South Carolina’s secondary, though banged up, is coming up clutch
South Carolina’s secondary is taking a beating.
The Gamecocks played eight different defensive backs in Saturday’s 38-27 win over Vanderbilt due to a confluence of injuries, departures and rotations.
How are Shane Beamer and his staff planning to rotate that group next weekend at Florida? We’ll see.
“We are rolling a lot of guys in there,” Beamer said on his Sunday teleconference. “But I think those guys continue to do a great job. Give (defensive backs coach) Torrian (Gray) credit, we’ve got guys back there that can play in multiple positions, and we’re going to have to down the stretch.”
South Carolina’s secondary projected to be — and for the most part has been — a strength of the defense in 2022. It returned starters in Cam Smith, Darius Rush, David Spaulding, Marcellas Dial and R.J. Roderick. Devonni Reed transferred in from Central Michigan. Freshmen Nick Emmanwori and DQ Smith also flashed in camp.
That’s amounted to a group ranked first in the Southeastern Conference in interceptions, first in passes defended and sixth in total pass defense, despite myriad injuries.
“Y’all see it can be scary,” Cam Smith said recently of the Gamecocks defense when fully healthy.
Saturday’s win over Vanderbilt was the thinnest the South Carolina secondary has been this fall. Roderick announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal three weeks ago. Spaulding is likely done for the season with a foot injury, Beamer told reporters postgame.
Emmanwori and Smith both left Saturday’s contest at varying points due to injury. As did safety B.J. Gibson, who was already starting in place of a banged-up Devonni Reed. Cornerback Cam Smith, too, came into the contest with an illness and missed time in the second half.
Injuries aside, the Gamecocks combined for two interceptions off Commodores quarterbacks Mike Wright and A.J. Swann — a pair that had combined to throw just three interceptions over its previous five games.
That fell in line with what’s become an increasingly impressive season from South Carolina’s secondary. The Gamecocks have seen opposing passers’ yards per attempt dip from 7 yards per throw in 2021 to 6.8 this year, while seeing almost four passes more per game this fall than a season ago.
“You don’t really see a ball caught over 10 yards, really not even over four or five,” Smith said of South Carolina’s recent effort defensively. “We’re just making sure we hone in on the details, things like that, and bringing our game every day.”
Beamer told reporters on Sunday the secondary came out of the Vanderbilt game mostly healthy sans Spaulding. Gibson, too, will undergo an MRI on his hamstring on Monday, though Beamer noted he wasn’t ready to classify his status yet.
“It’s November in the SEC,” Beamer said. “Your body’s not going to feel good. Do we have some guys that are banged up and not 100%? Sure. But don’t have anybody coming off the field from last night that we don’t feel good about.”
Florida hasn’t been as prolific a passing team as it has been in past years, but quarterback Anthony Richardson has had his moments. His running ability is what makes him go, though he has recorded three games with 240 yards or more passing.
Still, Richardson is completing only 55.9% of his passes — the second-worst mark in the SEC among quarterbacks who’ve played 75% of their team’s games and are averaging 15 or more throws per contest.
Beamer did make mention postgame the Gamecocks weren’t good enough tackling on Saturday. The South Carolina defense combined for 12 missed tackles on the night, per Pro Football Focus, the most they’d missed in a game since Week 6 at Kentucky. Seven of those 12 came from players in the secondary.
“I’m sure Anthony Richardson at Florida is watching that game tonight and is excited about next week based on some of the things that that we saw,” Beamer said, only half-joking.
The Gamecocks secondary battled through Saturday’s win over Vanderbilt. Thin as it may be, don’t be surprised if they cause problems for Florida this coming week.
Next South Carolina game
Who: South Carolina at Florida
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published November 6, 2022 at 8:46 PM with the headline "South Carolina’s secondary, though banged up, is coming up clutch."
