Robinson excited about newest crop of DB signees
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
When South Carolina took the field for the start of spring practice Wednesday, defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson knew a thin defensive back group would be a little bit thinner.
That is, at least, until this summer. The Gamecocks took the practice field this spring without four of their signees in the 2019 class and Robinson is preparing knowing those four signees will be able to help his team this fall.
“Obviously we’re a little light right now in the secondary right now with the three guys we signed not able to be here right now,” he said. “We have some guys out there right now that probably won’t help us in the season at this current state. We’re excited about the guys we do have.”
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The Gamecocks have four defensive backs signed in the 2019 class: Cam Smith, Shiloh Sanders, Johnny Dixon and Jammie Robinson.
Smith was planning to be a mid-year enrollee but plans changed in January and Smith isn’t expected on campus until this summer.
Robinson said a few guys might come in for the Maymester but expects all four of his newest signees to be on campus for the first Summer I session which begins in May.
Regardless of when all four guys get in, Robinson said the signees will be able to make an impact and potentially help right away.
This is the fourth recruiting class Robinson’s helped bring in at South Carolina and thinks all four guys fit the mold of the kind of defensive back the Gamecocks want to have to compete in the SEC on a regular basis.
“Play corner in our system a guy would have to be able to cover man-to-man. That’s what we want to do, that’s what we want to be,” he said. “At times in previous years we weren’t able to do that as much as we wanted. I think those guys are really good shutdown, man-to-man guys. We had all those guys in camp. We moved them around; we’ve seen those guys. I’m excited about them.”
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All four signees besides Sanders is a four-star prospect with Sanders coming in at a three-star, 5.7 rating. Smith, Dixon and Robinson are all rated at 5.8.
Smith and Dixon are more outside-type corners while Robinson and Sanders could be used in a few different ways. Robinson said once they get on campus, those two will be in the thick of the competition to play at nickel back this season.
Robinson is the latest signee, committing and signing to the Gamecocks on national signing day, and impressed the coaching staff with his work ethic at the team’s camps.
“I like all good players. He can run and he can hit. It’s funny. When he came to camp, we do the county fair at camp. You can see some of the five-star, four-star guys kind of shy away from that stuff. Jammie jumped right in there. He was first person in the line at every drill,” Robinson said. “That’s just some things we watch. We look for characteristic traits we like: guys that are going to have the work ethic, guys that won’t be prima donnas and guys that will come in and compete. One thing that people who’ve been around Jammie will say is that he’s competitive. That’s important to us. He’s got a chance to be a good football player.”
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In his three seasons so far, Robinson hasn’t been scared to start freshmen in the secondary with Jaycee Horn starting every game last season and both RJ Roderick and Israel Mukuamu getting starts the back half of the season.
It’s still way too early to speculate on if the four signees will start or get significant playing time but there will be plenty of opportunity to do so.
“Our motto here now and that’s been with Coach Muschamp and myself for a long time: if you’re the best player you’ll start, if you’re good enough, you’ll play and if you’re not, you won’t,” Robinson said. “We’ve played a bunch of freshmen, so we’re not scared to play freshman at all. We just have to get them ready.”