Peterson still evaluating personnel at hybrid BUCK position
Similar in many ways to the former spur position in the 4-2-5 scheme favored by former South Carolina defensive coordinators Ellis Johnson and Lorenzo Ward, the new BUCK linebacker role is a hybrid position demanding the assorted skills of both a defensive end and outside linebacker.
Simply, you must be quick enough to rush the passer, strong enough to stand your ground defending the run on the perimeter and capable of doing everything in-between.
Mike Peterson, South Carolina’s first-year outside linebackers coach and experienced NFL veteran, maintains the position requires a special type of player.
“First of all, you have to be a tough kid, super tough, and thick skinned,” Peterson told reporters earlier this week after practice. “I’m going to coach you really tough and get on you really hard. You must be able to do a lot of things – play the run and play the pass, be physical and do a lot of things for us. A lot is expected from the position.”
Peterson is working primarily with four players at the BUCK position – redshirt freshman Daniel Fennell, fifth-year senior Darius English, junior Bryson Allen-Williams and sophomore Boosie Whitlow.
However, Peterson and linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler have experimented with a variety of combinations since the spring to find the best ones for Saturdays in the fall.
“Right now, we’re trying to find the combination of guys we’re going to use,” Peterson said. “We’re still in the evaluation process. We’re adapting to the type of guys we have. We’re trying to find the perfect connection of guys we’re going to use and see what fits best moving forward. You’ll see me coach a number of guys.”
English has 38 career games on his resume but has struggled to shift into a higher gear since he arrived at USC in 2012 as a highly-touted defensive end from Powder Springs, Ga. He had 21 sacks as a senior at McEachern High School and was named the Georgia Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year, yet the most sacks he has amassed in a single season for the Gamecocks is 4.5 in 2015.
“He’s been here a while, so he’s familiar with college football and the things you need to do off the field and getting your body ready to play,” Peterson said. “In terms of athletic ability, he has the size (6-6). He is a very long guy. We’re just tailoring the things we’ve done in the past to what he can do for us now.”
Going into Friday’s 19th practice of preseason camp. Peterson has now been on the practice field 33 times with his players – 15 in the spring and 18 in August. The feeling out process is still ongoing.
“The biggest improvement I’ve seen is the kids are buying into what we’re saying,” said Peterson, hired on January 26 as the final on-field assistant coach added to Will Muschamp’s staff. “When you get the kids to buy in, the learning curve seems to shrink a lot. That’s where we’re at right now.”
Sophomore Boosie Whitlow, though, is one player Peterson wants to see push his ‘buy-in’ factor to the next level. Whitlow enjoyed an encouraging freshman campaign in 2015 with 14 tackles, 4 QBH and 5.0 TFL, but appears to be languishing on the depth chart at the BUCK position.
“He has to keep coming along and buying into what we’re doing,” Peterson said of Whitlow. “We preach effort, toughness and discipline here a lot. The more he buys into that, the greater his production on the football field. Those are things I preach to him every day, and all the guys. You have to give effort. Guys that give 100 percent effort every day are going to be the guys that play on Saturday. What Boosie thinks is 100 percent might not be 100 percent in my eyes.”
With 11 practices and nearly two weeks remaining before the Gamecocks square off with Vanderbilt in the season opener on Sept. 1, Peterson isn’t ready to say how his guys stack up at BUCK or strongside (SAM) linebacker, the two positions he oversees.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” Peterson said. “We’re still evaluating guys and seeing what we have.”
Without a doubt, Peterson’s lengthy NFL background demands attention from prospects, many of whom hope to follow in his footsteps and ‘play on Sundays.’
“It’s a natural thing for them to listen to me in a different way,” Peterson said. “A lot of these kids grew up watching me play on Sunday. I have to funnel that in the right way. I need to show them ‘The Way’ and show them how it’s done and the things you do like taking care of your body and how to watch tape and the things you do away from the game. I might get their ear a little differently than a lot of other guys. But it comers with the territory.”
Peterson’s biggest strength as a coach might be his brutal honesty with the players.
“I shoot them straight,” Peterson said. “I don’t sugar coat it with the guys. I’m hard on them at times and I love them up when it’s time for that. My style is a probably a little different from a lot of guys, but I do it in the way I would have wanted as a player.”
NOTES:
-- A member of Florida’s national championship team in 1996, Peterson was a second round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 1999 and played for three teams (Colts, Jaguars and Falcons) during a 14-year NFL playing career. He retired after the 2012 season and returned to Florida to finish his degree while working as an undergraduate assistant coach under Will Muschamp on the Gators strength & conditioning staff. Peterson was inducted into Florida’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
-- Peterson is the older brother of former Chicago Bears RB Adrian Peterson.
