College football’s talking season has begun, and even though South Carolina players and Will Muschamp won’t take the podium at SEC Media Days until Thursday, the Gamecocks are getting some attention.
As reported by The State’s Josh Kendall, SEC Network analyst Marcus Spears took the time to praise South Carolina Tuesday, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
“I’m excited about South Carolina,” Spears said Tuesday. “You’re not going to go into Columbia with a guaranteed victory. You’re going to have to play really good defense in order to stop them from doing what they want to do offensively. They have put together something on offense that I think has the potential to be something special. You get the defense to come with it, and it could be a team here in a couple years that has the talent to compete for the East.”
Spears, who played defensive line under defensive coordinator Will Muschamp at LSU, isn’t sold on the South Carolina defense, though.
“The concern is defense personnel-wise,” Spears said. “Will [Muschamp] will put those guys in position where they are not overexposed, but we know in this conference you have to stop people.”
The Gamecocks allowed over 400 yards per game in 2016, ranking seventh in the SEC, and finished eighth in the conference by giving up 26.5 points per contest.
Spears lauded praise on the offense, however, calling quarterback Jake Bentley one of the conference’s three best at the position for the upcoming year.
“From a skill position standpoint, they have one of the best teams in the conference,” Spears said. “You talk about Rico Dowdle. I think Jake Bentley is going to be a stud, coach’s son, knows the game, loves the game, has a little bit of wiggle where he can get out of the pocket and can sling it. And when he slings it, he’s slinging it to Bryan Edwards, he’s slinging it to Deebo Samuel and (Hayden Hurst). The offensive line is big and physical.”
Bentley, Samuel and Hurst will address the media Thursday alongside Muschamp in Hoover, Alabama.