This time of year, Adam Prentice is dealing with snow on the ground and now he’s worried about learning his way around a new campus.
Prentice spent the last five years at Colorado State, a place pretty accustomed to snow, and will play his final year at South Carolina where things shut down at the threat of snow.
And, if that’s the only adjustment he has to make, he thinks that’s a good thing.
“I was getting a hard time for wearing flip flops right now but I don’t have to worry about snow getting between my toes. I wear shorts and T-shirts all the time. I’m really enjoying it. I’m liking it out here,” Prentice said. “Getting settled in here with school and football has been great.”
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Prentice comes over with new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who coached Prentice and recruited him to South Carolina once the decision to transfer happened.
Not only does Prentice bring a level of familiarity with the offense most guys don’t have after growing up in it the last half decade, he adds a versatile piece Bobo can move around to do different things to impact the offense.
At Colorado State, Prentice lined up at a few different spots bouncing from fullback, H-back to in-line tight end and was pretty productive in his limited opportunities.
He averaged 3.6 yards per carry on 18 attempts and catch 18 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown.
Right now he doesn’t know fully what his role will be—he said the split has been “about 50-50” between tight end and full back, comparing his responsibilities to one of the best fullbacks in the NFL.
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“I’m a San Francisco 49er fan, so I watched a lot of Kyle Juszczyk and I think some of his plays and the plays the 49ers run are similar to our offense,” he said. “A lot of the motions he has are similar to what we run.”
Prentice goes from Colorado State where he was one of the guys to South Carolina where he’s the old guy expected to help teach a relatively young group of tight ends and running backs.
The Gamecocks have just three scholarship tight ends who are considered upperclassmen: Will Register; Nick Muse, who’s out rehabbing an ACL injury; and Chandler Farrell, who converted to tight end from center last year.
The rest of the scholarship guys on campus currently are all freshmen with two more tight ends expected to come this summer in Eric Shaw and Jaheim Bell.
At running back they only have three scholarship players on campus currently in Deshaun Fenwick, Kevin Harris and MarShawn Lloyd with ZaQuandre White and Rashad Amos still set to enroll.
“Physicality and coming in my knowledge of the offense to help guys learn it and pick it up quickly,” Prentice said on what he can bring. “Then, leadership to get the guys to rally around each other to be that dominant offense I know we can be.”
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Prentice is still getting used to South Carolina and is ready to get back to work this season and see what the Gamecocks can do under Bobo’s offense.
“I think he’s a great leader. I believe in the offense and the system he runs,” Prentice said. “I believe it can be very effective. It’s proven to be effective when we were at CSU, and I think it’s going to be effective here.”
