South Carolina bowl practice observations: Deebo, four-star RB drop in

The South Carolina Gamecocks football team and coach Will Muschamp fully opened their bowl practice on Thursday ahead of the Belk Bowl meeting with Virginia.

A few observations from the mid-day session:

▪ Former Gamecocks star Deebo Samuel, who is skipping the bowl for NFL prep, was on hand to watch, as was athletic director Ray Tanner.

▪ Wide receiver Shi Smith was working in the slot early, with Josh Vann holding down the outside. We saw a lot of two-TE stuff on Wednesday

▪ Four-star 2021 running back recruit Will Shipley was out to watch, as was linebacker signee Derek Boykins and 2020 linebacker/running back Trenton Simpson.

▪ Shipley’s coach at Weddington High School, Andy Capone, had a long chat with Bobby Bentley and was brought out onto the field to talk to Will Muschamp.

▪ Reserve quarterback Danny Gordon wore No. 21 the past two days and chipped in as a scout team defensive back.

▪ Linebacker Rosendo Louis and defensive tackle Keir Thomas remained in yellow jerseys, but were doing some work. Louis was working at strongside linebacker.

▪ Freshman defensive tackle Rick Sandidge and young linebackers Ernest Jones and Damani Staley came out with the first team in work between the top offense and defense. USC has been rolling a lot of bodies in the front seven.

▪ In that team period, Jake Bentley looked sharp, throwing a trio of strikes early, including a post to Bryan Edwards.

▪ During team work there was a scuffled that involved Rick Sandidge. He seemed pretty emotional after and during the next full-defense period, when Keir Thomas went back in with the first group.

This story was originally published December 27, 2018 at 11:47 AM.