What could be holding back young Gamecocks receivers from getting more snaps
During several of this year’s episodes of the call-in show he’s a part of, South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp likes to mention a player that he thinks might get a chance to catch a few more balls.
He’s mentioned wide receiver Ger-Cari Caldwell and tight end Eric Shaw as players who could be set for bigger roles and more opportunities. And after those comments, each player was in the low single digits for total snaps.
He mentioned Caldwell before the Auburn game, and again Tuesday. Down the line, perhaps he’ll have that moment. The Gamecocks are already thin at receiver behind Shi Smith, and the receptions are mostly concentrated with Smith, senior tight end Nick Muse and the top two running backs.
Why aren’t the young guys getting more work?
“Especially when you deal with young players, all of a sudden Tuesday practice is pretty good and then Wednesday they hit the wall,” Muschamp said. “And it creates less confidence for the coaching staff, even on a Thursday practice or a Friday walkthrough. So I’m sitting here on Tuesday, may say ‘Hey, so-and-so’s looking really good,’ and then all of a sudden Friday, they have 14 busts in the walkthrough. Well they’re not gonna play.
“Sometimes there’s a mixed message being delivered because I say on a Tuesday practice, our plan is for so-and-so to get more snaps and for so-and-so to do this, for so-and-so to do that. And then they’ll don’t practice very well.”
Muschamp made a point of saying he wasn’t referencing anyone specific on the team.
Coming into the season, the staff felt it had a top-five at wide receiver of Smith, Xavier Legette, Dakereon Joyner, Rico Powers and Luke Doty, with Josh Vann and Caldwell behind them. At tight end, they had Muse, with KeShawn Toney and Will Register behind him, plus former receiver Keveon Mullins developing after a position change. Shaw and Jaheim Bell both battled injuries in camp.
How things have shaken out is Smith has gotten far and away the most reps, with Joyner, Legette, Vann in the next group with some ups and downs. Power’s snaps have fluctuated wildly. Doty has hardly played. Walk-on Trey Adkins has played more snaps in one game than Doty and Caldwell have together.
At tight end, Mullins has emerged as a lightly used No. 2, with Register and former lineman Chandler Farrell receiving a smattering of snaps behind them.
Some teams will just roll their receivers if that’s all they have, and it’s more a matter of getting play-makers out on the field than anything else. The Gamecocks don’t have much in the way of proven play-makers, which suggests the unproven ones might benefit from being forced to sink or swim, but Muschamp said if they don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing, the upside of playing them is somewhat limited.
“It’s different, I think, when it’s an older player and they’ve done it under the lights and they’ve done it on the road they’ve done it at Williams-Brice Stadium,” Muschamp said. “And maybe they had a couple mishaps here and there, but it’s a lot easier for a coach to swallow, as opposed to having a very young player who has 14 busted assignments and can’t get lined up on a Friday walkthrough.”
