South Carolina Football: Complete 2015 Spring Practice Primer
Was South Carolina's 7-6 record in 2014 a sign of impending doom, or just a one-year anomaly that can be corrected with some minor tweaks in the offseason?
That question will begin to be answered on Tuesday when the Gamecocks open spring practice.
Holes litter the roster on both sides of the ball in Columbia, as head coach Steve Spurrier and his staff look to rebuild the offensive line, find a new starting quarterback, replace star running back Mike Davis and fix a defensive line and secondary that were wildly inconsistent a year ago.
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What should you look for this spring out of South Carolina?
What to Watch on Offense
South Carolina wide receiver Pharoh Cooper is a bona fide star who shines as a receiver, returner, running back and changeup quarterback. If you ask him to go shoot a 68 at Augusta National, he could probably do that, too.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that it's the only good news.
Connor Mitch, South Carolina's most experienced quarterback and the No. 1 passer on the pre-spring depth chart according to GoGamecocks.com, only has six career pass attempts. Brandon Wilds and David Williams are talented running backs but have only shown flashes of brilliance throughout their respective careers. Shamier Jeffery is a veteran receiver, but can he become a true threat opposite Cooper and take some pressure off South Carolina's superstar?
There are questions all over the offense, which are compounded by injuries up front that will keep right tackle Brandon Shell and left tackle Mike Matulis out for the spring, according to Josh Kendall and David Cloninger of GoGamecocks.com. Matulis is a versatile veteran who is moving from center to tackle, which further complicates things up front.
As GamecockCentral.com notes, there's a youth movement up front:
Does Spurrier need to name a quarterback this spring? No, but he has to at least develop a rough draft of the pecking order. Does one running back need to step up? No, but at least one contender needs to look like a back who can run for 1,200 yards.
What to Watch on Defense
Where should we begin?
Jon Hoke was brought in to supplement Lorenzo Ward as the new co-defensive coordinator of the Gamecocks, and the work that the duo must do this offseason is equivalent to the pile of paperwork on Milton's desk when he moves to the basement in Office Space.
Up front, the defensive line has to do a better job. The Gamecocks finished last season with an SEC-worst 14 sacks, gave up an SEC-worst 6.22 yards per play and finished with the second-worst rush defense in the conference (212.23 yards per game).
Gerald Dixon, Gerald Dixon, Jr. and Phillip Dukes are veterans who enter spring as starters, with newcomer Marquavius Lewis joining them fresh out of junior college. Will Lewis provide the spark off the edge that the Gamecocks so desperately need? If he does this spring, it will help the entire defense play with more consistency.
At the back end, the secondary got torched early and often in 2015, and many of its key members are back. If you're a South Carolina fan, you hope that those players learned lessons from those struggles and take them into consideration during the 2015 offseason.
T.J. Gurley is an ultra-versatile safety who moved over to play on the strong side this spring, D.J. Smith got plenty of playing time last year as a freshman, corners Wesley Green and Chris Lammons are loaded with potential and Rico McWilliams has one cornerback spot locked down.
It's a secondary that has potential, and one way to realize it is for the big uglies up front to get pressure and make the secondary's job easier. If those pieces of the puzzle begin to come together this spring, it will be a good sign that 2014 was an anomaly.
Freshman to Keep an Eye on
Redshirt freshman cornerback Wesley Green.
The native of Lithonia, Georgia, was a 4-star prospect in the class of 2014, but he sat last season out while adjusting to life as a college football player despite being a contender for playing time early, as Wes Mitchell of GamecockCountry.com noted last summer:
He's contending for playing time this spring with McWilliams and Lammons and has the talent to be a star for the Gamecocks. At 5'10" and 175 pounds, he's a little undersized, but what he lacks in size he makes up for in speed and quickness.
There's definitely a home for him in South Carolina's secondary in some way, if he can earn a starting nod with a solid performance this spring.
Coach Spurrier's Toughest Task
Turning the corner, again.
What Spurrier did from 2010-2013 at South Carolina was nothing short of remarkable. He turned a downtrodden program into an SEC East power, winning the division in 2010 and posting the program's first three 11-win seasons in its history from 2011-2013.
That window isn't locked, but Missouri's success, Georgia's talent and the rebuilding efforts at Tennessee and Florida have it closed—with perhaps a subtle breeze squeezing through the cracks.
The window looks like it will become locked in a hurry with Tennessee's consistent recruiting success and the never-ending stream of talented players available for the Gators.
There's pressure to win now in Columbia, and the quest to do that begins on Tuesday.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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