Which South Carolina freshmen stood out to Will Muschamp against Coastal

South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp explained, he got 60 players on the field Saturday against Coastal Carolina.

That’s a lot.

Among those 60 were 11 of the 21 scholarship true freshmen, plus a smattering of the redshirts. After reviewing the film, Muschamp pointed to a few that stood out, and he started in the place fans might not gravitate toward, but all coaches would.

“I think that on the offensive line, we were pleased with our second group that went in there and played,” Muschamp said. “I thought all our guys competed, and I think we had minimal mistakes as a far as mental mistakes. And physically, I thought those guys fit the bill, just got to give them more playing time.”

That group included true freshmen Dylan Wonnum and Jovaughn Gwyn, plus redshirt freshman Jordan Rhodes. Muschamp and the staff wanted to develop their depth beyond the top six, and that meant getting those guys on the field.

On the other side of the ball, Kingsley “J.J.” Enagbare and Rick Sandidge both got early work on the interior of USC’s defense line, with M.J. Webb, a redshirt freshman, and Clemson transfer Josh Belk, who only became eligible days before the game, worked in once the game was out of hand.

“I though Ricky and J.J. both played well inside,” Muschamp said. “I thought M.J. did some good things.”

He also praised wide receiver Josh Vann for doing some nice things and for a nice play on a touchdown drive.

His staff also played a trio of freshmen in the secondary. Jaycee Horn started, getting a taste of the ups and downs of SEC physicality, and Israel Mukuamu got in late. But the first freshman Muschamp mentioned was one who didn’t play defense before garbage time, but got his first play on the season’s opening kickoff.

“I though some of the young guys in the secondary, R.J. (Roderick), he flashes,” Muschamp said. “He’s in the right spots, does some really good things, and we’ve got to move in that direction. Israel continues to improve and get better. Jaycee Horn obviously started the game for us, I thought he played extremely well.”

Roderick was an option quarterback this time last season and is still very young in playing the position. Muschamp also said Horn gave the staff what it wanted in terms of playing in the box, as the coaches had been looking for more size and strength there.

This story was originally published September 3, 2018 at 6:35 PM.