USC O-line takes solid first step

ADD ANOTHER STARTER to South Carolina’s suspended list, and this one could loom larger that the others in the Gamecocks’ future.

Lemuel Jeanpierre hopes to solve the problem.

Losing offensive guard James Thompson for three games — violation of university policy, school officials said — could throw a monkey wrench into the team’s top priority. If coach Steve Spurrier said once in the past six months that developing the offensive line topped his priorities, he made that observation 500 times.

Well, the best-laid plans went out the door Saturday, the day Carolina opened the season with a more-difficult-than-expected win against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Thompson earned the starting guard job again, and the Gamecocks again lost him because of self-inflicted wounds.

If that sounds familiar, remember the same player missed the first four games last season for violating team rules, and the offensive line did not jell until late in the season.

With Georgia on the schedule next week and LSU on Sept. 22, teams with designs on competing for championships do not need to be attempting to solidify the offensive front.

“The offensive line played decent,” Spurrier evaluated after the Gamecocks posted a 28-14 win over Louisiana-Lafayette. “Having Thompson out didn’t have anything to do with this game.”

But will his absence matter in the future?

Taking advantage. The beneficiary of Thompson’s malfeasance is sophomore Jeanpierre, a former defensive tackle who moved to offense late in the spring. In his first college game on offense, he started and played every snap.

“I think we played all right,” he said. “I know I made some mistakes, and I’m not happy with that, but we did all right. As a unit, I think we did pretty well, but we won’t know until we see the tape. We feel pretty good; we got a win.”

The line paved the way for 433 yards, 195 on the ground.

“As an offensive line, we’re always trying to improve,” Jeanpierre said. “Coming into the season, we know we were the focal point (that needed improvement) on the team.”

Jeanpierre found out during Friday’s walk-through that he would be in the starting lineup and welcomed the opportunity.

“That’s what I have been practicing for, so I could play,” he said. “They told me to get ready. That was fine with me. I have been working to the best of my ability to improve.

“Starting doesn’t mean you will play the whole game. I just want to play. I think I’m getting better, but I know I still have to improve on my steps and technique.”

For a first start, he did just fine.

A good beginning. Jeanpierre played in all 13 games at defensive tackle last season and started in USC’s Liberty Bowl victory. He went into spring practice with a goal of retaining the job.

Instead, he moved into unfamiliar territory the last week of drills.

“The coaches said they thought I was a good athlete and they wanted to get me on the field more,” he said. “That’s a big compliment for me, to say, ‘Come over here and play. Maybe you can start.’ They said if the change didn’t work out, I could move back to defense.”

He showed enough in that brief spring trial to be listed on the depth chart’s second team headed into fall camp.

His challenge: solve the offensive puzzle.

“I work every day to understand the offense better, to get my steps and technique better,” he said. “Coach (John) Hunt has the offensive linemen study every position. We have to know what everybody does, the benter, the backside tackle, all that. If we understand the whole thing, we can execute better.

“I have to understand what the running back is doing and what the safety probably is going to do when I read him. That’s all part of improving. I am getting better, but I still need to get even better.”

Do not get the idea that Jeanpierre and his offensive line mates are satisfied with the first-game production. They know the opposition gets better, starting with Georgia.

“Monday will come around and we will find out how the coaches felt we played,” he said. “I try to learn from my mistakes. I want to be perfect in my steps and technique.”

For one night, the offensive line got the job done, but this is just the first step. Jeanpierre soothed the pain from a missing starter, and he has two more games to show the job is his to keep.