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Stepp: Gamecocks have 'NFL ready' offense

Justin Stepp is only five practices into his tenure at South Carolina and working with Marcus Satterfield, but he already likes what he’s seeing.

The Gamecocks are in the midst of installing Satterfield’s new offense and Stepp said as a receivers coach it gives his group a lot of freedom within the structure of the play.

“Man, I love it as a receiver with just the freedom you have with a lot of option routes,” Stepp said. “There are so many complements off every play. We have a lot of offense in; there is a lot. It’s amazing how well our guys have picked up on it.”

Courtesy South Carolina athletics
Courtesy South Carolina athletics
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Players have described Satterfield’s system as pro-style and similar to offenses run at the NFL level.

It would make sense with Satterfield cutting his teeth under Matt Rhule, who was formally at Temple and Baylor and now with the Carolina Panthers.

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What Stepp’s really seen is a heavy influence from what Joe Brady’s done over the last two years with LSU and then under Rhule with the Panthers.

The 2019 LSU team, which went a perfect 15-0 and won a national title, averaged 401.6 yards passing that year with starter Joe Burrow averaging almost 11 yards per attempt.

This is not Stepp saying South Carolina’s offense is going to be the second coming of that, but more saying he’s starting to see some of the formations and stylistic elements of a Joe Brady offense in Columbia.

“I love our offense. If you’re a receiver, it’s a lot of the same things LSU was doing with Joe Brady with bunch sets, close sets and choice routes,” Stepp said. “It’s a fun offense to play in. It's a NFL-ready offense. The transition from playing in this offense to playing at the next level is going to help you a lot. It’s a really cool system to be in.”

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Satterfield is in his first year as the Gamecocks’ offensive coordinator, coming in with new head coach Shane Beamer.

His most recent stop was as an assistant offensive line coach for the Panthers where he worked closely with both Rhule and Brady.

Before that he was at Baylor with Rhule with stops as Tennessee Tech’s head coach, and offensive coordinator at Temple, UT-Chattanooga and UT-Martin.

This is Satterfield’s first Power-5 coordinator job, but Stepp said he’s been impressed with the Gamecocks’ new offensive coordinator.

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“I don’t think I’ve ever been around as smart a football coach as Marcus Satterfield. He’s like a mad scientist. He has a good way about him with the kids. He brings the energy every day,” Stepp said.

“We walk in this morning and could hear music playing out of his office before we even got up the stairs. He’s a high-energy guy. He’s very, very sharp. As we watch film together he sees things that I’m like, ‘Golly, I would have never caught that.’ I’m excited to work with him. I love our offensive staff.”

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