South Carolina’s offense is down a crucial player up front. How it’s adapting

When South Carolina football lost offensive guard Zack Bailey, the pieces moved fairly succinctly.

Gamecocks center Donell Stanley moved out to guard, the position he’d played his first four seasons on campus and in came Chandler Farrell, a veteran former walk-on who earned a scholarship.

Now Bailey’s season is over with a broken leg, and USC has one more game. So, will the arrangement stay the same?

“That’s what we go into it looking at,” Gameocks coach Will Muschamp said at a news conference for the bowl.

But he followed up with something that casts a little doubt on that.

“Hank Manos is a young player that continues to come on for us and certainly can do some different things for us,” Muschamp said.

Farrell is a listed 6-foot-3, 290 pounds, while Manos is 6-foot-4, 289. Although Farrell is now a scholarship player, he started as a walk-on. And Manos is someone the coaches have mentioned from time to time.

The Chapin product came to USC as an early enrollee off a strong high school career, which included a good deal of success on the wrestling mat. He has worked at both center and guard in practice and played backup guard next to Farrell in a blowout of Chattanooga.

The fact he was mentioned bears some watching. For the moment, it’s Farrell at center and Stanley moving over.

“That’d be, going into the bowl game, our mindset,” Muschamp said.

This story was originally published December 14, 2018 at 8:22 AM.