Is one part of USC’s offense ready to be ‘the best’ of Will Muschamp era? He thinks so
Will Muschamp just came out and said it. No caveats or qualifiers for South Carolina’s football coach.
“This is our best offensive line we’ve had since we’ve been here,” Muschamp said last week in an interview with ESPN’s Mark Packer.
In the past four seasons, the Gamecocks front has grown from a high-end problem area into being at least somewhat solid in several areas. Last season, they kept Ryan Hilinski mostly upright, even after some early shuffling and with a high-end slate of opposing defensive fronts.
The year before they were more solid, aided by an explosive passing game and veteran quarterback.
But in those four years, short-yardage has been a consistent problem, and in the past two years, the team has struggled to generate the gains of 5 or more yards that keep teams ahead of the sticks.
So what changes? Some personnel, starting on the left side of the line.
“Jazston Turnetine came in and right now would be our starting left tackle,” Muschamp said. “He’s a very talented guy, a junior college player that’s come in and just done a fantastic job. We were able to move Sadarius Hutcherson back to his most natural position, which is guard, because he’s a guy that can really get good movement inside.”
Turnetine needed just five practices to show his skills, and Hutcherson already has 29 starts under his belt across three seasons.
The coach mentioned Hank Manos and Eric Douglas as players fighting it out for the center spot, and at other points mentioned 2019 starting guard Jovaughn Gwyn as an option to slide in there as well.
And then there’s some other returning experience as well.
“Jordan Rhodes played a lot of guard for us last year,” Muschamp said. “He’s got a lot of starting experience. Because of some injuries last year, we had Jakai Moore and Jaylen Nichols both start as true freshmen at offensive tackle in the Southeastern Conference.
“Then we got Dylan Wonnum back, who was a freshman All-American all right tackle.”
The question of if Moore or Nichols can push Wonnum or Turnetine won’t be answered until August, but it gives the group an unusual level of depth at a key position.
If the group can return to the level of say the 2014 squad, it would likely help out freshman tailback MarShawn Lloyd, who might well be a starter in Year 1 on campus and make things easier for an offense that will need to develop playmakers on the fly.
With some of the more modern offenses, the value of a high-end offensive line is slipping a bit. But with new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s scheme that has pro-style elements, the raw pieces and the continuity of line coach Eric Wolford’s presence can only help.
“The depth and the athleticism and all the things that we think are there to have a really good offensive line,” Muschamp said.
