The Daily Gamecock

Four things South Carolina can accomplish this offseason

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Now that spring practice is complete, only 142 days remain until South Carolina opens up the 2015 season at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte against North Carolina.

While the Gamecocks accomplished a lot over the past few weeks of practice, here’s a look at four things South Carolina must do over the summer in order to hit the ground running when the team breaks for training camp in early August.

1. Figure out the quarterback situation

For the first time since 2011, someone not named Connor Shaw or Dylan Thompson will start at quarterback for head coach Steve Spurrier. Regardless of who ends up winning the starting job for the Gamecocks, no one will have the experience of former signal-callers Shaw and Thompson. But someone has to do the job, and at the moment, it isn’t clear who will.

Redshirt sophomore Connor Mitch appears to be the unofficial leader in the quarterback race that also involves redshirt junior Perry Orth and redshirt freshman Michael Scarnecchia, but don’t tell Spurrier that.

“Connor Mitch is doing fine and all three of them are,” Spurrier said. “Statistically, they’re pretty similar.”

Keep in mind that incoming freshman quarterback Lorenzo Nunez will arrive on campus this summer and his athleticism could warrant some early playing time, too.

With this many contenders, it’ll be important for the South Carolina coaching staff to have a clear idea of who will most likely win the job, and perhaps things will be clearer by the end of the summer.

2. Develop speed and talent at wide receiver

In past seasons, South Carolina has had a plethora of talent and experience at wide receiver. That isn’t the case this year. Junior wide receiver Pharoh Cooper returns and his ability to turn an average play into a big play will certainly help the Gamecocks, but South Carolina hasn’t developed a trustworthy secondary wide receiver to keep defenses honest.

There are certainly several young players who could possibly step up and play for South Carolina such as redshirt freshmen Deebo Samuel, Terry Googer and Shaq Davidson. Older players like redshirt seniors Shamier Jeffery and Carlton Heard will get their shot, as well.

But ultimately, the Gamecocks have to develop more athleticism at the position, Spurrier believes.

“Our guys really need to work on speed this summer and you really can improve your speed,” Spurrier said. “We have to have some speed out there.”

3. Get healthy along the offensive line

It’s not secret that South Carolina’s depth along the offensive line is lacking a bit. After Saturday’s Spring Game, Spurrier remarked, “It seems like we got a lot of plays in for six offensive linemen the whole day.”

Because of injuries, the Gamecocks had to go with a makeshift offensive line for much of spring practice and have been without senior right tackle Brandon Shell, a veteran player who’ll be expected to anchor the offensive line in 2015.

Additionally, South Carolina will have to adjust to life without former starters A.J. Cann and Corey Robinson, both of whom were mainstays along the line for several years before finishing out their eligibility in 2014.

The good news for South Carolina is that there is now a lot of time for everyone to get healthy. Still, this upcoming season’s offensive line will be a fairly new-looking one for the Gamecocks, so it’s important for the guys up front to gel and learn how to work together as a group through offseason workouts.

4. Continue to learn Hoke’s new system on defense

It’s early on, but so far new co-defensive coordinator Jon Hoke has been pleased with the job his guys have done since he arrived on the job back in February.

Additionally, Spurrier seemed fairly happy with the way his defense played last Saturday but also mentioned that the Gamecocks kept things very simple on the defensive side of the ball, playing just two different coverages.

Needing some sort of change after an underwhelming 2014 season on defense, Spurrier brought in Hoke, his former defensive coordinator at Florida, to revitalize a unit that had enjoyed success in the past prior to last year.

While former defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward remains on staff as a co-defensive coordinator, Hoke is expected to make several changes, such as moving the Gamecocks from a 4-2-5 based unit to a 4-3.

While it will take everyone some time to adjust to Hoke’s new system, it appears the Gamecocks have done well so far under Hoke. But the upcoming offseason should give the Gamecocks a chance to learn Hoke’s playbook even more.

“I think we got a good start,” Hoke said. “We still have a lot of work to do and we got a lot of things to clean up.”


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