TJ Sanders shares why facing North Carolina to open the season is helpful

The South Carolina Gamecocks are hitting the ground running for the 2023 season. While some other schools in the SEC are starting their season off against lesser-known competition, the Gamecocks will do battle with one of this year’s contenders for the ACC crown, regional rival North Carolina.

As they prepare for their Week 1 face-off against the Tar Heels at fall camp, star defensive tackle TJ Sanders shares why facing their north of the border foe to open the season is a positive for the team.

“I definitely think with UNC (in the) first week, it’s going to tell us a lot of things about our team. What we need to know; what we need to improve on. And just things that last year’s flaws that we might need to make sure we double back on clean up for the upcoming season,” said Sanders.

Sanders and the Gamecocks’ defense will have their hands full attempting to contain one of the top quarterbacks in college football, Drake Maye. Many college football experts have him pinned as the second-best quarterback in the sport behind USC’s Caleb Williams.

While an opponent of this caliber to start the season could be concerning, as Sanders pointed out, there are many positives that go along with it. And a win against North Carolina in week one would definitely go a long way in setting the tone for South Carolina for the rest of the 2023 season.

Shane Beamer addresses health of South Carolina roster

South Carolina will need all hands on deck against North Carolina in Week 1, which is why player health will be key. The Gamecocks enter fall camp in solid health, based on the assessment of head coach Shane Beamer. As the Gamecocks start building to what they hope can be a breakthrough season, the bulk of any injuries in camp to start aren’t long-term issues, Beamer said.

No one will be in danger of missing the first game other than players already known to have long-term injuries. Anyone banged up heading into camp will be ready for the first game and at worst limited in practice, Beamer said.

“We’ve got some guys that are — everyone will be out there. Now we’ve got some that are going to be limited but there’s nobody that’s not going to be on the field for any reason other than they may be limited from an injury standpoint. Nobody really new,” Beamer said.

The extent of the limitations was unclear and Beamer didn’t specify, but he did offer an inkling of why a few players might be hampered as camp kicks off.

“It was a physical-as-could-be, gnarly, nasty grueling summer. So there are certainly some things that flare up throughout the summer that guys may be a little bit limited as we go into preseason camp. Nothing that’ll keep anybody out, long term. So they’ll be certainly some people limited but nothing long-term where they wouldn’t be ready for game one other than guys that we’ve previously, already talked about,” Beamer said.