What Mike Shula is looking to see from South Carolina offense in Friday’s spring game

There’s only so much to learn about a team based on how a spring game goes. When South Carolina takes the field Friday night, it won’t be throwing the kitchen sink out there.

If there is one thing that offensive coordinator Mike Shula is looking to see from the offense, it’s execution. Even he knows it’s a boring answer compared to what everyone else wants to see.

“You want guys that you’re going to have plays, defense go make plays, offense go make plays,” Shula said. “But you just want guys, the best thing we could do other than keeping guys healthy is just guys mentally, just knowing what to do, before the ball snaps.”

The Gamecocks have already had two scrimmages so far this spring. And with this being the last week of spring practice, concluding with the Garnet & Black Spring Game at Williams-Brice Stadium, Shula is looking for players who know what to do when the lights turn on.

In a way, it’ll be the closest thing to a real game that South Carolina will play before the season starts. The spring game will be open to the public to come and watch the 2025 team for the first time.

“If it doesn’t work, but they know what they’re doing, you know, hey, we can build on that. We can keep continuing to coach and teach and get them better that way,” Shula said. “But for guys just to kind of take what they’ve learned so far, take it from the meeting rooms to the practice field to the scrimmages, and now, you know, it’ll be a little bit more of a higher level, obviously, with playing in front of fans and things like that, to see how they can go from each step to the step.”

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Shula, in his second season with the program, is entering his first year as a coordinator. He initially came aboard as a senior offensive analyst. But when former OC Dowell Loggains took the head coaching job at Appalachian State, Shula took over the playcalling duties.

Shula’s experience in this role goes way back. He was an offensive coordinator for three different NFL teams. This includes the Carolina Panthers when they played in Super Bowl 50. A lot of what he’s looking to accomplish this year starts with building off what worked last year.

Part of that means figuring out where South Carolina can improve as well. That’s mainly what Friday will be about, aside from seeing players make plays and staying healthy.

“A lot of times, we as coaches think we’re gurus, and we can try to out-scheme each other and this and that. You do want to kind of have success,” Shula said.

“So if there’s any plays that we’re having that we struggled with against our defense, we got them on run in the spring game, which our defense got to say, ‘Yeah, that’s a lot of plays.’ But no, you just want our guys to go out there and feel comfortable with what they’re doing and then go execute. So I think that’d be the goal across the board.”

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