Gamecocks freshmen play early and often in season-opening victory

At the start, it sounded more like a pitch of opportunity for Will Muschamp’s football team than a pure organizational philosophy.

He inherited a South Carolina football roster with some holes, so yes, he played a lot of freshmen. He’s mentioned it often, and on Saturday in a blowout win of Coastal Carolina, he didn’t hold back.

One year ago, R.J. Roderick was a quarterback, still in high school and about to miss half his senior season with a back injury. He was on the field for USC’s first play of the season, as part of the kick coverage unit. (He plays defense now). All told, 11 of the team’s 21 true freshmen played, and that didn’t even account for some who are injured.

“I thought our second offensive line went in there and performed well,” Muschamp said. “That would jump off the page at me.

“When you have the opportunity to play those guys, there’s no better teaching moment than playing in live game situations. We’ve got a lot of teachable moments from today.”

Freshmen Dylan Wonnum and Jovaughn Gwyn both played on that line. Muschamp also directed a lot of praise the way of Jaycee Horn, the freshman corner who started. Defensive tackle Josh Belk also got his first college action late in the game.

Horn was among a group of first-year players who saw time when the game was competitive. That group included him, Roderick, Josh Vann, Rick Sandidge and Kingsley Enagbare. The rest of the list was: Israel Mukuamu, Rosendo Louis Jr., Ernest Jones, Gwyn, Wonnum and Belk.

Feeling the heat

In the lead-up to the game, Muschamp had fretted about the heat, as some cooler days in summer prevented his team from getting acclimated to the fullest.

Saturday was certainly hot, 88 degrees at kickoff and decidedly steamy. But the coach didn’t see any impact.

“We did not have one IV,” Muschamp said, referring to players getting extra fluids that way. “That says a lot about Jeff Dillman … No IVs, nobody struggling with cramps.

“It’s a testament to our strength staff and the job that they do and our players. Our players work extremely hard. We practice hard.”

Missing next week

Texas A&M grad transfer Nick Harvey made his Gamecocks debut Saturday, rotating in on the back end of USC’s defense at safety.

He’s already slated to miss the third half of his time at USC.

Harvey was thrown out in the final few minutes with a targeting penalty. He came in hard and made helmet-to-helmet contact with a receiver long after the game had been decided, after making three total tackles.

Muschamp mentioned it along with a trio of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties as issues to clean up.

“We want to be a violent, composed team,” Muschamp said. “Composure is a big part of being a good team.”

Notes:

▪ Captains were Deebo Samuel, T.J. Brunson, Jake Bentley, Donell Stanley.

▪ Horn was the seventh true freshman to start for USC since 2009.

▪ Announced attendance was 75,126.

▪ Muschamp gave walk-on and former Tusculum kicker Will Tommie a chance to handle kickoffs late, saying he wanted to divide some of the work for starting kicker Parker White. Tommie had three touchbacks on three kicks.

▪ Running back Rico Dowdle had his fourth career 100-yard game.

▪ Quarterback Jake Bentley set a career high with four touchdown passes.

▪ Tight end Kiel Pollard hauled in his first career TD from eight yards out, powering through tacklers along the way.

This story was originally published September 1, 2018 at 5:42 PM.