The No. 1 thing this new South Carolina coach looks for in future Gamecocks
It’s not something complex.
Rod Wilson will be tasked with finding new Gamecocks. The South Carolina linebackers coach, only a few months into his tenure, knows his home state well and has recruited it before.
When he has to identify potential talent at his position, there’s one prerequisite he looks for.
“Loving the game,” Wilson said. “You know, just the love of the game.”
Being big, strong and fast all matter, but it’s that extra juice that can put a player over the top.
That said, another non-physical trait also came in high on his list.
“You have to be intelligent,” Wilson said. “It’s a lot of stuff going into the system, calls you have to make, alignments you have to align into, adjustments and everything. So you want a guy that can retain all that information and be able to spit it right back out and play at the same time on the field.”
Wilson himself came up as a quarterback, so having a wider understanding of what’s happening on offense or defense was just part of his background. He’s inheriting a linebacker group led by Ernest Jones, whom coaches have praised for his intelligence when it comes to the game.
And Wilson pointed to a few other factors he looks for:
▪ Speed
▪ Toughness/not shying away from hits
▪ Playing with passion
▪ Coming downhill
▪ Flying around the field
The staff overall puts ability to diagnose calls, tackling in space and good feet as some of the top traits to look for in a linebacker.
South Carolina’s top two current commits, Bryce Steele and Trenilyas Tatum, are linebackers and top-375 recruits.
At the moment, Wilson isn’t able to get out and do any recruiting at all. The coronavirus pandemic has limited every college staff to virtual visits and Zoom calls.
He has ties to coaches in the state after a stint working at Charleston Southern. Combine that with being a Lowcountry product, and he at least wouldn’t have had to lay groundwork in this lost recruiting time.
“I developed a lot of good relationships before I left to go to the NFL,” Wilson said. “And a lot of them I reopened when I got back, and some of them, I maintained when I was gone. And from that standpoint, I maintained a lot of communication with those guys.”
He’s broken in a few new recruiting areas, but he still misses that in-person contact. This time of year, he should be coming off six weeks of road trips to evaluate and talk to coaches and people around prospects and heading into camp season, when coaches can work hands-on with players.
For the moment that’s not an option, and it’s something Wilson hopes can resume as it plays to his strengths.
“I’m a people person,” Wilson said. “I was raised up in the country and I’m used to going in front of you, shaking your hand, looking a man in the eye and say ‘How are you doing?’ because I believe that your body language says a lot about who you are.”
