Manos ready to take reigns at center

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

Hank Manos learned a lot in his first year on campus, but one thing which sticks out is his newly-developed love for pomegranates.

Yes, he’s learning a new offense and how to play at the college level, but he came to school in desperate need to put on weight.

He succeeded, and in the process expanded his culinary palate.

“It’s a lot of food, a lot of work, and it’s eating the right foods,” he said. “I’m a big fan of pomegranates, oddly enough. I was just trying to get everything right into your body from a hydration standpoint, from an eating standpoint all while still practicing.”

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Manos, a three-star lineman out of Chapin, wrestled in high school and because of that needed to keep his weight down.

He enrolled early last spring at 275 pounds and quickly made his home in the weight room and, almost just as important, the kitchen.

“(He) did a great job as far as spending some extra time in the weight room doing things from a developmental standpoint with Coach Dillman and Coach Miller down there in the weight room,” offensive line coach Eric Wolford said. “By the end of the year, he started a bowl game and did some good things in the bowl game. He had to carry it over, and he practices against good guys every day in practice so you get a chance to gauge where he’s at as far as an SEC-type lineman.”

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Entering his redshirt freshman year, Manos is physically more equipped to play offensive line in the SEC than he was a year ago.

He’s listed at 290 pounds and is inching closer to 300 entering the season.

That’s a testament to his work in the strength and conditioning program and his eating habits, shoveling as much good food into his system he lost track of how many calories he’d eat during a day.

“I don’t know the specific number but every time I got in bed I felt like I had a tire in my stomach,” he said, cracking a smile.

He learned a lot about cooking for himself from Donell Stanley, the team’s go-to chef, and now he’s hoping Stanley can be another role model for him this year.

That’s because Manos is taking over for Stanley at center, becoming the first freshman to start in the middle of the line since Zack Bailey.

After entering camp in a competition with Chandler Farrell, it only took about a week and a half for Manos to win the job—Farrell moved to tight end and is listed as a starter—and since then Manos has been solid up front.

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“Hank been very good with his snaps. That’s one thing during camp we’ve improved on a lot with just communication with me and him, especially with the crowd noise coach pumps in there,” Jake Bentley said. “Being able to communicate is something we’ve improved a lot.”

Manos already has one start under his belt against Virginia in the Belk Bowl, and since then he and Bentley have steadily improved their communication skills in preparation for the year.

It’s a vital piece of the puzzle between center and quarterback with both needing to know what the other’s thinking in terms of protection and blitz pickup, and it’s so far so good entering Saturday’s opener.

“Trying to get on the same page on which way to slide the line, which way the blitz is coming. They see it a little different than me,” Bentley said. “Trying to limit any pressure and any sacks.”