Tall, speedy Gamecocks freshman will ‘get some opportunities’ vs Auburn this week
South Carolina’s football team has been looking for more wide receiver options around top target Shi Smith. They looked so far they ended up giving a walk-on the fourth-most snaps in last week’s win against Vanderbilt.
But Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said his offense could deploy one of its tallest players, a young guy with a high athletic ceiling, more often.
On his weekly call-in show, Muschamp said freshman Ger-Cari Caldwell will get some chances this week. The late-rising prospect out of Northwestern got a few snaps last week in his first game, and he could get some more.
“Ger-Cari Caldwell is gonna get some opportunities this week,” Muschamp said. “He’s a guy that continues to come on. In camp, caught a lot of 50-50 balls. challenged our guys defensively down the field.”
At 6-foot-5, Caldwell is the tallest receiver the Gamecocks have. In high school, he turned in a surprisingly quiet junior season, which dampened his recruiting, but he delivered more than 700 yards as a senior and started raising his profile.
He ultimately picked the Gamecocks ahead of Tennessee and Baylor. He was a presence in camp, but not necessarily a player who moved to the front of the group early on.
But the Gamecocks could use more targets. USC has relied heavily on top-target Shi Smith, with tight end Nick Muse also getting a lot of work. Xavier Legette came up a little banged up late against Vanderbilt, and the likes of Josh Vann Dakereon Joyner and freshmen Rico Powers and Luke Doty haven’t been highly consistent.
Powers was a star in camp, but after getting a lot of work against Florida, he saw his snaps drop dramatically against Vanderbilt. That said, Muschamp likes what he has in the explosive Powers and in what Caldwell might be able to do.
“He and Rico, both as freshmen, I’m really excited about the things that they bring,” Muschamp said.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 8:12 PM.
