Post-spring assessment of South Carolina’s 2024 offensive line room
As South Carolina’s off-season rolls on, the GamecockCentral post-spring assessment series on the Gamecocks 2024 team continues. Today, we’re taking a deeper look at South Carolina’s offensive line room.
As we’ve done before, outside of the quarterback room, we’ll only be focusing on scholarship players for these breakdowns.
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Vershon Lee – Lee started in all ten games he played in, most notably at center and right tackle. The veteran offensive lineman, who also has experience of playing guard, returns in 2024 for a fifth season.
Torricelli Simpkins – The transfer arrives at South Carolina after starting in 34 games in three seasons at North Carolina Central. The 2023 MEAC Offensive Lineman of the Year, Simpkins was named to the FCS Preseason All-American Team and to 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl Watchlist. The 6-foot-5, 320-pounder started 12 games at center this past season.
Jakai Moore – Moore appeared in 11 games this past season with nine starts. He played both tackle and guard. He returns for a sixth season in 2024.
Kamaar Bell – A sixth-year senior transfer from FAU, who also spent two seasons at Auburn, Bell has experience of playing both guard and center.
Aaryn Parks – The transfer from Oklahoma arrives with one year of eligibility remaining. Appearing in eight games as a back up over the past two seasons, Parks mainly plays tackle.
Trovon Baugh – Named a Freshman All American in 2023, Baugh appeared in 11 games and made eight starts, most notably at right guard.
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Ryan Brubaker – The former three-star OL redshirted in 2023, appearing in no games. He still has four years of eligibility remaining.
Tree Babalade – Appearing in 11 games with nine starts as a true freshman, ‘Big Tree’ gained plenty of experience at left tackle in 2023.
Cason Henry – Injuries plagued Henry from start to finish in 2023. Appearing in just two games in what was in redshirt freshman season, he started Week 1 at right tackle.
Jatavius Shivers – Shivers appeared in one game as a true freshman this past season. He still has four years of eligibility remaining.
Markee Anderson – An injury before the season opener prevented the highly touted 2023 4-star OL from playing last season. With the medical redshirt year under him, Anderson still has four years of eligibility remaining.
Blake Franks – Standing at 6-foot-5, 325 pounds, the 3-star OL is ranked as the consensus 46th IOL for the class of 2024.
Josiah Thompson – A 5-star offensive tackle, Thompson is considered the No.9 overall prospect for the class of 2024 by On3.
Kam Pringle – Considered the consensus No.16 offensive tackle in the class of 2024, Pringle will be the largest player on South Carolina’s roster this spring standing at 6-foot-8, 340 pounds.
Takeaways
Maybe it’s because I’m feeling optimistic about this group or maybe it’s because they hit rockbottom at times last season because of injuries. Whatever the case may be, I expect South Carolina’s offensive line to take a big step forward this season.
So why should you feel the same way? Well for starters, there’s more proven depth. Having to play more than a dozen offensive lineman a year ago, younger players were forced into action. That included having to start a pair of true freshmen OL in the SEC. Were there growing pains at times? Sure. But, Baugh and Babalade held their own. On top of that, there’s more versatile OL on this year’s roster. Guys like Moore and Lee have played multiple positions during their time at South Carolina while transfers like Bell and Simpkins have proven they can play more than one spot on the offensive line during their careers as well.
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Add in Henry and Anderson, who’ll both be coming back from injuries sustained in 2023 to go along with some talented freshmen and you should see a much deeper OL room. I’d also add not to sleep on Shivers, who this staff was very high on coming out of high school a year ago.
While USC saw Wannamaker, Jones, and Fugar depart the program in recent months, all three, in my opinion, were going to be competing for backup roles. Some were likely gonna be even on the third team just because of how deep some positions are already looking on the OL.
Early 2024 Week 1 Prediction:
As I said prior to spring practices, predicting a starting OL this far out is like throwing darts in the dark. It’s not always about finding which are the five best offensive line but rather which five play best alongside one another. For full transparency, and as a reminder, below is what I said the Week 1 OL would look like before spring practices started.
LT – Babalade
LG – Lee
C – Simpkins
RG – Baugh
RT – Henry
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As of today, I’ve made two changes and I’ll explain why.
LT – Babalade
LG – Bell
C – Lee
RG – Baugh
RT – Henry
Throughout the spring, I heard nothing but good things about Bell from sources inside of South Carolina’s building. Combined that with the job Lee did this spring, plus with his experience with the offense, and it sounds like Lee is making a strong case to be the starting Week 1 center. But a lot can change between now and August 31.
Some of the key competitions to pay attention to this fall camp will be at both left guard and right tackle. Depending on how somebody like Simpkins looks at either guard or center, I wouldn’t rule out Lee getting pushed out to right tackle. This only happens if the competition inside is good enough and USC feels like they can’t sit both Bell and Simpkins. While I still feel like Lee will be playing center, his versatility won’t only help him out but it will also help South Carolina put five OL that they feel really good about.
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I also wouldn’t rule out a player like Anderson creating more competition on the OL this camp. Unfortunately for the second-year big man, injuries have plagued him. Not only last season but also this past spring. He’s playing catchup behind several OL right now but if healthy, his talents should put him right back in the mix to compete for playing time. What some people may forget is that Anderson was on the original Week 1 travel list last season before getting hurt before the UNC game. Again, Lee has the ability to play multiple spots on the offensive line. If USC feels like Anderson needs to be on the field, they could bump Lee around on the OL to make that happen.
At left tackle, I still have the edge going to Babalade while at right guard, I’m still riding with Baugh. Not only does Baugh have the experience but he proved his worth by being named a Freshman All American. Unless he has a bad camp, or the competition at guard cranks up on him, Baugh should be the Week 1 starter at RG. Next to Baugh, I’m still going with Henry. Henry was the Week 1 starter at right tackle before going down with an injury. Although he was never himself after that, USC tried to work him back into the mix against Jacksonville State. Again, while they’ll be a lot of eyeballs on the competition going on in the middle of the line, Lee could also be bumped out to RT if USC feels like it will help them with Lee there rather than having Henry.
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