Carolina secondary lacking depth but still promising for the 2019 season
April 01, 2019
Some of it is the nature of the position. There are a lot coming in each spring. In South Carolina’s case, none of the four recruits are yet on campus. But even so, USC is a bit stretched when it comes to scholarship players.
Yet the ones that are on campus are showing coach Will Muschamp a lot of progress.
“Those guys are playing really well,” Muschamp said. “(Israel Mukuamu) and Jaycee (Horn), Jaycee can play corner and nickel. To me, competitive edge is a talent. You like to compete. And R.J. (Roderick) I would throw in that category, those guys like to compete. They like to practice. They like to come out, practice and they like to compete. I’ve been very pleased with where they’ve come as far as the spring is concerned.”
That trio — Mukuamu, Horn and Roderick — were all thrown into the fire last fall at various points as true freshmen. If things go the way the staff seems to prefer, the first two would be South Carolina’s top two corners and Roderick would end up at nickel.
But at the moment, they represent nearly half of the eight true defensive backs the staff has available this spring, one of whom (Jamyest Williams) isn’t healthy.
Beyond those four, USC has Southern Cal transfer Jamel Cook, former grad transfer J.T. Ibe, third-year sophomore Jaylin Dickerson and redshirt freshmen Jonathan Gipson, all at safety.
“J.T. Ibe has had a very good spring,” Muschamp said. “J.T. continues to improve in his coverage, which is something we’ve worked on a lot as far as man coverage and situations. Jaylin Dickerson has done some nice things.”
Ibe missed the final nine games of last season, part of a rash of injuries that forced the freshmen in and knocked out Williams with five games to go. Muschamp said Williams has been kept out of contact but has done everything else in practice.
Perhaps USC’s biggest concern will be finding consistency at safety, especially if Roderick is to stay at nickel, where he started working this spring. Last fall, the Gamecocks threw every body they had at that position and still found themselves lacking.
South Carolina’s coaches haven’t been shy about relying on a core group, as Muschamp’s first two teams rarely went deeper than six players at five spots for long stretches. Horn and Mukuamu seem like good options on the outside and Horn or Roderick could end up in the slot.
But even with that reality, they’ll need at least one more option in the back end.
“We’ve got to be able to train one of the freshmen to be a dependable guy before our first ballgame,” Muschamp said.
Those candidates include four-star Cam Smith, John Dixon (a pure corner), Jammie Robinson (a safety or nickel) and Shilo Sanders (a bit of a wild card). USC has been working the players it has at multiple spots and likely will do the same with most of the newcomers.
The group will be looking for a bounce back after last fall’s injury-ravaged campaign. The group was in the top 30 in yards allowed per pass attempt against FBS opponents in 2016 and 2017, but fell to 54th in 2018 as the run defense also dropped off.
For now, South Carolina’s secondary is still working thoough, playing more walk-ons at more spots than one might like, but all the while, showing a little something.
“We may be numbers-wise thin, but we’ve got some quality players,” Muschamp said.
April 01, 2019
Some of it is the nature of the position. There are a lot coming in each spring. In South Carolina’s case, none of the four recruits are yet on campus. But even so, USC is a bit stretched when it comes to scholarship players.
Yet the ones that are on campus are showing coach Will Muschamp a lot of progress.
“Those guys are playing really well,” Muschamp said. “(Israel Mukuamu) and Jaycee (Horn), Jaycee can play corner and nickel. To me, competitive edge is a talent. You like to compete. And R.J. (Roderick) I would throw in that category, those guys like to compete. They like to practice. They like to come out, practice and they like to compete. I’ve been very pleased with where they’ve come as far as the spring is concerned.”
That trio — Mukuamu, Horn and Roderick — were all thrown into the fire last fall at various points as true freshmen. If things go the way the staff seems to prefer, the first two would be South Carolina’s top two corners and Roderick would end up at nickel.
But at the moment, they represent nearly half of the eight true defensive backs the staff has available this spring, one of whom (Jamyest Williams) isn’t healthy.
Beyond those four, USC has Southern Cal transfer Jamel Cook, former grad transfer J.T. Ibe, third-year sophomore Jaylin Dickerson and redshirt freshmen Jonathan Gipson, all at safety.
“J.T. Ibe has had a very good spring,” Muschamp said. “J.T. continues to improve in his coverage, which is something we’ve worked on a lot as far as man coverage and situations. Jaylin Dickerson has done some nice things.”
Ibe missed the final nine games of last season, part of a rash of injuries that forced the freshmen in and knocked out Williams with five games to go. Muschamp said Williams has been kept out of contact but has done everything else in practice.
Perhaps USC’s biggest concern will be finding consistency at safety, especially if Roderick is to stay at nickel, where he started working this spring. Last fall, the Gamecocks threw every body they had at that position and still found themselves lacking.
South Carolina’s coaches haven’t been shy about relying on a core group, as Muschamp’s first two teams rarely went deeper than six players at five spots for long stretches. Horn and Mukuamu seem like good options on the outside and Horn or Roderick could end up in the slot.
But even with that reality, they’ll need at least one more option in the back end.
“We’ve got to be able to train one of the freshmen to be a dependable guy before our first ballgame,” Muschamp said.
Those candidates include four-star Cam Smith, John Dixon (a pure corner), Jammie Robinson (a safety or nickel) and Shilo Sanders (a bit of a wild card). USC has been working the players it has at multiple spots and likely will do the same with most of the newcomers.
The group will be looking for a bounce back after last fall’s injury-ravaged campaign. The group was in the top 30 in yards allowed per pass attempt against FBS opponents in 2016 and 2017, but fell to 54th in 2018 as the run defense also dropped off.
For now, South Carolina’s secondary is still working thoough, playing more walk-ons at more spots than one might like, but all the while, showing a little something.
“We may be numbers-wise thin, but we’ve got some quality players,” Muschamp said.
