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Size, weight, speed: Winfield excels at 'spur'
USC's Alonzo Winfield works out at the Gamecocks proving grounds.
Erik Campos/ecampos@thestate.com
CommentsAlonzo Winfield still is unsurehow to answer the question: What position do you play?
Just saying “spur” will lead to more questions. But he cannot really say safety or linebacker. Hence, the confused looks from people on campus.
“I say both (safety and linebacker),” Winfield said, laughing. “And then I’ll just be like, it’s just the nickel defense. And they’re like, ‘Oh OK.’ But a lot of them still don’t know. But it’s all right.”
And how often does he have to explain that?
“Just about every time,” Winfield said.
The stares are worth it, since playing the spur is Winfield’s best chance to be on the field.
The redshirt sophomore is the favorite to start at the spur, which was created last year in large part because the team had more capable defensive backs than linebackers. So rather than force an inexperienced linebacker into the starting lineup, they had Darien Stewart, a safety, move up in a 4-2-5 lineup.
This year Stewart has moved back to safety, and Winfield, who backed up at the spur last year, moved up to first team. His starting spot is not assured yet, with true freshman DeVonte Holloman a threat to squeeze his way into the lineup as a safety, with Stewart moving back to the spur.
“The big question will be whether Holloman becomes the best boundary safety or Winfield becomes the best spur,” said Ellis Johnson, the Gamecocks’ assistant head coach for defense. “And right now Alonzo’s playing a little bit better than DeVonte because of experience. And that means Stewart will stay at (the safety) but we’ve always got the ability to move Stewart back up to the spur.”
Winfield, a 6-foot, 220-pounder, is a classic “tweener” — too small for linebacker, but too heavy for safety. So when he was approached about the spur last year, he said he embraced it.
“There aren’t a lot of 220-(pound) linebackers,” Winfield said. “But I was only about 220, so I was too big to play safety.”
Winfield is fast, however. He ran the 100 and 200 meter events in high school with Bryce Sherman, the former USC track runner who joined the football team as a tailback this spring. At USC, Winfield was clocked at 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
In high school, Winfield was an outside linebacker in a 4-4 defense, with a couple games at safety. So he said the most work he’s had to do for the spur is adjusting to covering the opposing team’s No. 2 receiver.
But Johnson actually believes that Winfield’s man coverage has been better than his run-stopping. Winfield admitted he may be focusing so much on pass coverage than he “sometimes forgets about the run.” He’s working on that too.
He badly wants to be on the field when USC opens at N.C. State in 13 days. He grew up in Winston-Salem, a little more than an hour’s drive from Raleigh.
But Winfield didn’t grow up an N.C. State fan, or any team in that state. He rooted for Virginia Tech, and ironically that team’s longtime coach Frank Beamer’s son Shane is now Winfield’s position coach.
Winfield now enjoys the role as an under-the-radar guy, one of the few new projected starters that little has been said or written about.
“Around my teammates, they know I’m a hard worker. But a lot of fans probably don’t know a lot about me,” he said. “I’m just trying to go out here and do my best.”
Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.
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