Second-year defender thinks newest Gamecocks linebacker will ‘be a heck of a player’
There’s an old football turn of phrase that a player or team looks good getting off the bus. Sometimes it’s a commentary on a gap between stature and talent. Other times, it means a home team is about to get thrown around.
South Carolina linebacker Derek Boykins certainly passes the bus test.
The early enrollee freshman looks every bit his listed 6-foot-1, 226 pounds in practice thus far this spring. And at least early on, it appears his nature matches his build.
“Derek is a physical guy,” fellow linebacker Ernest Jones said. “He’s a big, physical guy. Once he learns what to do and gets up to speed, he’s going to be a heck of a player.”
As a high school senior, he stuffed the stat sheet with 117 tackles, six for loss, four sacks, three interceptions, three forced fumbles and five QB hurries.
Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp several times alluded to Boykins’ ability to work in space. But as he’s getting his first taste of college practice, the coaches aren’t putting him in that spot just yet.
“We’ll move him around a little bit,” defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson said. “So we’ll start him off at the Mike and let him play Mike. That’ll keep him out of some of the coverage stuff.”
That plan lets him focus on run fits and playing in the box before diving into the complexity of the weakside spot.
But what does he bring to the table?
“He’s smart, he can run and he’s powerful,” Robinson said. “So those three things are what we’re looking for in every linebacker we recruit here at South Carolina.”
South Carolina’s linebacker position is in a little flux in the spring and goes toward 2019 with a mix of stability and questions. The team isn’t on track to lose anyone from last year’s rotation, but the group also needs to produce more if the defense aims to improve.
Third-year middle linebacker T.J. Brunson is out all spring after procedures to fix a sports hernia and meniscus damage, while Eldridge Thompson and Rosendo Louis are either limited or in non-contact jerseys. That’s bad news for the latter two, who could probably use more work, but it opens things up for those behind them.
Jones is currently the top Mike linebacker, with Boykins behind him. Sherrod Greene is the top at the weakside spot.
Boykins’ high school coach Kenneth McClamrock said he expected his former player would follow closely whoever was the leader at his position, learning the finer points of the college game. Obviously that’s Brunson, who is sidelined, but Jones has seen Boykins working his way through things and putting in the effort.
“With both of us being young, we’re both still trying to learn some things,” Jones said. “I’m kind of a little ahead right now. But he’s picking up on it. Playing the middle linebacker position, Mike linebacker position, it’s not the easiest thing. So extra hours of film and stuff like that, which he is doing, it’ll all pan out.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 3:15 PM.
