QUESTION WE ALL WOULD LIKE AN ANSWER TOO: Will the Gamecocks defensive backfield again have to rely on a freshman?
March 18, 2019
They know what it’s like.
Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu know the feeling of being thrown onto a college football field as freshmen, playing the under-the-microscope defensive back position in the SEC for South Carolina football. They did it last year, along with fellow freshman starter R.J. Roderick, and form a bedrock for the Gamecocks secondary going forward.
But will USC again have to rely on a freshman or two in 2019? Each player was degrees of cautious about that.
“High school is very different from college,” Horn said.
“It depends how it all pans out.” Mukuamu added. “We expect all of them to come in and play so we can be a better unit. The better they are, the better we are.”
That last part doesn’t quite go as far as saying they’ll have to rely on them, but USC has seen first-year players take on big roles and in what is becoming a annual rite in spring, the Gamecocks are again a tad short bodies in the defensive backfield.
At the moment, defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson has eight scholarship defensive backs, two of whom were limited at the start of practice. Horn and Mukuamu seem like starting corners if things develop elsewhere. Roderick might be the surest thing at safety, but the staff is trying him out at nickel, where Horn played last season.
“Obviously we’re a little light in the secondary right now with the (four) guys that we signed not able to be here right now,” Robinson said. “So you have some guys out there that probably won’t help us during the season.”
That last part likely refers to the walk-ons and maybe a converted running back who are filling out spots in a secondary two-deep (a spring game is always a reminder how shallow the average roster is).
So that might mean someone from the group of Cam Smith, Shilo Sanders, Jammie Robinson and John Dixon will have to take on some role, maybe big, maybe small, next season.
Horn admitted the team really doesn’t have all its pieces in place, but there was something that impressed about a few of the incoming players.
“Just how good they are off the bat,” Horn said. “The two that stood out the most to me is really Cam and Jammie because I just watched their film. Jammie plays real fast and physical, so I think he’ll adjust real quick, and Cam is the same way. He’s long and has good speed.”
Smith looks like an outside corner to start, though at his size could perhaps play elsewhere. Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp has already said Robinson will play either safety or nickel.
One thing that has been consistent in three years with Muschamp is being strapped for bodies in the secondary and throwing first-year players in. By the end of 2016, USC was relying on basically five players in the secondary, and the 2017 team basically only used six defensive backs all year (that was before the 2018 injury mess).
And each year, at least one first-year player contributed.
2016: Junior college products Steven Montac and Jamarcus King combined for 17 starts from a class with only three defensive backs.
2017: Jamyest Williams started six games and was the primary nickel through most of the season.
2018: Horn, Mukuamu and Roderick combined to start 19 games and were all in big roles (when healthy) by season’s end.
What will determine if the newest crop of players is needed likely comes down to the safety spot. Southern Cal transfer Jamel Cook showed promise. Williams was up and down after moving to the position last season. Rice grad transfer J.T. Ibe was ineffective and then hurt, while Jaylin Dickerson has often been hurt. Jonathan Gipson was forced into emergency snaps because of injuries in the bowl.
If two of those players emerge as reliable and Roderick takes to nickel, the other sophomores could stay on the outside. But all those safeties are question marks and some were members of a group that became a black hole at that position last season.
To a degree, reliance on freshmen will be built on a proving ground they’ve not yet reached.
“That camp grind,” Horn said referring to August practice. “When they get here, that’s when we’ll be able to tell who will be able to play and who won’t.”
That’s where Horn and Mukuamu made their bones, and even after last spring, the staff had said Roderick would see the field in some capacity.
The work from Smith, Dixon, Sanders and Jammie Robinson has yet to happen, but if previous situations are any indication (secondaries looking for reliable bodies, the recruiting skill of USC’s staff) at least one or two will be called upon again. The current players have a level of faith in the coaches’ ability to bring in talent that can play early, but those who have already done it have a role in helping the next class pull it off.
“We’ve been in the game last year,” Mukuamu said. “So we know what (the coaches) expect.
“We can also help the younger guys to know what they expect.”
March 18, 2019
They know what it’s like.
Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu know the feeling of being thrown onto a college football field as freshmen, playing the under-the-microscope defensive back position in the SEC for South Carolina football. They did it last year, along with fellow freshman starter R.J. Roderick, and form a bedrock for the Gamecocks secondary going forward.
But will USC again have to rely on a freshman or two in 2019? Each player was degrees of cautious about that.
“High school is very different from college,” Horn said.
“It depends how it all pans out.” Mukuamu added. “We expect all of them to come in and play so we can be a better unit. The better they are, the better we are.”
That last part doesn’t quite go as far as saying they’ll have to rely on them, but USC has seen first-year players take on big roles and in what is becoming a annual rite in spring, the Gamecocks are again a tad short bodies in the defensive backfield.
At the moment, defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson has eight scholarship defensive backs, two of whom were limited at the start of practice. Horn and Mukuamu seem like starting corners if things develop elsewhere. Roderick might be the surest thing at safety, but the staff is trying him out at nickel, where Horn played last season.
“Obviously we’re a little light in the secondary right now with the (four) guys that we signed not able to be here right now,” Robinson said. “So you have some guys out there that probably won’t help us during the season.”
That last part likely refers to the walk-ons and maybe a converted running back who are filling out spots in a secondary two-deep (a spring game is always a reminder how shallow the average roster is).
So that might mean someone from the group of Cam Smith, Shilo Sanders, Jammie Robinson and John Dixon will have to take on some role, maybe big, maybe small, next season.
Horn admitted the team really doesn’t have all its pieces in place, but there was something that impressed about a few of the incoming players.
“Just how good they are off the bat,” Horn said. “The two that stood out the most to me is really Cam and Jammie because I just watched their film. Jammie plays real fast and physical, so I think he’ll adjust real quick, and Cam is the same way. He’s long and has good speed.”
Smith looks like an outside corner to start, though at his size could perhaps play elsewhere. Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp has already said Robinson will play either safety or nickel.
One thing that has been consistent in three years with Muschamp is being strapped for bodies in the secondary and throwing first-year players in. By the end of 2016, USC was relying on basically five players in the secondary, and the 2017 team basically only used six defensive backs all year (that was before the 2018 injury mess).
And each year, at least one first-year player contributed.
2016: Junior college products Steven Montac and Jamarcus King combined for 17 starts from a class with only three defensive backs.
2017: Jamyest Williams started six games and was the primary nickel through most of the season.
2018: Horn, Mukuamu and Roderick combined to start 19 games and were all in big roles (when healthy) by season’s end.
What will determine if the newest crop of players is needed likely comes down to the safety spot. Southern Cal transfer Jamel Cook showed promise. Williams was up and down after moving to the position last season. Rice grad transfer J.T. Ibe was ineffective and then hurt, while Jaylin Dickerson has often been hurt. Jonathan Gipson was forced into emergency snaps because of injuries in the bowl.
If two of those players emerge as reliable and Roderick takes to nickel, the other sophomores could stay on the outside. But all those safeties are question marks and some were members of a group that became a black hole at that position last season.
To a degree, reliance on freshmen will be built on a proving ground they’ve not yet reached.
“That camp grind,” Horn said referring to August practice. “When they get here, that’s when we’ll be able to tell who will be able to play and who won’t.”
That’s where Horn and Mukuamu made their bones, and even after last spring, the staff had said Roderick would see the field in some capacity.
The work from Smith, Dixon, Sanders and Jammie Robinson has yet to happen, but if previous situations are any indication (secondaries looking for reliable bodies, the recruiting skill of USC’s staff) at least one or two will be called upon again. The current players have a level of faith in the coaches’ ability to bring in talent that can play early, but those who have already done it have a role in helping the next class pull it off.
“We’ve been in the game last year,” Mukuamu said. “So we know what (the coaches) expect.
“We can also help the younger guys to know what they expect.”
