Not everything is settled for Gamecocks. These are 3 position battles to watch closely
South Carolina football is back — almost.
The Gamecocks begin Year 2 under Shane Beamer on Friday with the opening of fall camp. Expectations are high in and around Columbia as an influx of talent over the offseason has USC thinking it can take a step forward in 2022.
But things aren’t completely settled on South Carolina’s roster yet. Here’s a look at a handful of position battles to watch over the next few weeks:
Running back
ZaQuandre White and Kevin Harris are off to the NFL. That leaves South Carolina needing to replace its top two rushers from a season ago.
MarShawn Lloyd should be, at the bare minimum, in the mix. Lloyd was a borderline five-star recruit coming out of Maryland powerhouse DeMatha in the class of 2020, but a torn ACL his first fall camp ended his debut campaign before it began. Beamer has said Lloyd was healthy in 2021, but there was still some trepidation in his game coming off the knee injury.
That should change this fall.
At his best, Lloyd is an every-down back who runs with the force of a Mack truck and a shiftiness of a rattlesnake. He showed that ability in spurts last season, but he’ll have to do it more consistently to hold down the No. 1 slot.
The main competition for Lloyd will come via Wake Forest transfer Christian Beal-Smith. The North Carolina native led the Demon Deacons in rushing each of the last two years — including when he shared the backfield with eventual Heisman contender Kenneth Walker III.
Beal-Smith is an older guy with some tread on his tires. He’ll take some adjustment getting used to the speed of the Southeastern Conference, but the learning curve shouldn’t be steep.
Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield has said he’d like to have one main back, as opposed to rotating two or three guys like he did in 2021. That said, he’s got options between Lloyd and Beal-Smith, and it’s hard to imagine both guys don’t get their share of carries.
Nickel/Cornerback
This isn’t so much a battle as it’s a wait and see what South Carolina is going to do with Cam Smith.
The projected first-round NFL Draft pick has spent the bulk of his career in Columbia at cornerback, but Beamer and the defensive staff have spent ample time over the offseason cross-training Smith at nickel. Some of that has to do with helping him evolve ahead of next year’s draft. It also allows him versatility to line up all over the formation.
Depending on how much nickel Smith does play this year, that opens some avenues for a few other names to get involved there and at cornerback. Darius Rush should hold down the fort on the opposite corner spot, while David Spaulding is a likely candidate to play the nickel when Smith isn’t.
Isaiah Norris, O’Donnell Fortune and Marcellas Dial all saw plenty of time a season ago. They’ll almost assuredly factor in at cornerback again in 2022, but how much, again, relies heavily on when and where Smith ends up playing on a given down.
Kicker
Parker White is gone and that leaves massive shoes to fill on South Carolina’s special teams unit.
White concluded his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer. Alex Herrera and Mitch Jeter won’t necessarily be asked to do that, but they’ll need to be efficient.
Herrera handled kickoff duties for a portion of last season and should have every opportunity to flash the booming leg that helped him average 59 yards per kick on his nine kickoffs against East Carolina, Troy, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.
Jeter handled the bulk of kickoff responsibilities last season, booting 53 of South Carolina’s 65 kickoffs. Of those, 23 went for touchbacks and he averaged 63 yards per kick. Jeter also made a pair of extra points against Eastern Illinois in the 2021 season opener.
Beamer hasn’t revealed too much as far as when the kicking situation will be settled, but this is one that needs to be resolved sooner than later.
This story was originally published August 4, 2022 at 8:50 AM.
