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South Carolina Spring Game Recap
By Tim Cox from Cox Talking Gamecocks
College football is just the best. During the fall, our whole lives revolve around it. We
plan weddings around the schedule (or avoid it entirely) and we live and die with each snap. In
the spring though, all we get is practice. And, of course, the spring game. The Gamecocks and
Shane Beamer have done a fantastic job of making the annual Garnet and Black game more
than just a scrimmage, but rather a whole weekend of events capped off by postgame fireworks.
I also absolutely love that our spring game is at night too. So, now that the dust has settled and
reality has set in that we are on a football hiatus for the next few months, let’s sort out what we
all saw the other night.
Vanilla ice cream. That’s at least how coaches often describe what they do in these sorts
of games. I guess the idea being you don’t want to show too much on film, try anything too risky,
or potentially thwart any progress that has been mad. And, for the most part, we certainly got
handed a vanilla sundae. However, there was still plenty to take away from this showing from
the Gamecocks.
Offensively, all eyes were on LaNorris Sellers, the presumptive QB1 and I thought he
looked as solid as you could expect. He missed on a couple of throws, and I bet he wishes he
reacted sooner to his throw to the endzone (broken up by Nick Emmanwori) but he was in
command of the offense and he led his group down the field to put up points. His touchdown
scramble is the case and point of why Carolina fans are excited for the future. I thought the
running backs did a fine job despite having to share touches. The depth at the running back
position will be night and day compared to last year and a veteran group will be the perfect
safety blanket for a young QB. As for receiver, nobody jumped off the page for me. Tyshawn
Russell looked solid, Mazeo Bennett flashed especially as a freshman but I left the game with a
few more questions than answers. Expect the tight ends to play a major role in the passing
game.
Defensively, I felt there was a lot to like. I’ve told myself that this unit has every reason to
be the strength of the team and a much improved group, and boy did they look it. The defensive
front is deep, athletic, and smart. Keeping that core group (Boogie, Tonka, TJ, etc.) from last
year will pay massive dividends this season. Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart are set to
become problems for the SEC and the guys behind them are pretty dang good themselves. The
linebackers looked noticeably quicker and that group is set to only get better with a pair of
freshmen that this staff is bringing along. In the defensive backfield, the safeties looked prime to
continue to shine and I thought we saw some good things out of the other options at
cornerback. Vicari Swain is as advertised and very well could have had one or two more
interceptions than he had.
So, despite the game being a bit of a vanilla sundae, it was still a nice treat and I enjoyed it just like I would any other sundae. We have legitimate reason to be excited for this upcoming season, but I think we can also expect this staff to navigate the transfer portal window deliberately to fill in some gaps because the team is certainly not a finished product. So now, the long hot summer of waiting begins.
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