching and gone through drills.
One thing I personally observed during the open portion of one practice recently is just how hard offensive line coach Eric Wolford is pushing his group. There are plenty of technical coaching points he gives, but the one thing that he seems to go back to with his guys is playing physically. He does not like soft play, and he’s let some guys hear about it this spring when he feels he’s seen it.
There are some examples of players responding to his coaching points as well. During that same open period of practice, Wolford got onto Zack Bailey for using the wrong technique in a two-on-one situation. He and Bailey had a “discussion” about it. The next play, Bailey fired off the ball, did things correctly, and pancaked freshman JJ Enagbare.
Speaking of Enagbare, he’s done quite well also during the spring. He’s probably going to be a bit like Keir Thomas as a freshman in that he’ll play inside and be undersized in year one, but still will do some good things. He has a bright future, the staff believes.
Shameik Blackshear has always been one of the most talked about players on the roster due to (in my opinion) unfair billing coming out of high school. No doubt he still looks the part and has always been able to run, but for a variety of reasons it’s never come together for him. After this spring, it looks like he’ll play a bigger role this season. He’s taken a good bit of first team reps at defensive end, and it looks like he’s taken well to Mike Peterson (now coaching BUCKs and DEs) coaching. Blackshear is probably always going to be better rushing the passer than stopping the run, but there have been at times some more encouraging signs about his preparation and his play.
Will Muschamp’s comment on Thursday night that Keisean Nixon was the team’s best nickel and one of its top two corners was interesting to me. What kind of moves could we see in preseason once everyone is available? At a minimum, USC will have grad transfer JT Ibe on the roster as well as promising redshirt freshman Jaylin Dickerson back after recovering from shoulder surgery. Jamyest Williams played nickel but also some safety last season and Muschamp said last night he could factor in there this season. Interestingly, the Gamecock staff thought that Williams was capable of playing safety for them while recruiting him in high school. That's a spot that USC really wants to shore up. Of course, Steven Montac can play any spot in the secondary and would be a candidate to slide over to nickel if needed. I would also watch for true freshman Jaycee Horn to play in year one at corner.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a chance to speak with multiple folks who’ve been to South Carolina’s practices this spring and, in some cases, sat in on positional meetings with Gamecock coaching staff members.
A couple folks I spoke with that have been to many South Carolina practices since Muschamp’s arrival said something along the lines of “things are getting better” when assessing the roster. The primary concerns with the 2018 squad are still depth along the lines of scrimmage, depth at safety, and the inexperience behind Jake Bentley at quarterback.
Another consensus I’ve heard when speaking with folks who’ve sat it on meetings and observed practices is that Dan Werner has been a big positive addition for this coaching staff. Bryan McClendon is calling plays in practice and in games of course, but Werner’s influence is going to also show through on the offense in terms of some concepts he’ll bring to the table.
My understanding is that South Carolina’s offense has chunks of success this spring moving the ball and creating scoring plays off RPO concepts; a lot of big passing plays have come off plays that were originally called as a run. Nowadays in football, the straight drop-back game is just dying. When Werner was at Ole Miss, the team broke school records for passing yards and the bulk of those yards and touchdown plays were off RPOs. Werner also is knowledgeable about the quarterback run game and USC will go into the season with some simple but effective things in its pocket in that regard, but it remains to be seen how much of it the Gamecocks will do with the quarterback situation.
Between McClendon, Werner, Bentley, Washington, and Wolford, there’s a lot of experience in different type offenses in that meeting room. A lot of exactly what the offense looks like won’t be seen until this season as USC is making an effort not to put that stuff on tape. You can expect more RPOs, you can definitely expect more tempo (although it’s not going to be pedal to the metal all the time), and there will be some vertical and pro-style plays off those RPOs as well. I believe we will see more screens if they’re there for the taking as an extension of the running game.
We’ll lead with a couple interesting stories relating to the high school coaches clinic that was put on by the staff this weekend. Muschamp has always been a very approachable coach and makes that known; he had an email sent out to the state’s high school coaches upon his hiring in December 2015 in an effort to gather contact information and let them know that his door was open. Along those same lines, a story that a high school coach that attended this weekend passed along to us…
He went up to introduce himself to the Gamecocks’ head man and during the conversation also asked about how Muschamp countered a certain look that an offense may give. Muschamp’s response? He proceeded to take the coach into one of the meeting rooms and drew it up for him on the white board.
I also was told that Marcus Lattimore spoke to the group of coaches during the event and that he appears to be very comfortable and happy in his new role with the team. He’s seemed to hit the ground running with the position. As part of USC’s expansion of the “Beyond Football” program, Lattimore recently met with a group of hundreds of businessmen from across the state of South Carolina in an effort to establish helpful future connections for Gamecock student-athletes once football is over for them.
Back to the team now…
Israel Mukuamu’s height and length have been discussed here often; it’s actually jarring in person to see his 6-foot-4 frame playing out wide at corner. USC’s staff believed during the recruiting process that he could play out there, and so far, so good based on spring. Mukuamu has shown during practices that he can be disruptive in coverage and he’s had practices in which he’s had multiple pass breakups. It would not be a huge surprise to see him play in year one, although the defensive back competition will ramp up once the Gamecock staff gets some guys back healthy.
For many reasons, Tyreek Johnson came without a lot of fanfare in the 2018 class. He was already an under-the-radar prospect when he committed to the Gamecocks in the 2017 class. He then grayshirted while recovering from shoulder surgery and did not show up on the commitment list the following cycle, prompting some to seemingly forget about him. Johnson was a guy that USC thought was raw coming out of high school, but someone the staff pegged as having potential to grow to 275-plus; you don’t find those type of guys that are athletic growing on trees in your backyard.
Fast-forward to spring 2018 and Johnson has turned heads and could be classified as a surprise. I am still not sure if he will help this season, but he’s noticeably bigger and I have been told he’s been impressive in his approach and how he’s taken coaching and gone through drills.
One thing I personally observed during the open portion of one practice recently is just how hard offensive line coach Eric Wolford is pushing his group. There are plenty of technical coaching points he gives, but the one thing that he seems to go back to with his guys is playing physically. He does not like soft play, and he’s let some guys hear about it this spring when he feels he’s seen it.
There are some examples of players responding to his coaching points as well. During that same open period of practice, Wolford got onto Zack Bailey for using the wrong technique in a two-on-one situation. He and Bailey had a “discussion” about it. The next play, Bailey fired off the ball, did things correctly, and pancaked freshman JJ Enagbare.
Speaking of Enagbare, he’s done quite well also during the spring. He’s probably going to be a bit like Keir Thomas as a freshman in that he’ll play inside and be undersized in year one, but still will do some good things. He has a bright future, the staff believes.
Shameik Blackshear has always been one of the most talked about players on the roster due to (in my opinion) unfair billing coming out of high school. No doubt he still looks the part and has always been able to run, but for a variety of reasons it’s never come together for him. After this spring, it looks like he’ll play a bigger role this season. He’s taken a good bit of first team reps at defensive end, and it looks like he’s taken well to Mike Peterson (now coaching BUCKs and DEs) coaching. Blackshear is probably always going to be better rushing the passer than stopping the run, but there have been at times some more encouraging signs about his preparation and his play.
Will Muschamp’s comment on Thursday night that Keisean Nixon was the team’s best nickel and one of its top two corners was interesting to me. What kind of moves could we see in preseason once everyone is available? At a minimum, USC will have grad transfer JT Ibe on the roster as well as promising redshirt freshman Jaylin Dickerson back after recovering from shoulder surgery. Jamyest Williams played nickel but also some safety last season and Muschamp said last night he could factor in there this season. Interestingly, the Gamecock staff thought that Williams was capable of playing safety for them while recruiting him in high school. That's a spot that USC really wants to shore up. Of course, Steven Montac can play any spot in the secondary and would be a candidate to slide over to nickel if needed. I would also watch for true freshman Jaycee Horn to play in year one at corner.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a chance to speak with multiple folks who’ve been to South Carolina’s practices this spring and, in some cases, sat in on positional meetings with Gamecock coaching staff members.
A couple folks I spoke with that have been to many South Carolina practices since Muschamp’s arrival said something along the lines of “things are getting better” when assessing the roster. The primary concerns with the 2018 squad are still depth along the lines of scrimmage, depth at safety, and the inexperience behind Jake Bentley at quarterback.
Another consensus I’ve heard when speaking with folks who’ve sat it on meetings and observed practices is that Dan Werner has been a big positive addition for this coaching staff. Bryan McClendon is calling plays in practice and in games of course, but Werner’s influence is going to also show through on the offense in terms of some concepts he’ll bring to the table.
My understanding is that South Carolina’s offense has chunks of success this spring moving the ball and creating scoring plays off RPO concepts; a lot of big passing plays have come off plays that were originally called as a run. Nowadays in football, the straight drop-back game is just dying. When Werner was at Ole Miss, the team broke school records for passing yards and the bulk of those yards and touchdown plays were off RPOs. Werner also is knowledgeable about the quarterback run game and USC will go into the season with some simple but effective things in its pocket in that regard, but it remains to be seen how much of it the Gamecocks will do with the quarterback situation.
Between McClendon, Werner, Bentley, Washington, and Wolford, there’s a lot of experience in different type offenses in that meeting room. A lot of exactly what the offense looks like won’t be seen until this season as USC is making an effort not to put that stuff on tape. You can expect more RPOs, you can definitely expect more tempo (although it’s not going to be pedal to the metal all the time), and there will be some vertical and pro-style plays off those RPOs as well. I believe we will see more screens if they’re there for the taking as an extension of the running game.
