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Gamecock coaches and players met with the media on Thursday afternoon, and GamecockCentral.com was on hand to gather more information in advance of practice kicking off this morning.
I was able to round up some interesting nuggets in all three phases of the game, so let's dive in...
SCOOP ON SPECIALISTS
*** Special teams coordinator Pete Lembo got his first look at many of the candidates to become South Carolina's primary kick and punt returners back in the spring.
As preseason opens, the same core group of players will draw repetitions, while Lembo will also throw freshman back JuJu McDowell into the mix.
"JuJu, based on his high school productivity as a kick returner, is absolutely a guy we need to take a hard look at in camp," Lembo told me.
While Lembo did not say this explicitly, I came away from the conversation thinking that Josh Vann and Dakereon Joyner may enter camp as the front runners for the punt and kick returner jobs respectively.
Lembo said that Vann had a really good spring back there and that he was "very comfortable" returning punts, while also carrying the ability to return kicks. Joyner, Lembo said, was "very steady" and classified him as a "savvy guy that I can trust a lot."
Jalen Brooks was also mentioned as a kick returner based on spring experience and production, while Ahmarean Brown and Rico Powers have also gotten some consideration for the punt job.
It seems that Lembo is looking for more consistency out of ZaQuandre White and Rashad Amos, but wants to give both opportunities in camp as return men. Trey Adkins, a former walk-on receiver who's now on scholarship, is another emergency option there.
*** I also took the opportunity to ask Lembo about his philosophy in terms of allocating scholarships to specialists. Does he favor the preferred walk-on route, or is he open to giving scholarships to kickers, punters, or even snappers?
Lembo smartly pointed out that part of your philosophy depends on the program. At Rice, he said, you're probably not getting lots of walk-ons because of the difficulty in getting into school.
At South Carolina, on the other hand...
"We are fortunate as a major state university that has a great academic reputation that we have guys that are interested in coming here as a preferred walk-on. That's a wonderful development system, feeder system. Now, you know exactly what you're getting. The risk is minimized if you take a guy that's already in your program and putting him on scholarship. You've seen him perform day in and day out and earn that versus running the risk of guy that doesn't quite live up to what you thought he would be when you recruited him and then for four years you feel like may be, great kid, but he's not as strong a player as you were hoping for. Ideally, you can bring in really good preferred walk-ons, develop then, and eventually put them on scholarship," Lembo explained.
This staff inherited a couple scholarship specialists in Kai Kroeger and Mitch Jeter, and we already knew heading into this 2022 cycle that South Carolina would not look to bring in a scholarship player at either of those slots. It seems that, at least for the time being, Lembo will stick with the PWO route.
If a need does arise on the roster, Lembo said that he believes finding a quality scholarship specialist is a "six to eight month" process.
TRENCH TALK
*** Offensive line coach Greg Adkins has been around the game for quite some time. He completed his 30th year in coaching at Marshall in 2020 and is now back in the SEC with Shane Beamer, where he'll take a group up front that has some talent and depth - but plenty of room to continue improving.
Adkins said on Thursday that he feels that the offensive line is in better mental and physical shape entering camp than they had been in the past.
With quality run-blocking numbers last season and some talent in the backfield, there's some reason to feel like run-blocking could be classified as this year's strength, too.
There was much discussion among the Gamecock fan base during the season about pass-blocking. While there was a lot that went into some of the struggles on that front in 2020, Adkins has nonetheless identified it as a point of emphasis in camp.
Said Adkins: "Sometimes you've got to look at your weaknesses. We need to improve our pass-blocking ability in all phases. That’s everyone across the board, as a whole group. It's not just one simple thing we've got to fix. Are we going to spend more time on that? Sure, because it's a weakness in my opinion. Delegating a little more time in the pass game is something I've looked at."
*** Adkins also dished a bit on the Gamecocks' offensive scheme and using personnel and matchups to their advantage.
"You never know what you're going to get from us. That's the beauty of what we're looking at here and what you'll hopefully see is an offense that's adaptable to who's available to us and who's not on a weekly basis," he said.
THIRD DOWN RUSH
*** Edge coach Mike Peterson, the lone holdover as far as on-field coaches from Will Muschamp's staff, seems to like his group a lot. In addition to veterans JJ Enagbare and Aaron Sterling, Peterson named his guys one by one when discussing his group.
Tyreek Johnson (who had a good spring according to Peterson), Jordan Burch, Gilber Edmond, Hot Rod Fitten, and transfer Jordan Strachan were all name-dropped by Peterson.
Walk-on Sean McGonigal, too.
"I love him to death," Peterson said. "He just plays so hard for me. He's one of those guys you like having around."
*** My question to Peterson was this: how do feel on third down and 8 this season relative to last year? He smiled and said:
"I feel really good about it as a coach. We'll figure it out as far as who's that guy. Our job as a coach is to find out what does a guy do really well, what position can we put him in to excel. We're going to need everybody."
I also asked if Peterson felt - because of personnel, scheme, or whatever factors there may be - there was more room for creativity and effectiveness rushing the passer.
"Oh yeah. I think that's the advantage when you have a number of guys that can rush the passer. You can create matchup problems, create a different package for this guy. Coach White is excited about it, having some guys up front that he can let loose," he said.
TONKA ON THE MOVE
*** The 2020 season was obviously derailed for South Carolina, but then-true freshman Tonka Hemingway was a bright spot. He quickly overtook other players to earn playing time and showed flashes of his potential.
Hemingway moved inside this offseason and added more good weight to get up to the 300 pound mark. Even though Peterson won't be coaching Hemingway this year, I still wanted to ask him about the sophomore.
"Man," Peterson laughed, shaking his head as soon as I brought up the name. "I had a long talk with him that he's probably best inside because he's young. He's young and his body was growing and he was watching his weight trying to stay at end. I said bro, just let your body go, man. You can easily be a 300 pound guy and still be very athletic."
Peterson, himself a 14-year NFL veteran, thinks highly of Tonka's potential.
"This is a guy, I could see watching him on Sundays."
I've had multiple folks compare Hemingway's demeanor and work ethic to that of former Gamecock DJ Wonnum, who also made an impact as a freshman before going on to become a multi-year starter and an NFL player.
Does Peterson agree with that comparison?
"Oh, first day I saw him, even in recruiting, he reminded me so much of DJ," Peterson said. "He's going to quietly be the first guy here, quietly get extra work in, quietly do everything you want to do and quietly be one of the team leaders or team captains."
LINEBACKER DEPTH
One of South Carolina's most pressing needs entering camp - and ultimately the 2021 season - is to develop some depth at linebacker.
2020 was a challenging year, but for a variety of reasons, the Gamecocks got into some situations where starters last season were playing entirely too many snaps.
Take these three games as an example:
Against Missouri, just three backers played. Ernest Jones played 70 snaps, while Damani Staley pulled down 62 and Mo Kaba saw 13.
Against A&M - it was Staley with 70, Jones with 63, then Brad Johnson played 33 at the SAM position. Mo Kaba played 10, spelling others inside.
The Ole Miss defensive debacle? Ernest Jones played 86 snaps. Damani Staley played 3.
I asked defensive coordinator Clayton White - who also coaches linebackers - about the depth against the backdrop of what happened last season. What are his goals?
"The goal would be to have four guys to play. Hopefully one guy can play two positions, have a third down guy, a rush guy. If you have a five guys, now you're in a great position. Three for sure, three to five guys is what you're looking for. It’s a long season and you want to be fresh and healthy as much as possible," he explained.
As for overall defensive snap counts, White said he's not necessarily tracking it during the game, but that once you get up into the 80 range, you become uncomfortable as a defensive coordinator.
"Obviously, the less you're playing, you're probably playing good, but it can also be the other way," he laughed. "That's why you want to develop depth so you can kind of rotate. You don't want to have a guy playing that many snaps. Sometimes that happens."
*** Any follow-up questions or something I didn't address that you'd like me to address? Let me know.
*** Today's Insider Report is brought to you by Cornerstone Financial Management. Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Good Life Advisors, LLC, a registered investment advisor. Cornerstone Financial Management and Good Life Advisors, LLC are separate entities from LPL Financial.
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