With so many new faces on the roster, Frank Martin knew what he’s done in offseasons past with more experienced teams wasn’t going to work.

Knowing that, Martin not only too a more active role in offseason workouts but spent a lot of the preseason focusing on and building the foundational aspect of his offensive and defensive schemes.

It’s been so far so good there, but things change starting Thursday and even more so next week.

“I kept things very, very vanilla for a long portion of preseason for a reason. I needed us to understand our foundation and our structure and not be worried about running plays or gimmick defenses for a certain play or opponent,” Martin said. “I’m real happy. There’s an understanding of the basics of what we do that I’m real happy with right now from an understanding standpoint.”

South Carolina is breaking in nine newcomers—six transfers, three freshmen—who haven’t played a minute of Martin’s system in a real game yet.

So it was imperative for the Gamecocks, starting with Martin, to build it from the ground up with the goal avoiding some of the learning curve that could potentially creep up in early season games.

And those early season contests are officially here.

The Gamecocks unofficially begin their season Thursday night in an exhibition against Benedict (7 p.m.) and then in earnest Tuesday in the regular season opener at home against USC Upstate.

Then opponents begin trying to test South Carolina’s offensive and defensive systems and players have to be ready to adjust and tweak those foundations.

“I’ve been preparing them for the last eight to 10 practices that this week, even though our game this week doesn’t count, we have games. Now we have to start getting game ready. Now defenses are not as vanilla as we tend to play in practice,” Martin said.

“It’s now more geared up for an opponent or a play and the structure of an opponent. Then offensively, the simplicity of how we play is in place and I’m confident in that, but I have to start being able to run plays in certain situations to attack certain matchups or take advantage of one of our players who’s playing really well.”

And it’ll be imperative for the Gamecocks to hit the ground running after a tough 2020 where they finished 13th in the SEC in offensive efficiency and 11th in defensive.

It remains to be seen how this group of newcomers will gel together but Martin likes where things are in early November.

“That’s where we’re at right now. We’re about to start getting a little more game ready, game specific,” he said, “but I’m at peace with where we’re at from a foundation and understanding of our structure.”

The big question now for Martin is if his team can keep up as his defense continues to progress from the vanilla it’s been for large portions of the preseason and he doesn’t want to see anyone get left behind.

“This is more like math. If you get left behind and don’t get through chapter one, you have no chance on catching up on your own. Chapter two and three are coming. in math if you get left behind you’re not passing. There’s a couple guys I worry about because everyone else has learned the foundation so quickly that I don’t want them to get left behind.”

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