What to watch for in South Carolina’s spring game

1- The battle at cornerback

All week I’ve been talking about how excited I am to see Judge Collier play in Saturday’s spring game as he competes to be the No.2 starting cornerback across from assumed starter OD Fortune. Unfortunately, according to team sources, I’ve been told that Collier could be limited with a lower body injury. From what I was told, it’s nothing serious but for a spring game, it’s not worth forcing him to play a lot knowing it could make things worse. Having said that, that leaves a golden opportunity for cornerback Vicari Swain to build off of the strong spring he’s been having, as well as Emory Floyd and David Spaulding to see extra reps.

2- Length and speed

Perhaps one of the biggest strengths for this Gamecocks team this year will be their play at EDGE. Whether that be an outside linebacker like Bam Martin-Scott or a defensive end like Bryan Thomas Jr., USC has a lot of proven depth coming off the edges. While I don’t think we’ll see South Carolina show too many different looks defensively today, I do hope we some three-man fronts just to give us a taste of what could be this season. Last year Thomas had a massive spring game. He carried that momentum into the fall and was arguably one of USC’s most productive defensive linemen last season.

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3- Who will step up at WR

Considering the fact that Luke Doty returns as USC’s most productive wide out, after catching 13 passes last season, there’s no question that one of the biggest mysteries heading into Saturday is what South Carolina’s wide receiver room will look like. Two players we’ve heard a lot about this spring are Miami of Ohio transfer Gage Larvadain and true freshman Mazeo Bennett. With the Gamecocks looking to find six receivers they can count on each week, those two, along with Coastal Carolina transfer Jared Brown, are who I’m most eager to see from that room today.

4- Prove yourself at running back

With Rocket Sanders still recovering from a shoulder injury (torn labrum) and Juju McDowell being held out as well (collarbone), they’ll be plenty of opportunities for running backs to prove themselves today. Outside of wanting to see how transfer Oscasr Adaway runs the ball, I want to see how versatile he really is. He takes pride in pass protection and was used a good bit in the passing game, both in the slot and out on the perimeter, when he was at North Texas.

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SC State transfer Jawarn Howell was a monster last season as a true freshman for the Bulldogs and I’m eager to see how his pass protection looks, to go along with his ability to run the football of course. But don’t forget about Djay Braswell. Based on the current injuries with USC’s running back room, if you asked me today, Braswell would be my choice to be South Carolina’s starting running back. Again, that’s just based on the current status of the room, which will change come fall. The point is, Braswell shouldn’t be overlooked after the good he did in limited action as a true freshman last year.

5- The offensive line

While the teams for the spring game hasn’t been released as of this story, from what it sounds like, a lot of the guys who figure to be in the mix for starting spots on the OL will be with LaNorris Sellers on “Team Garnet.” Not all but a good amount of guys, I was told. When we talk about offensive linemen it’s important to remember that it’s not always about who’s the best guy. It’s about identifying which five work best together as a unit. There’s more experience and proven depth with this group of OL than a year ago. But how do they play together as a unit?

Additionally about Sellers, team sources have informed me that the plan for the young QB is to play the first half. Based on how many series his team (Garnet) has in the first could tweak things a little but this is more than what we saw from Spencer Rattler last year. The coaching staff is interested in seeing how he can respond when the pressure is on.

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