Gamecocks await Austin Stogner arrival as they navigate ‘MASH’ unit at TE

It’s been five years since Austin Stogner had to attend college football practices as a high school recruit.

But the South Carolina transfer probably feels like he’s back living in his days at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas each time he has stepped foot in Columbia this spring.

Stogner has not been able to practice with the Gamecocks yet. He’s a graduate transfer, but he hasn’t yet graduated from Oklahoma. South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said on Tuesday that Stogner still has four classes to finish up before he officially graduates.

Once he does and thus gains the eligibility to play for Beamer’s team, Stogner will enter the program pretty much right away. Until then, Stogner has been relegated to attending South Carolina practices on the sidelines as if he was still the four-star prospect who signed with the Sooners in the 2019 class.

“He’s able to come occasionally where it’s not on a consistent basis,” Beamer said. “He’s been out here a couple times for practice just like a high school recruit because that’s essentially what he is. He’s been able to get out here, and he’s been able to watch us practice one or two times. He’s back home right now finishing up the online classes, and as soon as all that’s done he’ll be here for good – whether that be May, June, whatnot.”

Stogner is still keeping up with the Gamecocks’ practices from afar from his home in Dallas. The coaches are limited in their communication with Stogner, per NCAA rules. Beamer said the staff is “not requiring him to get on a Zoom call six hours a day … to talk about the offense and watch practice.”

But they are still allowed to coach him up via Zoom, and that is monitored by Jeff Whitehead, South Carolina’s associate athletic director for compliance services.

“We wanna keep him as acclimated and up to speed as we can,” Beamer said. “So he’s like any other high school prospect that’s signed. Technically, they’re still a recruit, but on a limited basis you can do Xs and Os on Zoom. It’s not a required, consistent, every day type thing. It’s all within the rules and our compliance office.”

t’s a positive step in the right direction for Stogner and the Gamecocks when viewing their tight ends room at the moment.

There is a bit of inconsistency on the field right now, which is out of South Carolina’s control.

First-year tight ends coach Jody Wright has only been on the job six weeks. By all accounts, he is doing a standout job on the recruiting trail and in his position room. But he is still getting his feet wet since leaving his spot as an offensive assistant with the New York Giants and joining South Carolina on Feb. 18.

And Wright now – see what we did there? – he is dealing with a position group that is banged up and a little battered. The unit is thin enough that the Gamecocks have moved an offensive lineman into that tight ends group just to have an extra body in practice.

“As far as the tight ends go, it’s kind of a MASH unit right now,” Beamer said. “Austin’s not here, Jaheim [Bell] isn’t practicing right now. [Traevon] Kenion practiced [Tuesday], but he’s got a little bit of an ankle that’s been bothering him. So he hasn’t really been full speed. So it’s been tough to get reps.

“Wyatt Cambell’s an offensive tackle who’s been playing some tight end for us right now just to be able to get through practice. Jesse Sanders is out there, Chad Terrell is a wide receiver that’s a bigger body that we’ve put in there just to do some tight end and H-back stuff, just trying to get reps.”

Stogner will almost certainly lock down starter status once he does arrive. But there is an opening for the TE2 spot in the two-deep, and that adds more of an emphasis to get more guys like Kenion back, who Beamer noted as a player who can make some strides if he returns to the field.

“It’s very critical for Kenion [to get healthy,” Beamer said. “And we need him to get 100 percent healthy so that he can take advantage of the opportunity that he could be getting right now with those other two guys not being here – along with all those other tight ends.”