South Carolina’s retooled secondary taking shape. JUCO transfer could play key role
Marcellas Dial wants to be the one his coaches can trust.
Dial, a junior college transfer at cornerback, joined the Gamecocks in January. The transition from Georgia Military College to South Carolina wasn’t seamless.
His first spring in Columbia was rough, he admitted, as he was challenged to learn the playbook and keep the game from going too fast for him. Dial ran with the second-team defense and took his time to learn.
Everything finally clicked for Dial in early August on the first day of fall camp.
“I don’t want (defensive backs coach Torrian Gray) to feel like he doesn’t have somebody in the secondary (and) at the corner position that he can trust in,” Dial said. “I wanted to be that.”
South Carolina’s defensive backfield has dealt with attrition since last season. Top-performing cornerback Jaycee Horn was selected by the Carolina Panthers with the 2021 NFL Draft’s eighth overall pick, and Israel Mukuamu went to the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round. The Gamecocks also lost three defensive backs (Jammie Robinson, Shilo Sanders and John Dixon) to the transfer portal.
Cam Smith, who stepped up at corner late in 2020 and was favored to earn a starting spot this year, has been limited throughout the fall after a cracked bone in his left foot required surgery. Karon Prunty, a transfer cornerback from Kansas, went back into the transfer portal within the first week of South Carolina’s preseason.
Dial said he felt the need to be “on his A-game” as soon as practice started. Dial worked at first-team corner along with redshirt junior Darius Rush throughout the preseason, he said. He expects to be called to play come Sept. 4, when South Carolina plays its first game against Eastern Illinois.
“I would say I earned that spot,” Dial said. “I’ve been playing like I want it. I’ve been earning it. I’ve been doing good, and I plan to keep it.”
Coaches have touted Dial’s improvement since the Gamecocks started preseason practice. Head coach Shane Beamer, positive but realistic about the state of the secondary after South Carolina’s first fall scrimmage, heralded Dial as a standout.
“Marcellas Dial may be the most impressive guy that we’ve had on our defense this entire preseason camp,” Beamer said after the first scrimmage Aug. 14. “(We’re) so glad we got him. He’s been really, really, really, really good for us on the back end.”
Dial is a 6-foot, 190-pound redshirt sophomore who hasn’t played an on-field snap since 2019, given Georgia Military College didn’t play a fall season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When he entered the transfer portal, Dial was rated the No. 7 junior college corner and No. 51 overall JUCO prospect. He’s originally from Woodruff High School in South Carolina.
A newcomer counting down the days before his first Division I football appearance, Dial has plenty of confidence in himself and in his place in defensive coordinator Clayton White’s 4-2-5 scheme.
“I’m a physical, fast, big corner that can come up and hit,” Dial said. “In zones, I can make plays. In man coverage, I’m a really good man coverage corner. I can play on an island by myself and make those 50-50 balls. I feel like I bring a lot to the table.”
White has seen what he needs from Dial. He recalled watching Dial have a tough time defending wide receiver Jalen Brooks at one practice, where his biggest takeaway was Dial’s comeback attitude.
“He has a great understanding of (the) next-play mentality at corner,” White said. “You got to be kind of forgetful, understand that you have good plays and bad plays, and he has that in his repertoire. I think that’s gonna make him a good player. He’s so young, and he’s mentally tough.”
White said his gameday philosophy involves rotating players who earned their time in training camp. The first game isn’t the time to turn it on — if you didn’t have a good camp, chances are you won’t be seeing the field on Saturday.
“It’s all about trust,” White said. “The most trusted guys will be the ones that play.”
With the development Dial made throughout fall camp, there’s a solid chance he’ll be one of those trusted guys come Sept. 4.
