3 burning questions for South Carolina entering fall camp
Fall camp is underway across the SEC, so it’s time to get some overreactions and observations in. Your team is healthy, the schedule is manageable, and the amount of hope floating around the program is absolutely off the charts. Still, every team has some questions.
Here are three burning questions for every SEC team. Next up, South Carolina.
1. How many freshmen will earn significant playing time?
Coming out of spring camp it felt like this number was obvious and much smaller. South Carolina brought in a small recruiting class last season with just 16 signees. However, they brought in one of their highest blue chip ratio in program history at over 60%.
The obvious choices were edge Julian Walker who was a five-star from up the road in Dutch Fork. Then there was top 50 recruit Darius Gray on the interior offensive line. Lastly safety, J’Zavien Currence seemed to be a lock to earn some early playing time at safety.
Nothing has changed for any of those three on the playing time front, and Gray and Currence may even work their way into being starters. Still, three others have emerged in fall camp that will play, as well.
The other three are DL Noah Clark, CB Kosci Barnes, and WR Sequel Patterson.
2. Who will be RB1 in a room full of backs?
So much has been made about the offensive line this offseason and with good reason. It feels like that unit is pretty much sorted out with the only remaining question being about freshman Darius Gray.
The same can be said for the wide receivers, as well. The starting rotation isn’t set in stone yet, but the top five to six players seem to be in place and they should be deep. Offensively that leaves one position unit with the most remaining questions – the running backs.
South Carolina brought in several players to fill that room, and it’s one that struggled immensely a season ago. Kendal Briles’ offenses aren’t predicated off the run. They are catered to the strengths of the skillsets his starting 11 have as a whole. That was abundantly clear in his last two years at TCU where his leading rusher never had over 120 carries.
It’s unclear if this will be a running back by committee situation, or if an alpha will emerge in Stan Drayton’s room to shoulder a bulk of the workload. Expect Matthew Fuller and Christian Clark to be the top two guys earning the most reps in camp, but do not be surprised if Isaiah Augustave challenges those two as well.
3. Who wins the kicking battle?
This isn’t the sexiest position unit to talk about, but it is still Beamer Ball in South Carolina. Shane Beamer was asked about it during a press conference earlier this week.
“I think all three of them are doing well: Malik (Orsan), Upton (Bellenfant), and Max (Kelley). They were getting a lot of kicks in practice. We’re really getting them more kicks in front of everybody in practice than we have before. … nothing really from a time frame standpoint. When one separates themselves, we would certainly be willing to do that. I don’t feel like we’re to that point right now.”
