Spring game confirms the Gamecocks are a work in progress — and that’s OK
Football practices show truths — and they also contain fibs. Spring games are, at their heart, dressed-up practices.
Divining much from a spring game such as South Carolina’s on Sunday is tricky, to say the least. Offensive success means defensive failure. Even when a roster is in better shape than the Gamecocks’ is right now, the lack of summer enrollees means the walk-ons are in early.
In the past half-decade or so, fans saw Connor Mitch and Brandon McIlwain duke it out at quarterback in the spring game. They watched Kiel Pollard go big as a sophomore, but still have to wait another year for his regular-season turn. They saw Ty’Son Williams go big twice and Jake Bentley hardly play at all one year.
Spring games, by nature, are shows — for fans, for recruits, for anyone else watching. Coach Shane Beamer disagreed with that, however, as a pure assessment.
“We needed to get better,” Beamer said. “I don’t want to come out here and turn it into a spring festival or spring carnival. We’ve got way too much work to do. We didn’t need to waste our 15th practice on a county fair of competitions.”
The Gamecocks came in a work in progress. They leave the same way. But give credit to the new staff: They and the team put on a show Sunday that was interesting in certain ways.
Five years ago, Will Muschamp’s offense didn’t deploy a new base offensive concept in a spring game, in part to avoid potential injuries. On Sunday, versatile tight end Jaheim Bell, who was limited last year with injuries, worked Sunday at not one but two new positions: fullback and tailback.
Running back ZaQuandre White showed off high-end pop. Ball security issues left him an ace special-teamer last year, but he could end up making a backfield with MarShawn Lloyd and Kevin Harris (and maybe Bell?) more crowded.
We saw the tradition again of huddling, something the Gamecocks had not done for years before last season. We saw quarterback Jason Brown have a nice drive against the second unit of an already knife’s-edge-thin defense, plus some good red zone work — the sort of things that might stick in the minds of fans more than they should.
On a day where the team needed to show nothing, Beamer and his staff showed a little something Sunday. Was it a meaningful sort of something? That won’t be answered until September.
Beamer himself said lining Bell up in different spots put a bit more on tape for USC’s first few opponents to see. He joked he handed the ball off to anyone he could, given that he had only one scholarship back available.
In the end, the reality of the Gamecocks being a work in progress remains. As much as the run game showed pop Sunday, that means the rush defense was not where it needed to be. Arguably the two best offensive player South Carolina has — Lloyd and Harris, both tailbacks — were not even playing. The defense was missing all sorts of folks, still playing mix-and-match at linebacker and short enough bodies at defensive back.
The group that took the field Sunday would likely have a lot of trouble in SEC play, but that’s the beauty of it. The team doesn’t actually have to play real, live football until Sept. 4.
It’s going to have a few more bodies. And frankly, every player is going to have a few more months under their belts.
What they do with those months is up to them. A few months don’t often change too much, but sometimes a player can put in the work and make that leap to something better.
Beamer’s Gamecocks will need everyone they can to chip in during Year 1. Snaps will be available, assuming someone puts in the work to snatch any number of jobs that should be up for grabs.
Down the road when things get real, Sunday’s action in Williams-Brice might prove to be a look at some truths about what this Gamecocks team is, or can be.
For now, and for the months ahead, it was just a glimpse and a bit of a show. A warm Columbia afternoon with some football activities showed the larger fan base something — but what? That bigger picture won’t reveal itself for a while.
USC spring game scoring plays, player stats
Note: South Carolina held a single half of scrimmage work Sunday
- ZaQuandre White 1 yd run (Parker White kick)
- Mitch Jeter 47 yd field goal
- Jaheim Bell 2 yd run (Parker White kick)
- E.J. Jenkins 11 yd pass from Jason Brown (Mitch Jeter kick)
RUSHING — White 14-95, Harris-Waynick 8-33, Bell 7-42
PASSING — Doty 5-7 for 54 yards, Brown 3-5 for 47 yards and a TD, Gauthier 1-3 for 3 yards, Jordan 0-1 for 0 yards
RECEIVING — Joyner 3-28, Caldwell 2-12, Mullens 1-27, White 1-19, Jenkins 1-11 and a TD, Bell 1-7
TACKLES — Fortune 6, Staley 5, Williams 4, Enagbare 3
SACKS — Enabgare 2, T Johnson 1
SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL 2021 SCHEDULE
- Sept. 4 - vs. Eastern Illinois
- Sept. 11 - at East Carolina
- Sept. 18 - at Georgia
- Sept. 25 - vs. Kentucky
- Oct. 2 - vs. Troy
- Oct. 9 - at Tennessee
- Oct. 16 - vs. Vanderbilt
- Oct. 23 - at Texas A&M
- Oct. 30 - BYE
- Nov. 6 - vs. Florida
- Nov. 13 - at Missouri
- Nov. 20 - vs. Auburn
- Nov. 27 - vs. Clemson
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Spring game confirms the Gamecocks are a work in progress — and that’s OK."