Observations From South Carolina's First Spring Football Practice
South Carolina's football team began Spring practice on Tuesday morning. Here are my thoughts from the six periods of observation time.
March is legitimately one of the best times of the year on the sports Calendar. March Madness is set to begin later this week, more commercials for The Masters are airing on the television screen, and Spring football practice is getting underway. For Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks, they began Spring practice on Tuesday morning with temperatures hovering in the mid 40's.
Since the team was just in jerseys and shorts, and there was a lot of special teams and positional work, there wasn't a lot to takeaways to be had, but some things still stood out in the six periods the media got to observe. Here are my full thoughts:
The Feeling Is Different
Ever since Shane Beamer arrived in Columbia, the Gamecocks have never been short on energy, even when they've gone through their share of mid-season lulls or lackluster practices, but Tuesday morning's practice just felt different to me. To me, it seems as if the program, starting with the staff, is displaying more of a business-like approach to everything, in terms of being intentional with every little thing you do.
This shouldn't be misconstrued as me saying the players did nothing but goof off in years past, and that there won't be any fun to be had moving forward, but it feels as if the balance of sheer energy paired with palpable seriousness on the field has found more of a balance, something the program needs in what will be a pivotal season this upcoming Fall.
Who's QB1?
It should come as little surprise that LaNorris Sellers was the first quarterback in every drill and the one quick offensive team snaps (happened in a blink). Robby Ashford was the backup, with Davis Beville and Dante Reno following suit.
How Does The O-line Look?
Watching the individual work that the offensive line was doing on the side, here was the first group going through drils (from left tackle to right tackle):
Jakai Moore - Markee Anderson - Vershon Lee - Trovon Baugh - Cason Henry
The Most Physically Impressive Group
In terms of guys that looked the part on day one, I'm gonna go with with the linebacker group, more specifically Demetrius Knight, who definitely looks like a starting Power 4 linebacker and Jaron Willis, who seems to have added some muscle to his frame.
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