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South Carolina football was back on the practice field Friday, this time in pads.
The Gamecocks held their eighth practice of fall camp, the second one they with pads. The first scrimmage of fall camp will be tomorrow at Williams-Brice Stadium, a date that marks three weeks away from the season-opener against North Carolina in Charlotte.
Here are some some observations from the five periods of open practice.
Key Absences
Right off the bat, two major abscenes on the offensive side of the ball grabbed the headlines. Expected starters Antwane Wells Jr. and Trey Knox were both not present at practice. Knox has been dealing with a knee injury, and while both were involved in each of the first two open practices, Wells did not participate in any of the 11-on-11 reps.
Freshman wide receiver Kelton Henderson, who was working off to the side during the last open practice on Monday, was also not accounted for during the five open periods.
Injury Updates
On the positive front, linebacker Stone Blanton was back and appeared to be going through full practice after being off to the side in each of the first two open practices. Freshman wide receiver CJ Adams had his blue limited contact jersey off and appeared to be at full strength.
Defensive backs Peyton Williams and B.J. Gibson both were off to the side in the last practice and were full go. Defensive end Tyreek Johnson was still wearing a blue jersey, and there were a couple new injuries on the defensive side as defensive end Terrell Dawkins and linebacker Pup Howard were both off to the side during positional group drills.
JuJu McDowell also had a brace on his right leg, although he was still going through the full stretch period and positional drills with the rest of the running backs.
Running Back Room
There is still a big question about who will round out the depth in the running back room, and an individual period where running backs coach Montario Hardesty was throwing passes to alll of the running backs provided a little bit of a glimpse into who is working with the room.
McDowell, Dakereon Joyner, Mario Anderson Jr., Bradley Dunn, T.J. Twitty and Djay Braswell were all in the group, and are expected to make up most of the gameday depth chart. Nathan Harris-Waynick, Kamron Sandlin and Chase McCracken rounded out the group of nine backs.
Kick Return Duties
During a special teams period the Gamecocks spent a couple minutes working on kick returns, and four players split the duties. Last year's kickoff return ace Xavier Legette was of course back there, along with McDowell and Joyner as the returning players. One interesting note is that true freshman wide receiver Elijah Caldwell also took a turn returning kicks. Caldwell, a Rock Hill, S.C. native, was the last member of South Carolia's 2023 recruiting class to sign.
DQ Smith Makes A Play
South Carolinna's returning safety had one of the highlights of practice, stepping in front of a pass and grabbing it off a deflection during a wide receiver vs. safety period.
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