Do Gamecocks need to get Deebo more looks? Or is something else at play in quiet start?

There were stretches in South Carolina’s last game, a loss to Georgia, when to some it seemed wide receiver Deebo Samuel simply wasn’t occupying as central a role in the Gamecocks offense as he could.

At least that’s what one questioner posed to USC coach Will Muschamp.

“I thought in the first half, we were very effective getting him the ball in some situations,” Muschamp said. “Whether or not we lined him up in the slot, we lined him up in the backfield, we lined him up as an outside receiver. Those looks will continue to happen.

“It’s hard to get him the ball when he’s standing on the sideline.”

That was in reference to Georgia running 21 of the first 27 plays out of halftime, scoring three touchdowns as USC went three and out twice.

The productivity wasn’t much too look at, six catches for 33 yards and a carry for a loss of 2. But the quiet numbers might just be masking another situation.

In the early going, Samuel has yet to translate his explosiveness into production.

Despite the Gamecocks playing in two games that were out of hand early in the third quarter, Samuel has been targeted on nearly a fourth of USC’s throws (23.8 percent). No other USC receiver is higher than 16.3 percent.

Samuel has caught 13 of the 19 passes that have come his way, but he’s only averaging 6.8 yards on each of those catches. In his last mostly full season, 2016, he was at 13.3 per catch and had 16.7 per catch in his prolific start to 2017.

Through the two games, he’s only got two catches longer than 10 yards, none longer than 15. He had one jet sweep pass blown up for a loss of 6, and USC just hasn’t seen that explosiveness yet.

The only way to get him going is to keep getting the ball in his hands (it is only two games, after all). To do that, he’ll have to rely on those around him.

“It’s a team game,” Muschamp said. “We’ve got to do a better job of staying on the field on offense and getting off the field on defense and I think that will help us a lot.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2018 at 8:53 AM.