State of the DBs: South Carolina secondary faces rebuild after exodus
In just a few days, South Carolina football will kick off what should be one of the most hotly anticipated spring practice seasons in recent memory. The Gamecocks have a new head coach in Shane Beamer and are coming off back-to-back eight-loss seasons, and fans are eager to see how Beamer’s return to USC starts. Spring practice begins Saturday for the Gamecocks, with the spring game on April 24.
While the quarterback battle will probably get most of the attention over the next several months, the secondary might be the most critical position for Shane Beamer and new defensive coordinator Clayton White to address.
The Gamecocks have lost a pair of All-SEC performers in Israel Mukuamu and Jaycee Horn, and even with them, they struggled in 2020 to the tune of 97th nationally in passing yards and passing touchdowns allowed per game and 116th in completion percentage against.
THE PLAYERS
▪ Marcellas Dial, redshirt sophomore, 6-foot, 190 pounds: 10 tackles, 1 interception, 5 passes defended, 1 fumble recovery in 2019 at Georgia Military College
▪ Jaylin Dickerson, redshirt junior, 6-1, 190: 20 tackles, 1.5 for loss, 0.5 sacks, 1 interception in 2020
▪ O’Donnell Fortune, redshirt freshman, 6-1, 180: 3 tackles in 3 games in 2020
▪ Jaylan Foster, redshirt senior, 5-10, 190: 43 tackles, 2 for loss in 2020
▪ Joey Hunter, redshirt freshman, 6-foot, 200: Played four games, recorded no statistics in 2020
▪ Dominick Hill, sophomore, 6-foot, 200: Played five games, recorded no statistics in 2020
▪ R.J. Roderick, senior, 6-foot, 205: 23 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 pass defended in 2020
▪ Darius Rush, redshirt junior, 6-foot-2, 195 pounds: 8 tackles in 8 games in 2020
▪ Cam Smith, redshirt sophomore, 6-foot, 187: 16 tackles, 2 interceptions, 2 passes defended in 2020
▪ David Spaulding, redshirt sophomore, 6-foot-1, 190: 7 tackles, 1 interception returned 28 yards for 1 touchdown in four games in 2020 at Georgia Southern
THE COACH — TORRIAN GRAY IN, T-ROB OUT
Will Muschamp and his defensive coordinator, Travaris Robinson, are gone. And T-Rob’s place is a face familiar to both Gamecock fans and Beamer: Torrian Gray. Gray spent the last two seasons at Florida, coaching against Carolina in the SEC. He also spent a decade at Virginia Tech under Beamer’s father, Frank, and the two overlapped on the staff for part of that time.
Gray is known to be a fierce, talented recruiter. On top of that, he’s worked with some elite defensive backs in his career: former Gamecock star DJ Swearinger, Kam Chancellor, Brandon Flowers and most recently, top-10 draft pick C.J. Henderson.
He’ll have his hands full trying to build up a secondary short on proven options.
Who replaces Jaycee Horn and the USC departures?
It’s not just Horn and Mukuamu who are gone for the Gamecocks. Safeties Jammie Robinson and Shilo Sanders, plus cornerback John Dixon, all entered the transfer portal this offseason. Together, they accounted for five of the team’s eight interceptions last season, 16 of 23 passes defended and 166 of 279 tackles recorded by defensive backs.
There’s only one starter from last year’s opener left, senior safety R.J. Roderick, and he struggled mightily at times in coverage. Redshirt sophomore Cam Smith played poorly in that first game against Tennessee but bounced back to play solidly down the stretch. He seems likely to slide into a key role.
Beyond them, though, there are a lot of unknowns. No one else on the roster has recorded a pass breakup in SEC play.
Will anyone from the class of 2020 step up?
In 2017, 2018 and 2019, South Carolina signed at least one defensive back who went on to contribute right away as a freshman. That streak came to a close in 2020, as none of the three signees played more than five games and only one, O’Donnell Fortune, recorded any statistics.
All of those three-star prospects are back, and while their lack of production last season is understandable, especially given the impact COVID-19 had on the offseason program, the Gamecocks really need one to emerge this spring. It seems all but impossible one or two won’t wind up factoring into the rotation regardless.
Does a transfer step up for Gamecocks?
There will be no freshmen at the defensive back position for USC in spring practices, but there will be two transfers — JUCO product Marcellas Dial and former Georgia Southern player David Spaulding join the fold. Both players will have plenty of opportunities to shine, the Gamecocks don’t have enough depth for them not to.
But neither player is a guaranteed starter. Dial hasn’t played a game since 2019 because junior colleges didn’t play this past fall, and Spaulding only appeared in four games as a freshman for Georgia Southern. And there are more newcomers headed to Columbia this summer. FCS transfer Carlins Platel, Dial’s JUCO teammate Isaiah Norris and freshman La’Dareyen Craig all have yet to arrive but could wind up being impactful come the fall.
This story was originally published March 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
