From QB to Gamecocks defensive starter, the next steps RJ Roderick wants this year
Defensive back is an unforgiving spot on the field. If a quarterback makes a play, that’s a loss. In modern college football, quarterbacks make a lot of plays, and a defender can’t dwell on them.
Getting used to that is what South Carolina defensive back R.J. Roderick had to get used to.
It wasn’t but a few years ago Roderick was taking snaps and occasionally throwing passes. An option quarterback for Cane Bay High School, he was tabbed by South Carolina’s football staff as a future safety and thrown into the fire as a freshman. He spent all of last season as a starter, the team’s most consistent full-time safety, but also a player who was hunting for consistency.
“Always having that play-the-next-play mentality,” Roderick said. “Being young, mistakes are going to be made. Sometimes, I had some busts, but just being able to stay composed, being able to move on and play that next play was a big focus for me.”
Last season, Roderick piled up 55 tackles with two interceptions and three pass breakups. He delivered some big hits, but at times got picked on when opponents could isolate high-end receivers on him in coverage (the Gamecocks caught more than a few future NFL players at that spot on the schedule).
This season will feature some of last year’s look. He’s still playing alongside Jammie Robinson in the team’s base four-defensive back look and still watching Robinson slide down to nickel when the team needs more DBs and pairing with someone else.
But an extra season removed from quarterback has Roderick a little more at ease in his role.
“I’m very comfortable,” Roderick said. “I just love playing safety. I love being on defense, rotating around.
“I’ve just really grown into it, and so just learning more stuff now, like enhancing things that I know, like whether it be the front, stunts anything like that, anything that I could learn.”
Roderick is also working himself in at the dime linebacker spot, a role that comes into play when the team goes with six defensive backs. South Carolina hasn’t often had the personnel to play that way in the Muschamp era, but it allows him to cover like a DB with a bit more physicality if he’s pulled into the box.
Roderick said that at the moment, when Robinson drops down, Shilo Sanders had been the next man up in that rotation. That role had been held by Israel Mukuamu and Jaylin Dickerson at various points.
This year, much like the last one, Roderick will be counted on as an anchor, along with Robinson, Mukuamu and Jaycee Horn.
And of late, Roderick has showed his coaches a level of detail and understanding of the defense..
“He’s showing signs of maturity,” Gamecocks defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson said. “I think that’s one of the big things that R.J. has really strived on, and really worked on this offseason, moving forward now as we get towards the season.”
