‘Still a work in progress.’ South Carolina’s O-line struggles evident against UNC
Spencer Rattler isn’t ready to give up on his offensive line after one bad performance.
The South Carolina quarterback was under duress for much of the night in the Gamecocks’ season-opening 31-17 loss to North Carolina. The Tar Heels sacked Rattler nine times and put pressure on him the rest of the game.
The nine sacks were the most by UNC since the NCAA began officially tracking sacks as a statistic in 2000. The Tar Heels had 10 against Wake Forest in 2000.
North Carolina had 17 total sacks all of last season.
“Few of those will be on me, but we will clean some stuff up, up front, and figure that out,” Rattler said. “It is still a work in progress. You can get upset, but those guys were in a tough position. They work their butts off and they are up there trying.”
South Carolina allowed 31 sacks across 13 games in 2022 in a year in which the offensive line was much maligned. Arkansas (six sacks) had the most of any opponent last year.
USC coming into 2023 had a lot of news questions surrounding its line. The Gamecocks had just two starters back in Vershon Lee and Jakai Moore. Veteran starter Jaylen Nichols was hurt in the spring game and is likely to miss much of the season.
On Saturday, starting tackle Cason Henry was injured in the first series against the Tar Heels and didn’t return. Tyshawn Wannamaker replaced Henry, and head coach Shane Beamer didn’t elaborate on how much time he might miss.
The Gamecocks were relying on several transfers up front, including Yale’s Nick Gargiulo, Western Illinois transfer Sidney Fugar and Charlotte’s Jaxon Hughes.
While those guys have experience, they haven’t routinely gone up against the talent and the atmosphere they faced Saturday night.
“We are young and inexperienced up there, but we are what we are,” Beamer said. “The young guys have got to grow up in a hurry and get better. It is not just the offensive line. It is the tight ends. It is all of us.”
Beamer also shouldered some of the blame for the performance. He also said he isn’t going to panic and trusts that one bad performance won’t set the tone for the rest of the season.
“We have to be able to protect than we we did,” he said. “... We are inexperienced up there, but that is no excuse. All those guys will get better. They have to, they will.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
