The Daily Gamecock

Offensive line to serve as foundation for young offense

SEC football games are won at the line of scrimmage. A SEC team can have all the skill position talent in the world, but it will not win many football games if their offensive line cannot stop the behemoths that fill the front sevens of every defense in the conference.

This is one of the few things Coach Muschamp and staff do not have to worry about. The Gamecocks’ offensive line isn’t getting much attention this offseason, but it is an experienced and talented group.

Walking into a program with a high-level offensive line is a luxury most coaches would kill for. It makes implementing a new offense much easier by allowing coaches to focus their attention on mentoring the young or inexperienced skill position players.

That is exactly the situation that South Carolina is facing. It appears as though at some point, true freshman quarterback Brandon McIlwain will be playing. He will be handing it off and throwing to mostly freshmen and sophomores. On top of that, he will be trying to do it in the hardest conference in the SEC.

This is where the big guys up front come in to help ease the team through this transition period. A starting five of Mason Zandi, Cory Helms, DJ Park, Donnell Stanley and Zack Bailey is good enough to win battles at the line of scrimmage to allow this team move the ball.

The lone senior of the group is left tackle, Mason Zandi. The Chapin native stands at an imposing 6-foot-9 and is considered the leader of this group. He was one of the three players chosen to attend SEC Media Days and was recently voted as a third-team All-SEC player in the SEC coaches preseason poll. At Media Days, Zandi talked about how he knows the team let Gamecock fans down last season, but that he believes everyone on the team learned from that experience.

It definitely sounds like he will be playing with a big chip on his shoulder this year, and that will certainly rub off on the rest of the offensive linemen which will elevate their level of play. That is a potentially scary thought for opposing teams because many of these linemen were highly sought after, and even a guy like Cory Helms (who didn’t have many Power 5 offers) was a Freshman All-American while at Wake Forest.

The offensive line is without a doubt the brightest spot on this team. Gamecock fans should feel very confident in the ability of this unit to perform at a high level. All of the experience and talent there will help Kurt Roper implement his offense at a much faster pace. Roper can also rest easy knowing his young quarterback is being protected by one of the better front lines in the conference.

The best part of this group? Four of the five starters from this year’s team will return next year. That, paired with a year of experience for all the young skill players, should have Gamecocks excited for the future.


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