Four takeaways: South Carolina media day
Football is back at South Carolina.
The Gamecocks hosted their annual preseason media day Thursday with the first practice Friday morning. Before practice, though, Shane Beamer, every assistant and most players met with the media with plenty to take away from it.
Here are four big-picture things to glean from Thursday’s media session.
Roles for freshmen becoming clearer
The biggest question coming into camp is always where the freshmen are going to play and those roles are getting a little bit clearer.
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Offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley said both Markee Anderson and Trovon Baugh are going to start at guard this preseason with their secondary position at center. Tree Babalade will start at tackle and compete for snaps at the end of the line this season.
Torrian Gray also gave a glimpse into where some of those freshmen defensive backs will start out. Vicari Swian and Judge Collier will play cornerback while Jalon Kilgore is a safety first and will be a rotational piece behind the likes of Nick Emmanwori and DQ Smith.
Those are the biggest ones at the moment, and the Gamecocks seemingly have a plan in place moving forward.
Position battles taking centerstage
Shane Beamer will be the first to say every spot on the roster is up for grabs, but there are a few spots he’ll be paying attention to closer than others.
The Gamecocks have to figure out their best five up front on the offensive line while also getting a trio of reserves ready to go and rotate in this season. They also have to find a third cornerback behind Marcellas Dial and OD Fortune and depth at the edge position.
An underrated position battle as the Gamecocks go into camp is figuring out the rotation at receiver after the three seasoned veterans like Juice Wells, Xavier Legette and Ahmarean Brown.
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Those are all vital decisions that have to get made as South Carolina heads into a vital season under Beamer, and the next 29 days will settle some of that.
Temper expectations for Nyck Harbor
Is Harbor going to play? Almost assuredly. But Beamer once again reiterated South Carolina, media and fans need to understand he’s still a freshmen will things to work on at the moment.
It’s hard to teach speed like Harbor’s–speed that will likely have him in the Olympics at some point–but they’ll still need to get him up to speed offensively.
That’ll come, but as it does it’s important to keep in mind he’ll have some growing pains adjusting to college football. But it seems like he will almost certainly have a role.
Efficiency key for offense
Luke Doty, putting the offense in lamens terms, described it as an offense designed to do what every other team is doing just better and more efficiently. The Gamecocks are installing a new system under Dowell Loggains with similar concepts to that of last year’s system.
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The hope is to have it streamlined and easier for players to understand and go out there to execute so there can be more performances like Tennessee and Clemson.
It’s obviously easier said than done but that’s the ultimate goal. South Carolina still has to find out how to run the ball more consistently and what schemes work the best, but efficiency seems to be the name of the game.
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