Gamecocks’ McClendon: Some true freshman WRs will have to play

SALUDA — At a certain point, it’s just basic math.

The South Carolina football team exited spring with a wide receivers depth chart short on proven players. The team is bringing in five true freshmen, including early enrollee Bryan Edwards, who is already listed as a first-teamer at one spot.

So when South Carolina wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon was asked if the staff expected to rely on some of those first-year players, he didn’t hold back.

“You have to,” McClendon said Thursday before addressing the Saluda Gamecock Club. “You have to go in there and you’ve got to give those guys opportunities to show you that they’re ready or that they’re not.”

Beyond Edwards, South Carolina signed Kiel Pollard, Randrecous Davis, Korey Banks and Chavis Dawkins. Although those outside programs tend to overstate the potential impact of newcomers, the returning group is rather threadbare.

Deebo Samuel, who was hurt most of last season, is listed as one starter, with Terry Googer, the only other scholarship receiver who has taken college snaps at the position, backing him up. On the other side is Edwards, who should still be in high school, and Javon Charleston, a redshirt freshman walk-on.

The one listed slot receiver, Jamari Smith, only found a home at the position in the spring.

Of nine receivers listed on the roster at the end of the spring, three had ever seen in-game snaps at the position.

“Obviously we’re going to have to depend on a few of these guys early,” McClendon said. “Just off sheer numbers-wise we are. ... You’ve got to make sure that those guys are caught up on everything as much as you can possibly do this summer.”

McClendon said it’s too hard to identify those players before they step foot on the practice field and start going through drills.

Although many of them have been coached by Gamecock staffers at camps, evaluated on film and seen by many on the recruiting trail, that can give false impressions about who is ready to handle playing time early.

“Certain guys get tabbed as those guys when they shouldn’t be,” McClendon said. “And certain guys don’t get tabbed as those guys when they should, just by who went to camp where.

“It’s hard to say, but you won’t really know until you get guys in here and see how much they put it all together.”

Notes

▪  McClendon said the biggest lesson from a short stint as interim head coach at Georgia was how much non-football work he took on. He mentioned talking to the parents of a suspended player, scheduling upcoming days and then having a secretary call repeatedly to ask about the color of napkins for a dinner.

“The kids are the easy part of coaching. Dealing with adults, it sometimes makes you want to slap somebody,” McClendon said, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

▪  The wide receiver coach is looking forward to the completion of South Carolina’s $50 million football complex because it will centralize operations. Right now the locker rooms and coaches offices are across Gamecock park from the indoor facility, prompting a large caravan of players and coaches each practice.

“The biggest thing we want is efficiency when we’re doing stuff,” McClendon said.

▪  McClendon said he and co-offensive coordinator Kurt Roper came up philosophically the same way in terms of offensive football.

▪  As he broke down the challenge of finding more play-making receivers, McClendon said the No. 1 thing that separates pass coverage is the ability to consistently beat one-on-one, man-to-man coverage.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 9:27 AM.