‘It’s been a work in progress’: Former Gamecocks open up on 2021 South Carolina squad
Oct. 27, 2021
South Carolina is at a pivotal juncture. After floundering through Saturday’s 44-14 throttling at Texas A&M, USC heads into a bye week needing two wins in its final four games to reach bowl eligibility. With the campaign nearing a close and South Carolina sitting days away from a season-defining stretch, The State attempted to contact 35 former Gamecocks players to get their thoughts on this year’s team. Nine lent their voices to this piece.
The group includes eight offensive players and one defensive player who all played at South Carolina over the last 25 years. They are not identified by name to ensure they could speak freely.
Ben Portnoy: What do you make of South Carolina’s offense this year?
Player 2: “I’m really kind of confused, man, because, for one, I don’t feel like we have an identity. We’re not a running team. We’re not a passing team. We just don’t have an identity on offense. I don’t know if Kevin Harris is still hurt, but with the group of backs that we have, I feel like our running game should be a lot better than what it is. (Offensive line-wise), I’m not really sure. I talked to some former players that I played with and I asked their opinions on the (offensive line) play from what I see and they’re not real happy with it either. It’s a lot of little, easy blown assignments. It’s good to talk to former guys, because we all were out there. So we understand how it is to maybe miss an assignment here or there.”
Player 4: “My thing is, no matter how you feel about it, you’re getting paid millions of dollars a year to do a job, and that job isn’t working out. I don’t think you can take it personally if you have to make a change (at play-caller) and, at this stage, I don’t think that would be the most insane thing to do. Outside of the play-calling aspect, I like (offensive line coach Greg Adkins), everything I’ve heard about that guy is that he’s doing a great job and that he cares about the players. He’s trying to make them better. I think there’s some other (cog) that’s not working well with that system. But we’ve got a phenomenal talent level at the O-line (and) running back position. It just seems like there’s something that needs to be tweaked to make it great. But I don’t think that it’s a lack of caring, indifference, etc. — especially from what I’ve seen, and this is the thing that I am the most proud of as a player and as a fan. (FULL ARTICLE)
Oct. 27, 2021
South Carolina is at a pivotal juncture. After floundering through Saturday’s 44-14 throttling at Texas A&M, USC heads into a bye week needing two wins in its final four games to reach bowl eligibility. With the campaign nearing a close and South Carolina sitting days away from a season-defining stretch, The State attempted to contact 35 former Gamecocks players to get their thoughts on this year’s team. Nine lent their voices to this piece.
The group includes eight offensive players and one defensive player who all played at South Carolina over the last 25 years. They are not identified by name to ensure they could speak freely.
Ben Portnoy: What do you make of South Carolina’s offense this year?
Player 2: “I’m really kind of confused, man, because, for one, I don’t feel like we have an identity. We’re not a running team. We’re not a passing team. We just don’t have an identity on offense. I don’t know if Kevin Harris is still hurt, but with the group of backs that we have, I feel like our running game should be a lot better than what it is. (Offensive line-wise), I’m not really sure. I talked to some former players that I played with and I asked their opinions on the (offensive line) play from what I see and they’re not real happy with it either. It’s a lot of little, easy blown assignments. It’s good to talk to former guys, because we all were out there. So we understand how it is to maybe miss an assignment here or there.”
Player 4: “My thing is, no matter how you feel about it, you’re getting paid millions of dollars a year to do a job, and that job isn’t working out. I don’t think you can take it personally if you have to make a change (at play-caller) and, at this stage, I don’t think that would be the most insane thing to do. Outside of the play-calling aspect, I like (offensive line coach Greg Adkins), everything I’ve heard about that guy is that he’s doing a great job and that he cares about the players. He’s trying to make them better. I think there’s some other (cog) that’s not working well with that system. But we’ve got a phenomenal talent level at the O-line (and) running back position. It just seems like there’s something that needs to be tweaked to make it great. But I don’t think that it’s a lack of caring, indifference, etc. — especially from what I’ve seen, and this is the thing that I am the most proud of as a player and as a fan. (FULL ARTICLE)
