During the final 10 days until the start of South Carolina's season, Gamecock Central will use each day to take a look at 10 storylines that will most directly affect the success of Carolina's 2018 campaign.
With two days until kickoff, we look at our No. 2 storyline - The debut of the Gamecocks new offense.
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After an entire offseason talking about it, South Carolina will finally debut its new offense Saturday against Coastal Carolina.
Whether or not first-year playcaller Bryan McClendon's unit can live up to its potential will likely determine if the Gamecocks as a team can live up to theirs too.
But so far, head coach Will Muschamp has liked what he's seen with kickoff quickly approaching.
“First off, our tempo has been much better, as far as us getting on the ball and dictating the tempo of the game," Muschamp said. "I think that’s Bryan's mentality as a play-caller. It all goes back to the mentality of the play-caller. (We’re) very aggressive in what we’re trying to do down the field. In order to create explosive plays, you’ve got to take some shots. To me, I go back to the tempo, what we’re playing with, is going to help us in the run game. It’s going to help us in protecting Jake (Bentley). It’s going to help us sustain more drives.”
Staying on the field and creating more explosive plays would be a great start for an offense that struggled to find its rhythm last season under playcaller Kurt Roper.
In 2017, South Carolina finished 12th in the SEC in points per game (24.2) and yards per game (337.1). Some of that was clearly due to injuries to key personnel like Deebo Samuel and Rico Dowdle.
But the Gamecocks' deliberate, methodical pace and subdued approach didn't help matters either.
“I feel like, in order to score points, you have to try to score points,” McClendon said. “That’s going to be my mindset as far as going out there and calling it. Sometimes I’m going to have to get reeled back a little bit, and I’m OK with that. We want to be aggressive in everything we do.”
McClendon's mindset could be realized on the field in several ways. One, the Gamecocks have said there have been more deep shots in practice. That also comes along with the much-talked-about switch to an offense with the ability to go up-tempo.
“The biggest change I have seen is that when guys are running a vertical, instead of just trying to stretch out the defense, it could really be a play that goes for a score, because when he sees the one-on-one he wants me to throw it,” quarterback Jake Bentley said. “He’s just very aggressive, has a very aggressive mindset.”
What's a fair number to expect in the offense's debut Saturday? No one wanted to say. But they do have goals.
“I just want to be efficient and be as perfect as we can and score a lot of points,” tight end K.C. Crosby said. “And win the game, of course.”
