In the spring, Will Muschamp always lays out four or five things South Carolina needs to improve on to improve win totals in the coming year with one of those this spring was forcing turnovers.
In a 4-8 season the Gamecocks needed to improve on just 17 turnovers from last season and right now things aren’t going as well as their defensive coordinator wants them to.
“I wouldn’t use the world pleased with that right now. We definitely have to get better,” Travaris Robinson said. “I think the offense does a great job protecting the ball with the different things Mike (Bobo) is doing over there. We have to do a better job forcing fumbles more so than interceptions. I think that’s got to be the next step with the second man in.”
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Last year the Gamecocks only recovered five fumbles and had 12 interceptions last season and finished 43rd in FBS with a plus-3 turnover margin.
It was a marked improvement from the minus-5 margin in 2018, but it was the second-lowest margin under Will Muschamp.
Early in camp Will Muschamp said the defense was doing well forcing turnovers but the offense started to protect the ball better as practice went on this summer.
Right now it can be hard to judge how well the Gamecocks will be able to force fumbles because South Carolina doesn’t fully tackle during practice to prevent injuries, which means whistles get blown before the ball can get forced out.
“It’s hard to do that when you’re in thud tempo and you’re not tackling because you’re worried about thudding the guy and you’re not worried about getting the football and we’re blowing the whistle after the thud,” Robinson said.
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The good news for South Carolina is the coaches will get a chance to see if the defense can force fumbles with a scrimmage Saturday night at Williams-Brice.
They won’t tackle for the entirety of the scrimmage, but there will be tackling periods where guys get brought to the ground.
“I think the scrimmage will be indicative of where we are when we’re bringing guys down to the ground in some aspects of it with the next man in thinking about the football,” Robinson said. “It’ll be interesting to see how Saturday goes as far as getting the football."
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The scrimmage will be under the lights at Williams-Brice Saturday night as the Gamecocks try to recreate what the season opener will look like in three weeks against Tennessee.
They’ll scrimmage at night, recreate different end-of-half scenarios, have live special teams reps and even go to the locker room for a halftime.
“I’m excited for our guys. I told them they need to treat this like game day,” Robinson said. “We’re doing everything in the evening like we would Sept. 26. It’ll be good for our guys to get the feeling of what game day’s like in Willy B.”
