When everything is clicking senior defensive lineman Rick Sandidge says his game is explosive, like his old high school self.

On top of being named to the first-team All-USA North Carolina football team his senior year of high school, Sandidge totaled 83 tackles and seven sacks and was to ranked as the a four-star prospect, the No. 45 player nationally second-best defensive lineman in the country by Rivals.

Since arriving on campus with the 2018 class, Sandidge has appeared in 34 games in his first three years at South Carolina and has only totaled 30 tackles in that time span. So it makes sense why he would want to "get back to high school Rick."

"My confidence level is high, its high, like its super high. This is my senior year I have to go out with a bang," Sandidge said in a media availability on Tuesday afternoon.

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One improvement that Sandidge has focused on in the last few months has been his body. In the winter Sandidge joked he looked "chubby" but thanks to new strength and conditioning coach Luke Day's program he feels that his body has improved, citing that he's "slimmed down a lot," listed now at 302 pounds.

"When I went home for the break, my parents used to say I'm fat, then when I got back they said, 'Oh I see a difference'. So Coach Day and the staff have most definitely been making my body a whole lot better."

Technique wise, Sandidge said he was working on his footwork the most with new defensive line coach Jimmy Lindsey.

Sandidge, who has had four defensive line coaches at South Carolina, spoke highly of Lindsey saying that he liked him a lot.

"Coach Lindsey likes quality over quantity," he said. "He wants you to do it right, understand why you're doing it right and then get better from doing it."

Despite wanting to return to his high school self, Sandidge won't don the goggles he wore during games back then.

"No chance of that," he said, "The goggles get fogged up. I remember in high school we used RainX, like the stuff you use on your car, and it still wouldn't work," mentioning he will be sticking to "strictly contacts."

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Another thing that won't be returning is the number 90. After wearing 90 on his jersey the last three years and all of high school, Sandidge has changed his number to five for his senior season.

Something his mother wasn't too fond of, "my mama was mad about me changing my number because I've had that ever since high school," Sandidge said.

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