How a vital part of the South Carolina Gamecocks’ defense is settling into place
There’s long been a challenge for South Carolina football in stretching the talent back there.
The Gamecocks secondary in the Will Muschamp era has often been a few players trying to hold it down, playing every snap, trying to ensure that all four or five spots feature somewhat reliable players in coverage. And reaching that point hasn’t always come to pass.
The team is still working through preseason camp. It has Jaycee Horn, Israel Mukuamu and Jammie Robinson as extremely reliable anchors, but it’s going to have to play at least four, usually five, guys. And that means some questions.
“We’re continuing to work through that, who will be the nickel? Who’s at safety?” USC coach Will Muschamp said. “Who moves inside? Who stays at corner? Those are all things we’re still working through as we continue to work through those combinations.”
As the team works through, Muschamp gave an accounting of where some of the other talents stand through the first few weeks of camp.
▪ Safety R.J. Roderick, a starter last year, is still working on his consistency: “RJ has had a solid camp, has continued to improve throughout camp.”
▪ Second-year corners Cam Smith and John Dixon: “I thought both guys at times did some nice things and there’s some things we need to improve on. So, we put those guys in a lot of situations where they had some opportunities to make plays and they did some things well.”
▪ Redshirt freshman Shilo Sanders: “Shilo Sanders had one of his better practices Saturday night. His effort on special teams is outstanding. His effort on defense was outstanding. We had cleaned some things up but, again, continues to produce.”
▪ Safety Jaylin Dickerson, who missed two of the past three seasons: “Jaylin Dickerson’s done some nice things. We got to continue to get him healthy a little bit. Had a little bit of a hamstring.”
▪ Freshman corner Joey Hunter: “A young player I thought came on and did some nice things.”
▪ Freshman O’Donnell Fortune: “Moved back and forth from corner to safety. Had some runs come out on him and made a tackle, every single tackle in the open field. Stuck his face in the fan and in really, really fit.”
▪ Redshirt sophomore wide receiver-turned-corner Darius Rush: “A guy that’s done a nice really nice job as a missile on punt for us, can really run on the top end. He registers over 20 miles an hour every time we practice when he’s on the catapult system. But a guy that certainly can help us at the corner position.”
