How South Carolina is preparing for Kyle Pitts

In every press conference, Will Muschamp rattles off a handful of players on the opposing team that week, going through and talking about how each offensive player mentioned can hurt the Gamecocks if they don’t pay attention to him Saturday.

Tuesday, in his typical opening statement, he stopped and spent a little more time than normal on one specific player for good reason.

“Kyle Pitts is probably the best tight end in the country. I would assume he is. He’s certainly the best one we’ll see,” he said. “He’s long, athletic; he has speed and is a difficult matchup guy. He has a very good knack for getting open and finding space. With (Kyle) Trask, they obviously have a good rapport as far as the throwing game is concerned.”

Also see: How this weekend's starters stack up on star power

Pitts, the Gators’ starting tight end, is a projected first round pick in just about every mock draft and it’s easy to see why.

After earning All-SEC honors last year, Pitts picked up where he left off in Florida’s season opener catching eight passes for 170 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Ole Miss.

At 6-foot-6, 240 pounds Pitts creates a matchup nightmare for the Gamecocks, who have to figure out a way in practice to try and simulate Pitts in practice with Muschamp saying there’s “not a lot out there” like him.

Jammie Robinson said the Gamecocks are rotating in a few guys to mirror Pitts, one of which being 6-foot-1, 245 pound Keveon Mullins.

“We have Keveon Mullins sometimes. They came over. Our offense, they have good tight ends. Based on the tight ends, we’ll have a call scheming around and making it happen,” Robinson said. “We’re strapping it up.”

Also see: The latest from Erik Kimrey

How the Gamecocks plan on covering him still remains to be seen, but because he’s a tight end it might fall on a linebacker or Robinson, who is listed as the team’s nickel.

At nickel, Robinson’s tasked with playing in the box a little more, matching up with slot receivers or tight end, which could mean a few plays matched up against what Muschamp called the best tight end in the country.

Ask Robinson about it, though, and he’ll be the first to say Pitts is good but “every receiver and tight end we go against is good.”

To him it comes down to just winning against the guy you're matched up with.

“Coming during practice this week we have to strap up our chin straps,” Robinson said, “play man coverage and win one on ones.”

The Gamecocks also have to contend with quarterback Kyle Trask, who completed 71.4 percent of his passes and averaged 9.9 yards per attempt against Ole Miss.

Last season against South Carolina Trask was just OK, completing 63.6 percent of passes and averaging 6.1 yards per attempt.

Also see: Big picture thoughts before Saturday's Swamp showdown

“He’s a really good football player I think he’s got a great pocket presence. He really feels and evades the rush really well. He buys time for himself,” Muschamp said. “He constantly has his eyes downfield, which creates some issues. That’s why they have a lot of explosives on off-rhythm plays."