He’s the last recruit of the Spurrier era. USC’s coaches have a role in mind for him

Will Register has a lot to offer South Carolina’s football team.

The third-year Gamecock is big at 6-foot-4, 245 pounds. At points in his Chapin High School career, he showed skills as a pass catcher.

As he heads into Year 3 with the Gamecocks, what kind of impact can he have?

“Will, technically, is doing a really good job,” Gamecocks tight ends coach Bobby Bentley said. “Just got to get him to be a little more physical. We expect him to be our in-line tight end.”

Earning that role would involve jumping a veteran, as the team reloads at the position.

At the moment, USC has six scholarship tight ends on the roster. Two are veterans, Kiel Pollard and Kyle Markway, two are freshmen and two, Evan Hinson and Register, are in the middle.

Markway seems the most likely heir apparent to Jacob August for that in-line spot, as he was in the top four last season, but Register has some potential.

As a high school player, he caught 40 passes for 644 yards as a junior but saw that drop to 24 catches and 251 yards as he got bigger his senior year (there were also some shifts in his offense/quarterback).

In college, he redshirted one year and played in four games the next, mostly in garbage time of blowouts. He picked up one catch as the team’s fifth or sixth tight end.

USC will be turning over the spots held by Jacob August and K.C. Crosby, with Pollard and Markway as the players who are likely next in line. For Register, before any talk of his pass catching happens, the emphasis is his work in the run game.

“We need for him to be able to block in the C area,” South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said. “Which I think he’s made some strides there obviously. Obviously a guy that we felt a lot about coming out of Chapin High School. So he’s done some nice things this spring.”

The C area would the be C-gap, the opening between the tackle and the tight end. In many blocking schemes, a player there has to pry open a hole or work to pin a defender inside.

Register also stands out as a throwback of sorts.

He is in line to be the final Steve Spurrier recruit on the roster. South Carolina’s current seniors include the final class that staff recruited, but Register came even a year after that. He committed before his junior season, at the start of the final summer of the old staff’s tenure.

Now he’s heading into Year 3 in Columbia and hasn’t made his mark ... yet. He still has time, and his coaches have a role in mind for him to step into.

“We want him to be the guy to put his hand on the ground and be able to block at the point of attack,” Bentley said. “He’s probably one of the biggest, strongest guys we’ve got. We’ve just got to get him to produce.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 9:45 AM.