South Carolina's Defense Focused On Becoming Versatile
Versatility is always a great quality for any college football player to have and South Carolina defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson said his defensive players are getting looks at multiple spots to ensure that they’re ready for whatever come their way.
“I told my guys especially with this year more so than any other year, everybody’s gotta be ready,” Robinson said. “And they always have to but this year in particular that's going to be the case. So we’re getting a bunch of guys ready at a bunch of different positions.”
He added that this year Gamecock fans could see some familiar names at a number of new spots out on the field.
“You look up you see Jaycee [Horn] playing some nickel, playing some safety, Izzy [Mukuamu] playing some nickel, playing some safety. R.J. [Roderick] playing some dime, playing some nickel, playing some safety. I mean I had Jammie [Robinson] playing some corner two practices ago, so we’re just trying to get a combination of guys and letting guys feel comfortable playing every spot because that's gonna happen at some point this year.”
One consistent has been Brad Johnson as the SAM linebacker position.
“He’s doing a really good job, he’s going to be the star of that SAM,” Robinson said. “He’s also playing some BUCK and end for us, but he's doing a really good job of learning this position. It’s a position that he's a natural at and it's been going well so far. So if we continue to progress like we're doing right now I feel really comfortable about him being our starting SAM moving forward.
Shilo Sanders is another player that Robinson said could be key for the Gamecocks this season.
“He’s really doing a good job of understanding defense, he's doing so much better,” Robinson said. “Shiloh hadn’t played a bunch of football so now he's starting to learn different techniques and that's the one thing that we talked to him about all the time, just his technique and pad level and things like that. As far as grasp of the defense, he's doing really good job of that. He's making some plays out there.”
The Gamecocks are back at Williams-Brice Stadium this Saturday at noon for their third and final scrimmage of fall camp.