Burning questions as Gamecocks get ready for SEC Media Days
HOOVER, ALA.—It’s almost South Carolina’s day in the spotlight. The Gamecocks will travel to the circus that is SEC Media Days Thursday, bringing Jake Bentley, Deebo Samuel and Hayden Hurst along with head coach Will Muschamp.
It’s a day full of shuffling between rooms, posing for photos and answering a mountain of questions from reporters from across the country.
It’s a time for light questions, but questions dealing with program stability, expectations for the season and potential for a team coming off a season where they arguably exceeded expectations.
Below are five burning questions for the Gamecocks as they prepare to descend on Hoover, Alabama Thursday morning.
What is this year’s offense going to look like?
The Gamecocks started slow offensively last season, struggling to find any rhythm rotating quarterbacks and dealing with injuries to skill players.
When Jake Bentley was injected at quarterback, the offense seemed to move quicker and churned along more consistently. The offense averaging 14 points per game in the team’s first six games, averaged almost 27 points over the last seven games including a bowl game.
The Gamecocks also averaged 80 more yards per game after Bentley took over the starting role and receivers Samuel and Bryan Edwards got healthy.
Going into year two under offensive coordinator Kurt Roper with players more experienced with his system, the question becomes if the Gamecocks can continue to gel offensively and compete for an SEC East title.
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Who will fill out the linebacker corps?
The Gamecocks are returning the majority of their starters, including at the linebacker position with Bryson Allen-Williams and Skai Moore, who missed last season with a neck injury, returning. They did lose one linebacker spot after Jonathan Walton graduated.
TJ Brunson is listed as the starter heading into preseason camp, and the likely candidate to fill that spot this season, but it’ll be interesting to see where Muschamp sees that position right now.
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What has the Gamecocks’ summer workout regimen helped with for next season?
South Carolina didn’t have a stellar end to last season, dropping their rivalry game to Clemson 56-7 and losing to South Florida in the Birmingham Bowl.
They’ve been working out in the weight room and with conditioning since the season ended, and it’ll be interesting to see how the Gamecocks feel those back-to-back defeats to close out the year motivated them during their winter and summer workouts before starting camp in July.
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Who will be best-dressed?
Media Days are just as much about what student-athletes wear as it is about the questions that will be asked. The Gamecocks are bringing three players who usually dress well, based on their wardrobe walking to games during the season, but only one will be the absolutely best dressed.
The inside edge goes to Samuel, who attended the event last year, and rocked a blue checkerboard blazer and bowtie.
Can the Gamecocks get back to Atlanta?
South Carolina hasn’t made a trip to the SEC Championship game since 2009, coming up just short in recent years. With skill position players continuing to develop in a wide-open East race, can the Gamecocks beat SEC stalwarts and make it to Atlanta?
They return last season’s starting quarterback, two wide receivers, both starting tight ends and the majority of the team’s starters on defense including Allen-Williams, Moore, and DJ Smith in the secondary.
If the Gamecocks can stay healthy and beat both Florida and Georgia, something they haven’t done since 2014, they could be in a good position at the end of the season, especially with no clear-cut favorite in the East.