Gamecocks TEs Hayden Hurst, KC Crosby find fit in new USC attack
August 15, 2016
Hayden Hurst and K.C. Crosby had this in common.
In the contexts of last season's offense for South Carolina, neither could find a home. Hurst was tall and big but not much of a natural blocker, so he was shuttled from tight end to receiver. Crosby was shorter and quicker, but not that stout and heavy, so he ended up a blocking back in exotic formations.
One could imagine both worked tirelessly to fit the mold, but that's not this story. Instead, in the transition of a new coaching staff taking over, the offense came to them.
"Coach Roper asks a lot of his tight ends," Hurst said. "But that just gives me the confidence that he's got faith in me to ask me to do a lot. As far as formations, he has us moving all over the place. We're out wide. We're in the slot. We're your traditional hand on the ground tight ends. There are some times when we're even in the backfield."
The thing is, neither is really a traditional-hand-on-the-ground tight end. Crosby said he was pleased to be doing a whole lot less of that. He wanted to be flanked out, almost playing receiver and in space most of the time.
Now these players will be moving around formations, shifting before the snap, giving a hint to the quarterback what the defense is doing. They'll be out there catching passes, and both played receiver in high school so that helps.
But they'll also grow more vital in blocking, as new plays will have them sealing defensive ends to open a hole or rushing through as lead blockers.
"I've gotten used to the blocking," Hurst said. "I gotten a lot stronger. I busted my tail this summer because I knew that was kind of my weak point last year."
Head coach Will Muschamp pointed out his tight ends have to know more of the offense than most players.
Wide receivers just need to run their routes, catch balls and hopefully get in a defender's way when it comes time to block. The tight ends will be called upon to work in the run game, pass block and do everything they do catching passes.
"We need to know everything," Crosby said. "What the receiver does, what the running backs do, what everybody do. So it's putting a lot more pressure on us to learn the playbook so we'll be able to go fast."
They provide a level of versatility to go with that speed. An offense hurrying up wants to be able to show more things. When a player can approximate a tight end one play, receiver the next and fullback the next, a defense has to hope it has a defender athletic enough to match.
"They're very hard guys, I would say, for a defense to count," Muschamp said. "Are they a tight end? Are they a C-area player? Are they a flex guy? Are they an off the ball guy."
Although Jerell Adams posted a good season in 2015, he was mostly used as that hand-on-the-ground type or split wide as a receiver.
Hurst, a 22-year-old former minor league baseball player, counts Crosby as one of his best friends on the team. The position group as a whole is close, and they try to be in the same workout group through the offseason.
It's a group Hurst had left for a while, when the staff moved him to receiver, but he's rejoined. The rest include some of those players more prone to block, a seasoned walk-on in Jacob August and even true freshman Kiel Pollard, who came in as a receiver with an unusual build (shorter and thick) and joined up.
But it was Hurst and Crosby who both wandered without and exact spot and suddenly in a new order have their place.
"I feel like I'm back home," Crosby said. "I'm back playing what I was recruited to play, back playing what I did in high school. So it's just a matter of learning and being able to go out and do it."
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-football/article95748827.html#storylink=cpy
THE STATE
August 15, 2016
Hayden Hurst and K.C. Crosby had this in common.
In the contexts of last season's offense for South Carolina, neither could find a home. Hurst was tall and big but not much of a natural blocker, so he was shuttled from tight end to receiver. Crosby was shorter and quicker, but not that stout and heavy, so he ended up a blocking back in exotic formations.
One could imagine both worked tirelessly to fit the mold, but that's not this story. Instead, in the transition of a new coaching staff taking over, the offense came to them.
"Coach Roper asks a lot of his tight ends," Hurst said. "But that just gives me the confidence that he's got faith in me to ask me to do a lot. As far as formations, he has us moving all over the place. We're out wide. We're in the slot. We're your traditional hand on the ground tight ends. There are some times when we're even in the backfield."
The thing is, neither is really a traditional-hand-on-the-ground tight end. Crosby said he was pleased to be doing a whole lot less of that. He wanted to be flanked out, almost playing receiver and in space most of the time.
Now these players will be moving around formations, shifting before the snap, giving a hint to the quarterback what the defense is doing. They'll be out there catching passes, and both played receiver in high school so that helps.
But they'll also grow more vital in blocking, as new plays will have them sealing defensive ends to open a hole or rushing through as lead blockers.
"I've gotten used to the blocking," Hurst said. "I gotten a lot stronger. I busted my tail this summer because I knew that was kind of my weak point last year."
Head coach Will Muschamp pointed out his tight ends have to know more of the offense than most players.
Wide receivers just need to run their routes, catch balls and hopefully get in a defender's way when it comes time to block. The tight ends will be called upon to work in the run game, pass block and do everything they do catching passes.
"We need to know everything," Crosby said. "What the receiver does, what the running backs do, what everybody do. So it's putting a lot more pressure on us to learn the playbook so we'll be able to go fast."
They provide a level of versatility to go with that speed. An offense hurrying up wants to be able to show more things. When a player can approximate a tight end one play, receiver the next and fullback the next, a defense has to hope it has a defender athletic enough to match.
"They're very hard guys, I would say, for a defense to count," Muschamp said. "Are they a tight end? Are they a C-area player? Are they a flex guy? Are they an off the ball guy."
Although Jerell Adams posted a good season in 2015, he was mostly used as that hand-on-the-ground type or split wide as a receiver.
Hurst, a 22-year-old former minor league baseball player, counts Crosby as one of his best friends on the team. The position group as a whole is close, and they try to be in the same workout group through the offseason.
It's a group Hurst had left for a while, when the staff moved him to receiver, but he's rejoined. The rest include some of those players more prone to block, a seasoned walk-on in Jacob August and even true freshman Kiel Pollard, who came in as a receiver with an unusual build (shorter and thick) and joined up.
But it was Hurst and Crosby who both wandered without and exact spot and suddenly in a new order have their place.
"I feel like I'm back home," Crosby said. "I'm back playing what I was recruited to play, back playing what I did in high school. So it's just a matter of learning and being able to go out and do it."
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-football/article95748827.html#storylink=cpy
THE STATE
