What gets lost with Deebo Samuel, Jake Bentley missing practice time together

South Carolina started spring football practice with the promise of Deebo Samuel being back.

It ended with him again sidelined, in a boot at one point, missing another stretch of practice time.

His health in the fall remains the most important thing for the Gamecocks, thus the reason the team was conservative with playing or practicing him, but it also meant losing valuable time working with quarterback Jake Bentley and building up additional chemistry. And the third-year passer knows what that could mean.

“Having a guy as dynamic and as explosive as him not on the field, just having him kind of in spurts since I’ve been here has been hard,” Bentley said after Saturday’s spring game. “But he’s continued to battle through everything. He’s still a leadership voice on our team, continues to help out the receivers as much as he can and he’s always around.”

USC is hoping he can help on the field again after breaking a bone in his leg late in USC’s third game of 2017 (a foot injury later extinguished hope of a comeback). Before that, he’d caught 15 passes for 250 yards and three scores, added a 25-yard touchdown run and taken two kickoffs to the house.

Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp had said during the spring the staff focused on the younger players because the coaches knew what to expect from the likes of Samuel and Bryan Edwards.

Edwards caught seven of the eight passes thrown his way Saturday for 117 yards, though he lamented the only drop. Muschamp said that reflected the kind of player and talent he is for USC.

The Gamecocks plan to pair that with Samuel’s explosiveness with the ball in his hands, and while he couldn’t show it Saturday, there’s optimism the lost time won’t mean too much is lost.

“Whether he’s just out there catching, that’s what he’s going to do,” Bentley said. “He loves football and he’ll be back out here and we’ll get the chemistry down and be ready to go.”

Notes:

▪ Muschamp said kicker Parker White has been consistent throughout camp, but there is still a kicking competition going. USC will add graduate transfer Shane Hynes in the fall.

▪ Muschamp plans for early enrollee defensive linemen Kingsley Enagbare and Tyreek Johnson to play in 2018.

▪ Although coaches were off the field for the most part, tight ends coach Pat Washington had to be out there working with Evan Hinson. He missed much of the spring because of basketball and scheduling conflicts and was not fully caught up on changes in verbiage the team is using.

▪ Caleb Kinlaw (shoulder) and Kyle Markway (sprained knee) both suffered injuries, but Muschamp considered neither serious.

▪ Announced attendance Saturday was 25,500.

▪ Muschamp spoke highly of defensive back Keisean Nixon but added he’s almost put the staff in a bind. He might be the team’s top nickel and one of the top two outside corners, so they’ll have to figure out where to slot him in.

▪ Quarterbacks Bailey Hart and Darius Douglas got spring game snaps as wide receivers because of depth issues.

▪ Muschamp felt defensive tackle Kobe Smith “made tremendous strides” though spring.

▪ At the start of the game, Muschamp held the ball for the opening kickoff after wind blew it off the tee.

▪ Muschamp said the team had 123 days until reporting for fall camp. That puts the start day on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

This story was originally published March 31, 2018 at 4:59 PM with the headline "What gets lost with Deebo Samuel, Jake Bentley missing practice time together."