Coaches typically say a player's biggest jump comes between his freshman and sophomore years. If that's true, then a player's junior year is really when he starts to put the talent and the experience together.

And the Gamecocks have plenty of key players entering their junior seasons in 2020.

Before the scheduled season, we're looking at each class and some of the most important players in each, with the junior class up next.

Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu

Is it a little cheap to package these two guys together? Probably, but the two Gamecock corners seem to be talked about in the same breath since the moment they stepped on campus and that won't change this year.

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Both guys are considered top-end NFL prospects with both potentially first rounders in 2021 and will be vital to South Carolina's success if football is played this fall. Horn is one of the better corners in the SEC and Mukuamu has the size to play corner and safety in the SEC and will help out at either of those two spots this year.

If they can be the guys scouts anticipate them being, it could be one of the better defensive backfields so far under Will Muschamp.

Brad Johnson

The Gamecocks lost one of their most productive players of the Muschamp era in DJ Wonnum, which means someone will have to step up at the BUCK position this year and fill those shoes.

Johnson is the senior-most BUCK in the room as a redshirt junior and is coming off a year where he only played in four games last year dealing with a groin injury. Getting back fully healthy will be the biggest storyline for him.

The Gamecocks need him to either step up and bolster the pass rush or help bring some of the younger guys like Rodricus Fitten and Jordan Burch.

Also see: Which players could change the course of this football season

OrTre Smith

Last season's passing attack struggled mightily at times, especially so when the Gamecocks didn't have big-bodied receivers like Bryan Edwards available due to injury.

Smith didn't see a lot of action last year—six games, nine catches and 69 yards—in his first full year back from a major knee surgery.

Now that Edwards is off to the NFL, the Gamecocks desperately need someone like Smith to step up and be an option down the field in the pass game.

Dylan Wonnum

Like Smith, Wonnum's sophomore season was marred with injuries, missing most of the stretch run with an ankle injury and would have missed all of spring coming back from a hip procedure.

The Gamecocks have a lot of pieces returning on the offensive line but need to have Wonnum step up and anchor one of the tackle spots if they want to improve their run blocking and pass protection.

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Jazton Turnetine

Turnetine is the only newcomer on this list and he's the biggest, quite literally. The junior college transfer is listed at 6-foot-6, 337 pounds and is arguably the favorite to win the left tackle position.

Left tackle is one of the most important positions on the offensive side of the ball and it'll be up to Turnetine to not only win the job but, if he does, play well enough to protect Ryan Hilinski and pave the way for guys like MarShawn Lloyd and the running backs.