As South Carolina prepares for full pads, here’s who Gamecocks say hits the hardest
In the course of training camp, Tuesday marks a small milestone for South Carolina football — the Gamecocks will don full pads for the first time.
That means full speed and hard hits for the first time.
“Most definitely (excited),” senior pass rusher D.J. Wonnum said. “We jacked up.”
“It’s huge. ... Shells and everything, they’re shells, but once you get the pads on the field, it’s almost like game day,” senior linebacker T.J. Brunson said.
For defensive line coach John Scott Jr., the afternoon practice marks yet another increase in intensity he and the coaching staff hope will push players.
“You know, one of our goals in our role was how well can we handle adversity,” Scott Jr. said. “So (Tuesday) is going to be adverse, it’s going to be adverse because it’s gonna be a tempo, it’s going to be the heat, and it’s going to be the physicality.”
Not that practices thus far have been devoid of physicality.
“Every day feels like a padded practice when you’re playing interior,” senior defensive lineman Kobe Smith said.
But now that everyone will be going all out, which Gamecock can land the hardest hits?
“The hardest hitter? We got a lot of guys that hit hard. We got (sophomore defensive back) R.J. Roderick, he hit hard. T.J. Brunson can hit. It’s a lot of dudes we got,” Wonnum said.
Roderick and Brunson also got votes from sophomore corner Jaycee Horn.
“I’d give it to R.J. As y’all have seen, he can lay the boom real good. But T.J. is definitely in there too, because T.J. plays real fast, blitzes those gaps real fast, so it’s a toss up between him and R.J.,” Horn said.
Horn himself got a mention from fellow sophomore corner Israel Mukuamu.
“We got a couple — D.J., T.J., (Javon Kinlaw, Keir Thomas). We got a couple. In the secondary? R.J. hit pretty hard, Jaycee hit pretty hard,” Horn said.
The number of hard hitters that USC has was echoed by Brunson.
“I think everybody’s coming to take somebody’s head off this year,” Brunson said.
On the other side of the ball, redshirt junior offensive lineman Sadarius Hutcherson presents one of the biggest challenges for defensive players in practice, Brunson and Smith agreed.
“Hutch, he’s so strong, he’s a guy you have to watch out for,” Brunson said.
As for skill players?
“Mon Denson,” Horn said. “You better have your pads when he’s coming around that corner. Shi Smith also has some dog in him.”
