USC freshman works with starting offense and other Belk Bowl practice observations

South Carolina took the field at Charlotte Latin High School on a chilly Wednesday morning. A few observations:

Because of recruits on hand, the entire practice was open to the public.

▪ True freshman Hank Manos worked with the offensive line first team most of the time, meaning he’ll likely be in line to start.

▪ Walk-on quarterback Danny Gordon was wearing No. 21 and chipping in on defense at safety.

▪ Numbers at the bottom of the roster were kind of a mess, so it was hard to ID some of those players.

▪ Former running back A.J. Turner was out working at outside corner.

▪ Linebacker Rosendo Louis was in yellow, as was defensive lineman Keir Thomas.

▪ Defensive end Shameik Blackshear was working with the starting line along with Kobe Smith, Bryson Allen-Willians and Josh Belk at tackle.

▪ It seemed the defensive line rotation was pretty fluid, lots of guys going inside and out.

▪ Quarterback Dakereon Joyner was getting some work at tailback and on jet sweeps on scout team.

▪ Early on, the team had young DBs shadowing veterans on one drill. Turner followed Rashad Fenton. Jaylin Dickerson followed R.J. Roderick and Jonathan Gipson followed Steven Montac.

▪ Safety Jaylin Dickerson was out of a regular jersey and practicing in full.

▪ Wide receiver Shi Smith was practicing in a knee brace.

▪ Shi Smith was getting a lot of work as a jet sweep guy. They were also tinkering with some outside toss plays that have become popular in college football of late.

▪ The backup offensive line was Malik Young and Eric Douglas at tackle, Jordan Rhodes and Blake Camper at guard and Chandler Ferrell at center.

▪ There were a few recruits on hand, including Charlotte-area offensive line signee Jaylen Nichols, big 2020, 3-star linebacker/running back Trenton Simpson and four-star 2020 wide receiver Mike Wyman.

Next

The team has an outing later Wednesday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and practices again Thursday morning.

This story was originally published December 26, 2018 at 10:18 AM.