The biggest step South Carolina’s Zacch Pickens has taken since spring
A lot of eyes are on South Carolina defensive lineman Zacch Pickens, the crown jewel of the Gamecocks’ 2019 recruiting class and the first five-star in Columbia since a guy named Jadeveon Clowney.
He spent spring on campus and got his first taste of practice in garnet and black.
Since then, he’s gone through the full offseason routine of player-run practices and workouts, and his position coach, John Scott Jr., saw one crucial change.
“We were talking about that the other day,” Scott said. “He’s doing a really good job, just mentally, compared to where he was in the spring, coming into fall camp mentally, he’s doing a really nice job. And he’s playing faster. So that’s a great sign that mentally he’s getting his assignment because once you know your assignment, you can play fast.”
He showed the ability to play pretty fast as a dominant senior in high school, posting a team-high 87 tackles, with 15.0 for loss and six sacks at TL Hanna. He was fast enough to gain a reputation for chasing down high school running backs at his size.
Pickens is already up to 6-foot-3, 300 pounds, and he already has the kind of body that Scott hasn’t often worked with coaching the likes of Arkansas, Texas Tech and Georgia Southern.
“For me personally, some of the places that I’ve been, he’s got really, really good size and strength for freshmen coming in,” Scott said. “He’s got like a junior body right now as a freshman.
“Now (it’s) just getting the technique down and playing fast all the time and he’s playing faster. I think he’s got a chance to really, really help us this year, but we got to keep coming on.”
He’s competing at a position group that’s plenty crowded. Javon Kinlaw and Kobe Smith are anchors there. Keir Thomas, a senior, helps as well. Rick Sandidge showed promise as a freshman. Junior college lineman Devontae Davis joined up as well.
But Pickens has that five-star pedigree and more than half a year on campus to get things started.
No ordinary Joe
Pickens wasn’t the only blue-chip Gamecocks lineman to get spring ball under his belt.
He came in with Joseph Anderson, a 6-foot-3, 280-pounder who can play both tackle and the bigger end spot in USC’s defense. As a high school senior, he put up 60 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and three sacks in the middle of a dominant defense despite missing time with an elbow injury.
“Joe is coming along,” Scott said. “He had a good summer. His body is starting to fill out physically and, you know, he’s doing a nice job. I think we’ve seen him grow mentally. He’s grown physically and he’s starting to get it, starting to come along for us.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 11:48 AM.