These Gamecocks were put in ‘unfair’ spot. Now they’re among USC spring standouts

South Carolina’s football team might have asked too much last season from Rick Sandidge and Kingsley “J.J.” Enagbare.

Both were four-star freshmen, highly rated in their class. And when Week 1 rolled around, they found themselves as the Gamecocks’ fourth and fifth interior linemen behind Javon Kinlaw, Keir Thomas and Kobe Smith.

In Week 2, that meant facing off with a beastly Georgia offensive line, taking on 700 pounds of double team.

So much for coming in easy.

“Really, it’s not fair what we asked them to do,” Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said. “They needed to be redshirted. That’s a bad word; no one wants to say that. But they needed to be redshirted. They needed to be developed. They needed to be coached for a year to have the game slow down.”

Enagbare finished with 20 tackles, Sandidge 19. They combined for 5 ½ tackles for loss and 1 ½ sacks, playing in just about every game.

Now this spring, which will go for one more week before the spring game, the coaches are seeing the payoff.

“Some of the growing pains we went through last year, we’re going to benefit. J.J. had a great day (Saturday),” Muschamp said. “Ricky Sandidge is having a fantastic spring.”

And they weren’t the only players impressing the head coach.

Spring notes and standouts:

▪ Muschamp said the team is focusing on fundamentals. Instead of a full Saturday scrimmage, the past two have been half scrimmages, with around 150 total snaps.

▪ He joked that if something happens good for one side, it means the other side has something to fix.

▪ The staff is liking the depth they’ve built heading into their fourth year, and that’s paying off with more consistent play.

▪ Young quarterbacks (not Jake Bentley) can get hit when they leave the pocket in spring practice. In the pocket, they can be “thud” tackled.

▪ Late enrolling tight end Traevon Kenion caught a touchdown in 7-on-7 red zone work Saturday.

▪ USC is still splitting the QB reps four ways and hasn’t tapered that off yet.

▪ A.J. Turner is mostly on offense, but gets two periods on defense per practice.

▪ Muschamp said the secondary has been playing well. He singled out sophomores Jaycee Horn, Israel Mukuamu and R.J. Roderick for showing good competitive edge.

▪ J.T. Ibe has improved in man coverage, while Jamyest Williams has participated in most of practice outside contact work. Jaylin Dickerson has “done some nice things.”

▪ Five-star freshman Zacch Pickens has worked hard and tried to please the coaches. Four-star freshman Joseph Anderson “has really come on for us,” as has third-year Buck lineman Brad Johnson. Muschamp has also seen improvement from Rodricus Fitten.

▪ On the offensive line, Muschamp mentioned Hank Manos, Chandler Ferrell, Eric Douglas, Jovaughn Gwyn and Jordan Rhodes as young players who showed some things.

▪ Douglas played center on Saturday and has played guard and tackle as well at points this spring. That happened because Manos and Ferrell were nursing minor ankle injuries.

▪ Muschamp called freshman tailback Kevin Harris a “heavy runner.” He has to drop a little weight for endurance, but he runs with power and has picked things up well.

▪ Tight end and former basketball player Evan Hinson has been able to do three practices a week in spring but wasn’t able to go to meetings because of class.