South Carolina players react to Deebo skipping bowl: ‘How could I be mad at him?’
Deebo Samuel may have played his last game with South Carolina, choosing to skip the Gamecocks’ Belk Bowl matchup with Virginia so he can prepare for the NFL draft and preserve his health. But his former teammates aren’t mad at him.
Not in the slightest.
“Selfishly I wanted him to play, but I understand completely,” junior quarterback Jake Bentley said. “After the Akron game, (I) walked into the weight room, and it’s 30 people with Deebo’s cousin, nephew. It’s just a really awesome thing to see how many people support him. And when he told me what was going to happen and what he thought the best thing for his family was, when you see that and the amount of people that support him and how he can change his whole family’s life with his career, you can’t really fault him.”
In the wide receivers room, it’s been slightly odd to prep for a game without the redshirt senior, players said. But given Samuel’s injury history and his potential to be drafted highly, there aren’t any hard feelings. At this point, some players said, they’re simply grateful for all that Samuel did for the program in his four seasons.
“I kinda figured (he wouldn’t play), just because everything he’s been through as far as injuries, things like that, so it was one of those things (that was) in the back of my mind,” junior receiver Bryan Edwards said. “How could I be mad at him? He’s done so much for this university. I’ve seen him go through so much as far as injuries and just trials and tribulations and working his way back and getting hurt again. I’m extremely proud of the dude, and I can’t wait to hear what happens.”
Unlike Edwards, sophomore wide receiver Shi Smith said he thought Samuel might play simply because of his love for the game. But he too said he respects the decision to skip.
“We respect Deebo’s decision. He took it up with coach and his family, and it’s his decision,” Smith said. “When he made it, that’s when I knew. We didn’t talk about it before. That’s his decision, so I’m fine with it, I support him.”
Samuel’s absence will still leave a massive hole for South Carolina to fill on offense and special teams. His 1,478 all-purpose yards account for nearly 24 percent of the team’s yards all year, and his 13 touchdowns represent 26 percent of the team’s TDs this season. He’s also accounted for 26.5 percent of USC’s receiving yardage and 24.3 percent of the receptions.
Yet coach Will Muschamp said he feels confident that the remaining Gamecocks can fill that production, especially compared to the 2017 season, when Samuel was lost for the season in Week 3 and the USC offense sputtered the rest of the year.
“I think that we’re much more equipped right now, maybe than we were at that time to handle that obviously, and having more time to prepare for a bowl game as opposed to a four-day practice week for your next opponent,” Muschamp said.
“Last year, it kind of shocked everyone, the way everyone was kind of scrambling, what do we need to do to pick his absence up and regroup from that,” Bentley said.
Replacing Samuel will obviously require contributions from more than one player — Muschamp cited Smith, freshman receiver Josh Vann and junior tight end Kiel Pollard as players he expects to pick up the receiving production, while Smith, Vann, Edwards and several running backs could compete to return kicks and punts.
Except for Vann, all the players Muschamp mentioned were available last season as well. But according to Pollard, there’s a significant psychological difference this time around.
“Last year we weren’t really prepared for losing Deebo, but this year we all kinda knew he was gonna probably sit out the bowl game, make sure he took care of his money,” Pollard said.
The added development of a year, and especially the experience players got when Samuel was out last season, also makes a difference, Bentley said.
“I think Shi’s more experienced, Bryan’s obviously been here a long time. Josh, already having a whole season pretty much of playing. Kiel and (senior tight end K.C. Crosby) have obviously been here a long time, too. I think that’s the biggest thing, the guys that are going to have to step up have played a lot already,” Bentley said.
In fact, Bentely was encouraged enough by what he’s seen in early practices that he offered a prediction for the Gamecocks offense in the Belk Bowl.
“I’m excited for us. I don’t foresee any drop off. There shouldn’t be any drop-off offensively, for what we’re doing,” he said.
This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 6:55 PM.
