South Carolina poised to open book on training camp with ‘high intensity’

While SEC Media Days mark the unofficial start of football season across the Southeast, the end of summer and start of training camp at South Carolina are marked with Pigskin Poets.

For the 22nd consecutive year, Gamecock football players mingled with several hundred excited children, playing Simon Says, reading books and signing autographs at the Charles R. Drew Wellness Center on Friday. And while training camp doesn’t begin until Aug. 2, many of the players seemed ready to hit the field.

“I think everyone’s excited. A lot of guys have their third year of experience. Everyone’s been working really hard in the offseason, so I think everyone’s excited just to put out everything they’ve been working on,” junior linebacker T.J. Brunson said.

Most of the players present Friday were freshmen, who have been busy adjusting to college life and catching up with their more experienced teammates.

“They fit right in,” redshirt senior offensive lineman Donell Stanley said. “When they get recruited, (coaches) come around to all of us before they even get here ... asking for some feedback on this guy, is he a fit for our program? And so that’s what we do, and they’ve adjusted well. They’re very talented, as you can see, and they’re ready to work.”

Several got a little extra attention Friday, reading books like “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” and “Yo! Yes?” Freshmen Dakereon Joyner and Jonathan Gipson in particular earned laughs for their renditions.

The event, Brunson said, was a welcome distraction before the team plunges back into preparation for the season.

“It’s different, going into my third camp, just to take my mind off camp and be able to focus on something else, and being out here is definitely taking my mind off the football side of things,” Brunson said. “It opens my mind to what else is out there, because these kids, they look up to us, and I think it’s really cool we have that type of impact on them.”

Not that he’s complaining about the work he and many of his teammates have put in over the summer. The hope, he said, is that that work will translate into a fast start in camp.

“I expect for myself to be that leader, to be out there for the third year, to be a leader on defense. I think the coaches expect us to expand on everything we’ve been learning for the past few years, come out to camp with a high intensity,” Brunson said.

Stanley said his unit, the offensive line, has hardly taken a break from last season and is prepared for anything after a rocky 2017 in which many players were hurt.

“We’ve been here ever since January. We barely had any time off. We committed ourselves to the weight room, because we don’t want to be the weak link on this team. You saw last year, we started nine guys, lots of different lineups and we had to learn to play more than one position, so we have young guys who already are coming in real strong,” Stanely said.

“Everybody’s stronger, because we’ve been in the weight room like crazy. We committed ourselves to be here, nobody’s complaining. We’ve been patient, working out.”

Brunson expressed confidence that fans will see the payoff of that high intensity and work ethic.

“I think that we have a lot more experience and we have a lot more guys, like all 11 on the starting defense. We have guys that we know are going to do everything they can to win. I think, with that being said, there’s going to be a difference on the field this year with plays being made and results, plain and simple,” Brunson said.

This story was originally published July 20, 2018 at 8:44 PM.