South Carolina is set for its 15th and final spring practice on Saturday with ramped-up stakes. As defensive coordinator Clayton White noted earlier this week, “it’s definitely not practice. It’s a deep evaluation.”

That will be the setting when the Gamecocks play their annual Garnet & Black Spring Game on Saturday, essentially a simulated home SEC environment to be on display under the lights of a 7 p.m. kickoff at Williams-Brice Stadium.

As a final look before we head into the last live action before fall camp, Gamecock Scoop is offering a primer of what we are looking for on each side of the ball later tonight.

It was pretty fascinating to hear the insight White brought to the table this week when talking about the linebackers unit that he coaches. It’s indicative of the transition many college defenses have made in recent years as they combat continually evolving spread offenses that open up their air attacks.

Instead of pigeonholing guys into specific spots, White wants the two main linebackers in his 4-2-5 base system to be versatile and interchangeable.

“We had a couple guys banged up, and I told ‘em going into season ‘I don’t want you to say that you’re a Mike linebacker,’” White said. “You are a linebacker. The best 3-4 guys are gonna play in games. So if I say go play linebacker, we’ll figure out which one it is when you get out there. So learn both. That’s been the mindset this year for linebacker.”

It provides an interesting dynamic at play as we take a gauge at which of those “3-4 guys” will start to emerge as the frontrunners to lead the unit in snaps this fall. Mo Kaba is one player who White marked as looking “very impressive” at Mike linebacker thus far, and touched on Darryle Ware at Mike linebacker and Debo Williams at Mike and Will who have also looked good.

Another prime player White spent a lot of time talking about is Sherrod Greene, the sixth-year super senior who is still returning from the broken ankle that forced him out of nearly the entire 2021 season.

He has been back at practice the last two weeks, including a recent live period. It’s part of the slow road back to going full tilt by the time the season begins, and the Gamecocks are trying not to rush him back.

“He’s an ultimate warrior type of guy so you have to try your best to limit him and get him to the fall,” White said. “He’s in a great spot mentally.”

Greene will be one of the core defensive players we are eyeing on Saturday night. We will need to do so with keen focus whenever No. 44 is on the field as White said he is “definitely on a pitch count” and won’t be thrown out there for too many snaps.

Seeing those snaps, though, should offer us a glimpse inside the window of South Carolina’s defense for the upcoming season. White reiterated that his 4-2-5 base can flip into a 4-3 front and that the Gamecocks can use Greene as a valuable chess piece to move all around the board.

Greene played Mike linebacker in 2021 prior to his injury but “has Will attributes and Nickel attributes, like a Sam linebacker,” White said. “Multiple ways you can play him. He’s a walk-out linebacker like a big DB type guy. He’s very athletic, smart and instinctive.”

The defense has been trying to take advantage of that combination of traits during his limited time in the spring, teaching Greene a new spot that White says could give him a “bigger role.”

Speaking of roles, that’s another key element to this defense that it’s trying to figure out. Throughout the 14 practices, there has been mixing and matching to see which guys fit with who and in which packages.

All of their packages will not be on display during an exhibition game, but we could get an idea of how others will be used. A prime example is Cam Smith, their lead returning cornerback who has the potential to be moved around the defense from the outside to the nickel and vice versa.

In the end, to reiterate White’s quote at the beginning of this breakdown, this is “a deep evaluation” for the staff. That includes a focus on personnel and schemes, so Saturday will give us plenty to talk about on defense.