South Carolina’s attitude when it comes to injuries in recent years has been a “next man up” mentality.
That’s all great, until a key player goes down. When that happens, it takes more than a motto to replace him. So when it was revealed that starting right tackle Dylan Wonnum would be out with an ankle injury, South Carolina needed his backup to perform well under the lights.
Enter freshman Jaylen Nichols, a former three-star prospect from Myers Park (N.C.) High School.
Nichols was a guy that made some noise during the offseason workouts, but once the starting offensive line was set, he settled in as a backup, playing just 10 snaps in mop-up duty against Charleston Southern.
When Wonnum went down, Nichols became the next man up. On a night when the Gamecocks relied heavily on their running game, they didn’t shy away from running behind Nichols.
The Gamecocks struggled in pass protection, giving up three sacks and several hurries, a few of which came off the edge against Nichols. He wasn’t flawless, but his coach was impressed with the way he held up.
“We’ll evaluate the tape, we had a little pressure there at the end of the half,” head coach Will Muchamp said. “I thought he held up in the second half extremely well.”
Nichols is a physically imposing tackle. At 6-foot-5, 320 pounds, he has the size and quickness to be a starter in the SEC. He’ll continue to mature and adjust to the speed of the college game, but he has the tools to be successful. As center Donell Stanley said, the offense can moved forward uninhibited with Nichols at right tackle.
“Jaylen put some stress on my early in the week but you just have to settle him down,” Stanley said. “He has all the ability, he’s a strong guy, we’ve always had faith in him, it’s more just knowing what to do. I communicated with him, relayed some calls to make sure he had them. He made a few mistakes but kept playing, so that’s what I’m all about.”
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Wonnum could be out three to four weeks, according to Muschamp. Even with a bye this week, that means Nichols will face SEC pass rushers from Georgia and Florida in over the next month. There’s a lot to be excited about with Nichols’ game, but he’ll need to be at his best for the Gamecock offense to have success going forward.
