When Paul Jackson took the Gamecocks’ strength and conditioning coach job in December, he probably didn’t see a pandemic throwing a wrench into his offseason program.

But here he is.

The Gamecocks have been working out for the better part of two months now with Jackson, taking extra precautions with Coronavirus and things have gone really well according to Will Muschamp.

“Paul and his entire staff have done a really good job,” he said. “It’s been a grind on them going back to June because we were in phase I and we had to spread our groups out. Thank goodness we have a 20,000 square foot weight room."

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The Gamecocks went through stages of their workout plan, staggering the weight lifting groups throughout the day and developing an entire set of protocols to make sure players are as safe as possible while preparing for preseason camp and a season.

Players have specific doors where they enter and exit from, didn’t shower at the facility and South Carolina had the building sanitized every day after workouts.

As for the actual in-person workouts, Jackson and his staff had to make sure not only the weight room was clean but make sure players were socially distancing in the weight room, spreading them out.

Groups were small enough for players to keep their space, but that unfortunately meant having groups coming in throughout the day and leading to long days for the strength staff.

“We had to spread out our groups and they were starting at 7 in the morning and walking out at 5:30, 6 or 7 o’clock at night,” Muschamp said. “It was probably a 12-hour day for them, four days a week with our lift plan.”

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Jackson is in his first season as the Gamecocks’ head of strength and conditioning after replacing Jeff Dillman this offseason.

His background is in speed and flexibility training after stops at the Parisi Speed School, Southern Miss and Ole Miss.

It’s going to take some time to see his overall impact, but the Gamecocks are getting their first taste of the offseason program with their OTA workouts to see how much players have grown under Jackson.

“They’ve done a really good job. To keep up and see since July 13 as a coach when we were able to work with our players a little bit more, to see the enthusiasm our guys have in the weight room and for walk-throughs, that says a lot about his group because they’re keeping the enthusiasm going,” Muschamp said. “I didn’t see a bunch of guys who looked tired or didn’t seem excited about being in the building.”

South Carolina will begin its preseason camp Aug. 17 and will have 40 days to practice 25 times before the start of the season.

The season is scheduled to start Sept. 26 and will go for 10 games featuring only SEC teams. South Carolina will host Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia, Missouri and Texas A&M with trips to LSU, Florida, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Ole Miss.