10 thoughts with 10 Saturdays to go until Week 1 for South Carolina
1- Sellers will be a mystery at first
The good thing about LaNorris Sellers is that he’s truly a wildcard. Sure, we’ve seen him flash in two spring games and in some garbage time last season, but there’s really no tape out on him yet for opposing teams to prepare for him. Until South Carolina heads into Week 3 against LSU, both Old Dominion in Week 1 and even Kentucky in Week 2 will be working with limited tape on how to defend him. That could be a huge advantage for the Gamecocks early in the year.
2- A delayed launch with Rocket?
Despite missing all of spring practices due to a shoulder injury, this week Rocket Sanders was named to the Athlon’s Preseason All-SEC Third Team. While I expect Sanders to play a big role this season for South Carolina, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him limited at the start of the year. Between easing back into contact, a Week 1 opponent who you should beat, and having seen some quality production this spring from fellow running backs Djay Braswell and Oscar Adaway III, be patient if you don’t see the transfer back from Arkansas used a lot to start the season. That’s more of a gut feeling than anything else.
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3- Competition at OL
It goes without saying but the biggest thing South Carolina needs this season is to stay healthy on the offensive line. It was a killer for them last year dating back to the spring game. Playing more than a dozen different players on the OL in 2023, we’ll never truly know how good USC’s offensive could’ve been last season. While that’s in the past, it gave a pair of younger OL plenty of experience. Add into the mix some experienced returners, as well as some transfers, and USC’s OL room is starting to look deeper than it’s been in some time. What I’m most intrigued by is the competition at guard and center. Depending on how things play out, it could impact who’s starting at right tackle.
4- Playing to your strengths
When you look at South Carolina’s offense right now, there’s a few things that standout. They have a lot of speed at multiple positions, a deep running back room, and an athletic quarterback who is capable of getting it done both on the ground and through the air. One thing I keep thinking about is how Dowell Loggains has mentioned in the past about playing to your strengths and not just doing something for the sake of doing it. While I expect the Gamecocks to use a lot of play action, rollouts, and RPOs, I wouldn’t put it past them to add some new wrinkles in there that they haven’t shown yet. Who knows, maybe that’s coming out with more two running back sets or even having a package, a Wildcat look, or even running the triple option. The point is, let the crazy ideas run wild because I think we’ll see this team get creative at times this year.
5- Personnel on defensive could vary
One thing that’s been talked about a lot, since the end of the last season, is South Carolina using a 3-3-5 look on defense. While the Gamecocks will likely still use their 4-2-5 package as their base, when you look at their personnel, I think it’s safe to say we could be seeing the 3-3-5 a good bit. In a lot of ways, that OLB/DE/EDGE position is interchangeable. Regardless of what you want to call them, we could see some EDGE players playing in a two-point stance as an OLB. With how much talent and speed is in the EDGE room, why wouldn’t you? It would also help some of the linebackers get some rest, even when USC would be playing with an extra LB.
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6- Two bye-weeks
With so many new faces in the wide receiver room, combined with a new young quarterback starting, having two bye weeks is something that isn’t getting talked about enough. While every team in the country will have this luxury, for the Gamecocks, it’ll allow them to take more time to correct mistakes in ways that you don’t always have time to do during the season. South Carolina’s first bye week is Sept. 28 (Week 5) ahead of their game against Ole Miss. Their second bye comes on Oct. 26 (Week 9) before they play Texas A&M the following week.
7- Buy Bryan Thomas Jr. stock
If it was possible, I’d tell you to put all of your money for your kid’s college fund into buying stock on EDGE Bryan Thomas Jr. I’ve talked about him a few times since the spring but I keep hearing nothing but positive things from people who are inside South Carolina’s building. The Gamecocks have a EDGE room full of talent and depth but I expect Thomas to carve out a nice role this season.
8- Night games
I know there’s a lot of South Carolina fans who are bummed with some of the announcements with this year’s kickoff times. The longer I’ve been living in the South, the more it makes sense why people would be upset. Shoot, if I’m paying thousands of dollars for a tailgating spot and games are kicking off at noon and 1 p.m., I’d be upset too. While it’s easy to sit here and say, “just win more,” if you want to see USC play more night games, I don’t know if it’s as simple as that anymore. TV deals are changing and with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, I wonder if that will throw another hurdle into things when kickoff times are being decided.
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9- Beamer’s seat isn’t warm
The majority of this fanbase already knows this but to the knuckleheads that bring this up, just save your breath. If South Carolina were to miss a bowl game again this season, Beamer will be back in 2025. Only then would his seat be getting hot. Comparing Beamer’s first three years to Mushcamp’s is silly to me. There was a change in feel surrounding the program following that 2018 loss in the Belk Bowl. I don’t sense that at the moment. Could that always change? Of course. Showing improvement and progress by making it back to a bowl game this season will be critical for Beamer and his staff.
10- New CFP format
While South Carolina still has a ways to go before we’re talking about competing in the College Football Playoffs, I can’t help but wonder how it could change the way people view losing in the regular season. It wasn’t that long ago that if you dropped a game in September, you could’ve already bee eliminated from playing in the BCS National Championship Game. With 12 teams now, is it crazy to think that we could be seeing some teams with three and even four loses make the field? If any conference will benefit from playing a tough schedule, it’s the SEC. It’s not apples-to-apples but go look at Florida making the NCAA Tournament in baseball this year. A big reason why they made postseason play was because of their strength of schedule.
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The post 10 thoughts with 10 Saturdays to go until Week 1 for South Carolina appeared first on On3.
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