Details you may have missed: South Carolina vs. Furman

South Carolina kicked off its home slate over the weekend with a 47-21 victory over in-state Furman while getting a ton of its reserve players onto the field in the process.

That offered plenty of opportunities for some new observations as many players made their South Carolina debuts.

The Details you may have missed feature returns for another season and, as has always been the case, the hope is for the Gamecock fan reading to learn one thing they didn’t notice when watching the game initially.

Let’s get down to it…

— South Carolina opened the game with one of the offensive line combinations it used against North Carolina after Cason Henry went down — LT Sidney Fugar, LG Nick Gargiulo, C Vershon Lee, RG Jakai Moore, RT Tyshawn Wannamaker — but went to some other combinations relatively early in the game.

We mentioned during that week that Tro Baugh had gotten some first-team reps, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him enter at right guard on the third drive of the game. Jakai Moore then slid out to right tackle.

On the fourth drive of the game, Tree Babalade subbed in at left tackle.

The Gamecocks ultimately emptied the bench and got pretty much everyone in the game, but it’s telling how early “Tree and Tro” entered.

— It was equally interesting just how early in the game freshman Tyshawn Russell entered, checking in during the Gamecocks’ fourth drive. The freshman, who would later snatch his first career touchdown catch, appears to be continuing to move up the depth chart. That was the earliest among any freshman receivers.

— Also worth noting: running back Mario Anderson checked in during the second drive of the game, after not playing at all last week.

— Judge Collier and Emory Floyd went through most if not all of preseason camp as the backup cornerbacks and we had kind of assumed that Floyd was the third cornerback and first to go in for Dial or Fortune. But it was actually Collier who was the first to sub in at cornerback, checking in on Furman’s third drive of the game.

— It wasn’t just on offense and defense that we saw South Carolina introduce more true freshmen on Saturday. The South Carolina kickoff team featured Vicari Swain, Pup Howard, Zahbari Sandy, and walk-on Maurice Brown II. Kajuan Banks, King-Demenian Ford, Keenan Nelson Jr., Payton Mangrum, Ronnie Porter, Andrew Colasurdo, and of course Mitch Jeter rounded out the first-team kickoff unit.

— South Carolina’s first-team goal line package on Saturday featured Tyreek Johnson, Boogie Huntley, T.J. Sanders (or Nick Barrett at times), Tonka Hemingway, and Jordan Strachan on the DL, Debo Williams and Stone Blanton at LB, and Marcellas Dial, Jalon Kilgore, DQ Smith, and OD Fortune at DB. Essentially, Carolina removes the nickelback and replaces him with a defensive tackle.

— Not only did Luke Doty catch a touchdown pass while playing wide receiver and also play quarterback for a drive, he also made an appearance on the Gamecocks’ punt return team.

— Wondering who that is on the sidelines always talking to Spencer Rattler? Offensive graduate assistant Riley Watkins, who is in his first year at South Carolina, is tasked with helping relay information and plays from Dowell Loggains in the booth.

— Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Grayson Mains is now working as one of the blockers on South Carolina’s kickoff return team. Mains also played some center late in the game.

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