Shane Beamer shares where Gamecocks have ‘biggest depth issue’ defensively

The South Carolina defense will get a tough test in the first game of the season as the Gamecocks will face one of the best quarterbacks in the country in North Carolina signal caller Drake Maye.

Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer appeared on WCCP Thursday evening and discussed how he feels about his defense and each position group. As a whole, Beamer believes the South Carolina defense is talented but inexperienced in certain spots.

“The numbers that we have, a lot of those guys are true freshmen or transfers that have never played a game here,” he said.

First, Beamer started at defensive tackle, where South Carolina has some experience and depth.

“You look at defensive tackle, we feel good about that,” Beamer said. “Those are returning guys – Boogie Huntley, Tonka Hemingway, TJ Sanders, Nick Barrett.”

From there, he discussed the defensive ends. That’s another group Beamer feels good about.

“You know, at the defensive end position, we’ve got probably eight guys that we feel are ready to play football games at the defensive end position. It’s figuring out what that rotation is going to look like,” Beamer said. “But you know, within that are two new transfers and a true freshman.”

Beamer also spoke about the back seven for South Carolina. When you get to the secondary, that’s where the Gamecocks have some potential issues.

“At linebacker, I like our numbers there. Probably the biggest depth issue right now, just because of the inexperience, is in the secondary. We return two corners in Marcellas Dial and O’Donnell Fortune. And we return two elite safeties in Nick Emmanwori and DQ Smith,” Beamer said. “But after those guys, all their backups are true freshmen. So they’re really talented players, and it’ll just be their first college football game next Saturday. But they’re ready and we’ll have them prepared and ready to go. Those guys are going to do nothing but get better as the season goes along.”

The Gamecocks should get an idea of just how ready they are in Week 1 against a vaunted North Carolina passing attack.

Clayton White considers how quickly Drew Tuazama could play at South Carolina

One of the newcomers South Carolina will count on to provide depth in 2023 is transfer Drew Tuazama, who joined the program on Saturday after transferring in from UAB.

The Gamecocks are hoping he will be ready to contribute quickly, possibly even in the season opener against the Tar Heels.

“It really depends on how we integrate him into the program,” defensive coordinator Clayton White said. “One, we want him to be comfortable around the coaching staff and the players. I think that he’s mature enough, obviously, to where he can adapt to different situations, which he’s already dove right into our playbook.”

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