How the Gamecocks are preparing for two new coordinators
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
Will Muschamp said on his call-in show Thursday night a coach and a team is never really ready for a season opener.
Even if a coach had been at a school for 20 years there’s always going to be a new twist or different wrinkle the opposing coach hadn’t seen yet or prepared for.
That will be especially so for the Gamecocks Saturday, who are currently preparing for a North Carolina team breaking in an entirely new coaching staff.
“The base of what they do is going to be the same. With every game, you’re going out there and expect the unexpected,” Jake Bentley said. “There will be a new coverage or blitz you haven’t prepared for and you have to go back to your fundamentals and what you’re been taught.”
Also see: Full updates from Muschamp's call-in show
Mack Brown is back at North Carolina for the second time in his career, staring his tenure with Saturday’s game against the Gamecocks.
He brings with him offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who was previously at Ole Miss and Sam Houston State before that, and Jay Bateman, who was Army’s defensive coordinator for five years and holds the same position with the Tar Heels.
Longo has a history with South Carolina, coaching against the Gamecocks last season with the Rebels.
“There are going to be some different things that he does because he going to evaluate the talent he has at North Carolina as opposed to maybe what he had at Ole Miss, as opposed to maybe what he had at Sam Houston (State),” Muschamp said. “They'll be some changes. I told our guys this morning to expect the unexpected, there is going to be something that we're not prepared for.”
Also see: Five things to watch in Saturday's opener
Coaching against a depleted defense ravaged by injury, Longo’s offense racked up 44 points on 616 yards.
In preparations for Saturday’s game, the Gamecocks are going back and watching a lot of film from last year and expecting much of the same of what they saw last year in Oxford.
“We’ve watched a lot of Ole Miss stuff,” TJ Brunson said. “Going off what happened last year, we expect him to carry a lot of stuff over, and we’re expecting they’ll be some new things as well. We just have to fall back on the basics we know.”
Also see: Players to watch, more film study on North Carolina
Bateman was in charge of an Army defense that gave up just 17.15 points per game and just 295.5 yards per game. Granted, the triple option offense the Golden Knights ran kept the defense off the field for long stretches of times.
It’s different personnel, obviously, with Bateman coming over now to North Carolina but the Gamecocks see an athletic group that can do a lot of different things.
“They have very athletic guys, guys that can go make plays on the ball,” Bryan Edwards said. “Every game they played in last year was like a seven-point game. They’re competitive and they’re going to go out there and compete.”
The Gamecocks kick off against the Tar Heels at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.