When South Carolina released its two-deep depth chart, not much of it was a surprise outside of a few positions.

The only ones who jumped off the page—largely because they hadn’t come up in any media availabilities—were Jaylin Dickerson listed as one potential starter at safety and Ger-Cari Caldwell as a potential backup at an outside receiver slot.

It might have come as a shock to a few who hadn’t been at practice, Shane Beamer said both have been “just making plays” during camp which vaulted both into the rotation at their respective positions.

“Jaylin Dickerson, he’s an older guy that’s certainly motivated. He didn’t get to go through spring practice but certainly came on at the end of spring practice,” Beamer said. “He got to go the last couple days in practice. He’s a leader and a guy people on the team respect.”

Dickerson’s career is often maligned with injuries almost since the day he stepped foot on campus.

Since arriving on campus in 2017 the 6-foot-1 strong safety hasn’t played a full season yet dealing with various ailments: first a nerve injury followed by a hip then soft tissue issues.

He played in eight of the 10 games last season with 20 tackles, 1.5 for loss, and an interception.

This preseason he’s done enough to challenge RJ Roderick—the other listed starter at the position—for playing time while serving as one of the leaders defensively.

There were a couple issues this summer and I was talking to a couple of the defensive backs about their thoughts on some things and they were like, ‘Let’s go talk to Jaylin,’” Beamer said. “‘He’s the guy we go to when there’s questions like that.’ him and Jaylan foster have both been fantastic this year from a leadership standpoint.”

Caldwell enters his second season with the program after struggling to see the field much as a freshman; he played in six games, catching one pass for five yards.

With the Gamecocks needing younger receivers to step up behind the starting three of Dakereon Joyner, Josh Vann and Jalen Brooks, Caldwell’s done well, Beamer said, while competing with OrTre Smith for the backup job.

“Ger-Cari, he and OrTre are working over there together as well with Josh Vann and still trying to figure out what that rotation’s going to be, but Ger-Cari is a big body. We have size at the wide receiver position and he’s done a nice job using his size to his advantage. All those guys are continuing to compete.”

Caldwell and Smith are listed as backups to Vann at one outside spot while Xavier Legette and Ahmarean Brown are the backups for Brooks and Joyner, respectively.

The likelihood of most, if not all, of those receivers to play is high with Marcus Satterfield two weeks ago saying he felt comfortable with about six or seven receivers entering the season.

“All those guys are continuing to compete and come along,” Beamer said. “A lot of it will be based on the play we have called and the personnel we want in the game. A lot of it will be situational as well depending on where we are on the field.”

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