College football analyst's takeaway from Gamecocks spring game: 'They’re loaded'

South Carolina’s spring game last Saturday gave USC fans a small preview of what the Bryan McClendon offense might look like. It left at least one expert impressed: CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee.

Maybe more like left him positively gushing.

“I’ll be honest, I was totally impressed with what South Carolina put forth,” Sallee said on his podcast Smothered and Covered.

What popped mostly was the Gamecocks’ depth of playmakers.

“They’re loaded,” Sallee said. “They are loaded.”

He pointed out USC was missing the likes of top tailback Rico Dowdle and dangerous receiver/returner Deebo Samuel. Yet Bryan Edwards, Ty’Son Williams and others showed flashes of potential as top options with the ball.

He liked what he saw from Jake Bentley, especially off an inconsistent finish to the regular season, and from the five in front of him.

“The biggest thing to me, which you saw, an offensive line with the 1s, just blow dudes off that ball,” Sallee said. “That’s awesome if you’re South Carolina. That’s what you want to see, because the offense still is the question.”

Coach Will Muschamp said his offense was ahead of the defense in the game, but Sallee said that was less important given the dynamics of South Carolina’s staff.

“Defensively, I’m fully comfortable in saying that with … Will Muschamp and Travaris Robinson, they’re going to be fine defensively,” Sallee said.

The Gamecocks went into 2017 expecting to be good on offense with questions on defense, but instead got an inconsistent attack and a defense that was usually solid.

Sallee said South Carolina easily could be a 10-win team with the schedule it has, one without a marquee nonconference game beyond Clemson and crossover games against teams with new coaches. He also said the floor should be about eight wins barring a big jump from Tennessee, Florida or Missouri.

The Gators and Vols are breaking in new coaches after four-win seasons. Mizzou has questions after replacing Josh Heupel, who built a high-powered offense, with Tennessee coach washout Derek Dooley.

“South Carolina is ready to establish itself as the clear-cut No. 2 team in the Southeastern Conference east division,” Sallee said. “Nobody even comes close to what South Carolina is right now in the SEC East.”

Could they push Georgia, a team the Gamecocks stuck close to last year?

“People at Georgia will tell you, and they’ve told me, that was a game where they felt threatened,” Sallee said. “I was wildly impressed by South Carolina. I think Will Muschamp and that crew are building something pretty darn solid.”

This story was originally published April 2, 2018 at 7:19 PM with the headline "College football analyst's takeaway from Gamecocks spring game: 'They’re loaded'."