The South Carolina Gamecocks made their appearance at SEC Media Days on Thursday. New head football coach Will Muschamp was accompanied by senior defensive end Marquavius Lewis, senior offensive tackle Mason Zandi and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
Marquavius Lewis was the lone defensive player to make the trip. Lewis came in with huge expectations, as he was rated the No. 3 junior college prospect according to 247 Sports. He, along with the rest of the defense, had a lacking last season where the Gamecocks finished 94th in the country in total defense and secured only 20 sacks.
Lewis is confident that Muschamp’s presence will help improve the team defensively.
“With the new coaches they change the way we think and scheme things to become a better defense,” Lewis said. “It’s been more technical than anything. Knowing your keys, knowing your assignments, doing the little things.”
Lewis is expected to be a leader on this young, relatively inexperienced defense, especially after the loss of All-SEC linebacker Skai Moore. We will see what kind of impact Lewis’s experience and leadership, along with Muschamp’s defensive mind, have on the defense.
On the offensive side of the ball, Muschamp has identified Deebo Samuel and Mason Zandi as leaders. Samuel was specifically called out by Muschamp as a key to the offense.
“Out of the receiver group, I am the oldest one with the most experience so I would expect Coach Muschamp to say that,” Samuel said in response to being called an offensive key.
He also added, “We have brought in five new freshman receivers ... My job is to push them to make them better and myself better.”
It’s on Zandi and the rest of the offensive line to make sure they give whoever the starting quarterback is the time to get guys like Samuel the ball. He acknowledged this during his interview with the media when he said, “We have to give the quarterback time, and open up holes for the running back. At the end of the days that’s it.”
This may sound like a quick fix, but the media members present at SEC Media Days weren’t buying into what Muschamp and the players were saying. When all the votes were tallied, South Carolina was projected to finish seventh in the SEC East. It is reasonable to assume that last season’s failures are still fresh in the minds of voters, but those failures are definitely fresh in the minds of players.
When Zandi was asked about lessons he may have learned from the previous season he said, “We let our fans, friends and family, and ourselves down. Learning from that experience is really going to help us coming into this season.”
Samuel was also asked about the 2015 season.
“Three and nine is the past," he said. "We have a new coach, new strength coaches that coach brought in… He does a great job of pushing us and trying to make us forget last season and move on.”
SEC Media Days signify the end of prognosticating season. Soon all the hypotheticals will end and games will no longer be decided on paper. Once fall camp begins, coaches start preparing their players for the games that really matter: the ones played on the field. Muschamp and the players seem confident that the future is bright, and it is almost time to see if Muschamp can prove himself as a head coach in the SEC.
There is a lot of news and a lot of uncertainty in the SEC East this season. It will be very intriguing to see how all of it plays out.