Five Gamecocks selected to preseason All-SEC teams
It took a little longer than normal, but the preseason All-SEC are officially here.
The vote, which was done by the league’s coaches, is officially out with five Gamecocks making the cut.
While the Gamecocks didn’t have any first-team selections, they had three players crack the second team All-SEC with two more on the third team.
On the second team was Sadarius Hutcherson on the offensive line, Aaron Sterling at defensive end and Israel Mukuamu at defensive back, tied with Tyree Gillespie at Missouri and Florida’s Marco Wilson.
Ernest Jones was named third-team at linebacker along with Jaycee Horn at defensive back.
Hutcherson is the team’s most experienced lineman with 29 starts under his belt and moves back inside this year to left guard, his more natural position.
Sterling’s also played a lot in his four years at South Carolina, notching 40 tackles (10 for loss) and six sacks last season as a junior and has played in 33 games over his career so far with 15 starts.
He’s expected to again be the starting defensive end this season.
Mukuamu is arguably the most talked about defensive back on the roster as a first round pick in next year’s NFL draft. He’s started 14 consecutive games, had four interceptions last year—three against Georgia alone—and was named to the Thorpe Award watch list.
His counterpart at corner, Horn, is third-team and has 85 career tackles and 17 pass breakups since emerging as a starter in his freshman season.
Jones is coming off his first full year as the starter at middle linebacker where he led the team with 97 tackles, 20 more than the next highest number on the team.
After recovering from an appendectomy this offseason, Jones is back at practice and expected to contribute heavily as the starting MIKE.