USC’s offense pays steep price every time the defense creates a turnover in fall camp

If turnovers are the Bible of South Carolina’s defense, they end up meaning lots of penance for the offense.

The Gamecocks were one of the best teams in the country last season at taking the ball away from opponents, and head coach Will Muschamp, defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson and players are constantly talking about how they want to keep that up in 2018.

In fall camp, it’s been the mission of USC’s offense to make that very, very hard. Last year, the Gamecocks weren’t quite as good at limiting turnovers as they were at creating them, and the offensive coaching staff has since implemented some punishments to remind players that giving the ball away will not be tolerated.

For the running backs, that includes failing to protect the quarterback, and there’s a simple system for those who fail to do so.

“We got this thing we do every day after practice — five pushups for a missed assignment, three crossfields for a fumble,” junior running back Rico Dowdle said.

For the quarterbacks, the punishment is up to the imagination of offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon, with one caveat — whoever commits a turnover is immediately pulled from the drill or practice.

“That’s kinda his big thing. If you can’t hold onto the ball, protect the ball, you’re coming out,” junior quarterback Jake Bentley said. “So that’s the main thing, and then whether it be up-downs at the end of practice or extra sprints or something, whatever coach B-Mac can think of.”

The approach has worked, Bentley said, as the defense came out firing this preseason, only to have the offense up its game as of late.

“Beginning of fall camp, they really brought it to us and (senior safety Steven) Montac especially does a great job of coming in and getting the ball off of people,” Bentley said. “I think we’ve gotten better at it through scrimmages and through each practice.”

Still, while South Carolina’s offensive personnel and staff would love to go turnover-less for the rest of camp, the obvious catch is that whenever the defense does succeed in taking the ball, it’s an indication it can do so once the season starts and the games and opponents matter. Bentley recognizes that, and it helps temper any frustrations he feels when giveaways do occur.

“You gotta understand that the defense is going to make some plays too. Obviously each and every day you want to come out and not have any turnovers or any bad plays, but there’s a lot of great athletes over there too, a lot of smart players with some of the best coaches in the nation on defense. So it’s a challenge every day to go against them,” he said.