Day 1 USC practice observations: Defensive depth chart, young QBs at work

The South Carolina football team opened its August practices on a warm Friday morning. Players weren’t in pads, but a few periods were open to the media.

Some observations from USC taking the field.

▪ The quarterbacks worked on throwing on the roll to and away from their throwing hands, plus throwing over a defender and on some handoffs. Dakereon Joyner looked sharper than last season, with a smoother-looking ball. Ryan Hilinski usually looks good in some of the target drills (throwing the ball into nets), and he did again, tossing accurate darts.

▪ Senior A.J. Turner was in a white jersey and working on defense.

▪ One early drill gave a sense of the defensive depth chart. The offense did not do full team work while the media was present.

1ST TEAM

DL: Aaron Sterling (DE), Kobe Smith (DT), Javon Kinlaw (DT), D.J. Wonnum (Buck)

LB: Sherrod Greene (WLB), T.J. Brunson (MLB), Eldridge Thompson (SLB)

DB: Israel Mukuamu (CB), Jamyest Williams (S), J.T. Ibe (S), A.J. Turner (N) Jaycee Horn (CB)

2ND TEAM

DL: Daniel Fennell (Buck), Zacch Pickens (DT), Rick Sandidge (DT), Jabari Ellis (DE)

LB: Damani Staley, Rosendo Louis, Daniel Fennell

DB: John Dixon (CB), Jammie Robinson (S/N), R.J. Roderick (S/N) Jamel Cook (S), Shilo Sanders (CB)

3RD TEAM

DL: Rodricus Fitten (Buck), Devontae Davis (DT), Griffin Gentry (DT), Joseph Anderson (DE)

Will Muschamp had announced that Kingsley Enagbare and Keir Thomas were hurt. Other notable, but not necessarily meaningful, absences from team work were pass rusher Brad Johnson, linebackers Ernest Jones and Derek Boykins.

▪ For the start of practice, it at times seemed on the subdued side. Offensive line coach Eric Wolford was doing his best to change that, being loud and spurring on his players with some fire.

▪ An odd detail was the team brought in refs for a part of practice. Usually that’s for full scrimmage work, when penalties and procedural stuff are fully in place.

▪ Men’s basketball coach Frank Martin dropped by with one of his sons to watch practice and was joking around with strength coach Jeff Dillman at one point.

▪ Pretty much every upright body was involved in returning punts. That included Jaycee Horn, Josh Vann, Jamyest Williams, Jammie Robinson and Xavier Legette.

▪ When the interior defensive linemen broke away from punt work, freshman Joseph Anderson, who is projected as a big defensive end, was among them. That group was working on some two-down looks with stand-up ends, something the team broke-out against hyper-spread teams such as Ole Miss.

▪ Former quarterback Jay Urich was fully with the wide receivers, who were working on small-space quickness in the early going. One thing that stood out with Urich was a powerfully-built lower body, which could bode well for his run-after-catch ability.

▪ Tailback Kevin Harris was in his new No. 20, and second-year tailbacks Lavonte Valentine and Deshaun Fenwick were with the group. There had been some rumors online that Fenwick might go to defense, but they appear to be unfounded.

▪ Also out there were transfer tight end Nick Muse and Maryland transfer long snapper Matt Oliveira.

This story was originally published August 2, 2019 at 9:53 AM.