The plan for Burch early this season
If Will Muschamp’s said it once, he’s said it a thousand times: the closer your position is to the football, the harder it is to play as a freshman.
That means it’s especially hard for guys like defensive linemen to make an impact in their first collegiate season.
The Gamecocks, though, have one of their highest-rated players ever at the BUCK position in Jordan Burch with the plan to play him this season.
“Right now you look at the buck position and JJ Enagbare then we’re borrowing from the BUCK position and he’s playing some SAM for us, which gives Jordan an opportunity to do it. He’s going to have an opportunity to do it,” defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson said. “He just needs to get the reps.”
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It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Burch—Robinson said the pass rusher missed a little bit of time this preseason, although he didn’t specify why—but the coaching staff has been impressed with what he’s done when at practice.
“Jordan’s doing a good job. Obviously he has a lot of expectations and he knows that. He’s doing a good job. He’s a very focused kid. He’s a very humble kid. It’s crazy. You get a guy that’s recruited the way he was recruited and sometimes it takes him a while to understand who they really are but I think he’s done a good job of that,” Travaris Robinson said.
“I tell you what, man, he just has to keep learning the defense and we have to put him in some advantageous situations where he can be successful.”
While Enagbare is the team’s slotted starter at BUCK, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Burch in there rushing the passer next Saturday against Tennessee.
But, because he is a freshman who has missed some time, the Gamecocks will have a limited role for him not asking him to do a lot other than get after the quarterback.
“We’ll have a condensed play sheet when he’s out there to help him with the things we’re doing. We wont ask him to a bunch,” Robinson said. “We’ll ask him to strike blocks and play fast. I think that’ll help him out when we start locking down on exactly his role for the football team early in the year.”
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Burch was one of the bigger commitments for the Gamecocks in the 2020 class and is one of the highest rated players to ever sign at South Carolina.
He was considered the No. 17 overall prospect in the class, a five-star talent, coming out of Hammond School in Columbia.
“I know one thing: when he hops off the bus he’s going to be a pretty, pretty ballplayer,” position coach Mike Peterson said. “He looks good man. He has it all. He’s fast; he’s strong. The thing I like the most about him is he’s really coachable. I can get on him.”
