The Gamecocks will look different going into 2020. But how much?
The long march of South Carolina’s 2019 football season is over, a 1-5 slide at the end leading to a 4-8 finish.
And now a season of change descends on the Gamecocks. What kind of change is unclear.
Simply put, SEC teams that go 4-8 have to make some kind of shift. Just have to. Especially when that 4-8 team has a roster Will Muschamp said was his best since arriving on campus.
So what might we see?
South Carolina school president Robert Caslen and athletic director Ray Tanner have said Muschamp will be back. The possible $19 million bill for a contract buyout will almost assuredly not be paid, unless something drastically changes. A few other spots where change will or could come:
▪ Offensive coordinator: Bryan McClendon’s second season leading this unit produced a miserable offensive output, and there’s no way around that. At times there seemed to be some push and pull about establishing the run and how much to throw. In some spots, he might be able to hold on, but with how everything has gone it would be a surprise to not see a shift.
▪ The rest of the staff: Even the most stable staffs usually have one or two changes. If there’s a change at the top of the offense, quarterback coach Dan Werner could be in flux if a replacement OC is a QB guy. If Jake Bentley opts to move on, that could affect Bobby Bentley’s plans to stay in Columbia. There’s always some opportunity that comes up.
▪ Training questions: To blame the spate of injuries on the strength and conditioning staff might be oversimplifying. Football is violent. Limbs get damaged. But a coach in a tough spot might well make this kind of change — not as much because one can build a direct link to the injury woes across two seasons, but because change often just follows.
▪ The Jake Bentley question: The veteran has a chance to come back. He could return, battle Ryan Hilinski, Dakereon Joyner and Luke Doty in 2020. But chances are he moves on as well, either as a grad transfer or to the NFL. He was the barometer for much of the Muschamp era, right up until this year when he struggled in the opening upset and then missed the rest of the season after an injury.
▪ Changing of the guard: The seniors departing South Carolina have meant a lot to the level of success USC had in years 1 and 2, and to a degree in Year 3. USC will be out a first-round draft pick in Javon Kinlaw, a steady lineman in Donell Stanley, the most productive receiver in school history in Bryan Edwards, its top two rushers in Rico Dowdle and Tavien Feaster and a good linebacker in T.J. Brunson. In short, a lot of good players will be leaving the building.
USC’s schedule only gets mildly easier. A trip to LSU replaces Alabama. The non-conference schedule is lighter across the three non-Clemson games.
But it will likely be a put-up-or-shut-up campaign, one where Muschamp will need to at least give the sense of stabilizing. The team he’ll go into the season with? It’s highly unclear what that will look like.
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 6:40 PM.
