One of the Gamecocks’ biggest pieces in the 2020 class wasn’t on the field this spring but is getting closer to a return to full action.

Rod Wilson said In a Zoom call this week linebacker Mohamed Kaba, who tore his ACL during his senior season, is coming along and making good progress during the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Mo’s coming along. Mo, from what I know, he’s getting better. I’m excited. I’m excited because of what I’ve seen on film from Mo. It sucks for him being a freshman that just got in and all of the sudden had to go home,” Wilson said.

“He had to go home and deal with online courses and no longer being in front of a teacher or professor or his peers in the classroom. He had to go home deal with online courses. He accepted the challenge and did the best job he could. From a player standpoint, I look forward to working with Mo.”

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Kaba tore his ACL four games into his senior season and has been doing rehab since then, first at home and then enrolling early at South Carolina with the Gamecocks’ training staff.

He tweeted a video a little over a month ago on April 20 showing some of the progress he’s made.

According to Emory Healthcare, it takes about six months for a player to return to sports after ACL surgery. If that’s Kaba’s timetable, he could likely be up and ready to go for some of summer workouts and fall camp.

When he does, he’ll enter a linebacker room that Wilson’s come to really like in the short time he’s been around them.

Kaba is the only true freshman at linebacker but Gamecocks have a host of experience at linebacker with Ernest Jones, Sherrod Greene and Damani Staley with some young talent like Rosendo Louis Jr. and Jahmar Brown.

“It’s been good. From what I observed the first three weeks and some practices, it’s been good,” Wilson said. “The guys are putting a lot of effort into what we’re asking them to do and investing in the attention to detail. It sucks it came to an end so abruptly with the pandemic, but they’re working really hard and the personalities are great.”

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Wilson took over as the Gamecocks’ linebackers coach this February after Coleman Hutzler took a job at Texas.

He comes to South Carolina after four years as assistant special teams coach with the Kansas City Chiefs and was part of this year’s Super Bowl team.

Before that, he spent four years with Charleston Southern as the Buccaneers’ inside linebacker coach.

Now, he’s back to his roots as the full-time linebackers coach but will be helping special teams coordinator Kyle Krantz some with that side of the ball.

“Coming from the special teams side of things in the NFL, I dealt with a ton of personalities. You have a DB, a wide receiver and a linebacker; those personalities are different,” Wilson said. “You have an O-lineman and his personality is different. It’s a room full of linebackers and being able to relate to them a little different since I’ve played the position. Just getting to know those guys, it’s a room full of personalities and I love it.”