How the Gamecocks are preparing for two Florida quarterbacks
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
South Carolina is preparing this week for a situation it really hasn’t had to face all season.
The Gamecocks are gearing up to face No. 9 Florida, which is one of the only teams they’ll face to rotate two quarterbacks at a time, which is something they’re having to prepare for this week in practice.
“They separate it with what you’re getting from this guy and what you’re getting from that guy. You have to know which quarterback’s in the game,” Ernest Jones. “If five is in the game, you’re thinking a little more run. He’s able to throw the ball, too. If Trask is back there, he’s able to run the ball a little bit too. It’s kind of similar, but they run different plays for each quarterbacks.”
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The Gators’ starter is No. 11 Kyle Trask, who will likely play the majority of the game, but they also rotate in No. 5 Emory Jones.
Right now, Trask is completing 68.4 percent of his passes for 1,191 yards and 10 touchdowns with three interceptions. Jones has only thrown 28 passes this year for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
He is the team’s third-leading rusher with 114 yards and averaging 6.3 yards per carry.
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“I know one of them can run better than the other,” Sherrod Greene said. “They’ll most likely have No. 11 in the most of the game, so most of our attention is going to him and the second quarterback they have.”
For South Carolina, it’s the coaches’ job now to try and simulate a more mobile quarterback in practice.
Last year it was easy to simulate it with Dakereon Joyner spending a lot of time at scout team during his redshirt freshman year.
With Joyner the Gamecocks’ backup quarterback now, he can’t take reps as the scout team quarterback, leaving the coaches looking for someone else to fill that void he filled last season.
“We're short some guys as far as having guys that could simulate that, to be honest with you. So, it's a lot of recognition by our players, and obviously our staff, of who is in the game,” Will Muschamp said. “They don't change a lot, they really don't. There's quarterback run game with both guys, Kyle and Emory, and there's throw game with both guys. There’s not a lot of drastic changes as far as what they do offensively when each guy's in the game in my opinion. So, I think just understanding whose there in the situation.”
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Right now Corbett Glick is the scout team quarterback, mimicking Trask this week and, to a degree, Jones. They have been known to do some unusual things as well in the past to try and simulate a mobile quarterback as well.
“Yeah, you put a running back back there sometimes. (Glick) can run a little bit, too,” Jones said. “(Deshaun) Fenwick’s back there, (Zachariah) Doe’s back there as well mimicking those guys. Slade Carroll’s back there; he’s got No. 2, (Lamical) Perine.”
