RJ Roderick couldn’t help but smile when the question was asked?

Who’s the hardest hitter in the secondary?

He laughed, rocked back and forth and blurted out Jammie Robinson before including himself in the conversation as well.

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“I’d have to be me or Jammie, man,” Robinson said, trying to conceal a smile. “The backfield has the hardest hitters. I can’t put him down. My dog is up there too. He’s out there and he’s for real.”

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It’s easy to see the respect Roderick has for Robinson, who’s coming off a freshman All-American season last year, but the relationship goes deeper than that.

Robinson is expected to start opposite Roderick at safety when the Gamecocks start their season in two weeks with Roderick excited about the potential there.

“I know there’s someone else looking to hit somebody just like me. I know he’s going to fly around, I know he’s going to set the edge and I know he’s going to get off a block,” Roderick said. “I know he’s going to do what he needs to do and it’s going to make my job easier. It’s good to play with him back there because we make it easier on each other.”

Roderick has been penciled in all offseason at one of the safety positions and hasn’t done anything to lose his spot with Will Muschamp saying Roderick’s been incredibly consistent over the last four weeks of training camp.

He’s done so well the Gamecocks are asking him to do a little more in the defense this year.

Not only is he expected to be one of the hardest-hitters on the defense, the Gamecocks are having him play a little bit of nickel but trusting him as a DIME linebacker if he needs to be, which means playing in the box a little more.

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“When I go down and play DIME, I just go down and play man coverage. They treat me just like another DB. If they’re running a hurry up and it’s first down offense then I’ll stay in the box and know my assignment,” Roderick said. “ For the most part it’s carrying vertical routes, reading the front shoulder of the quarterback.”

Part of that is just Roderick’s comfort level of the defense, and it took him two years to feel really good in what the Gamecock coaches were asking from him in the defense.

He’s had plenty of chances to get comfy, earning the starting spot late in his freshman year and started all of last season as well.

“I’m very comfortable. I love playing safety. I love being on defense. I love rotating around whether that’s me playing nickel, me playing DIME,” Roderick said. “I just really have grown into it. I’m learning more stuff now and enhancing things I know like the fronts or stunts or anything I can learn more to gain.”

The junior is expected to be a key piece in the defense returning almost all of their defensive back experience last season while returning two of their three starters at linebacker and having depth on the defensive line.

“Championship defense,” Roderick said. “I feel like when we’re playing at our best. When everyone is on one cord it’s a championship level defense.”