Dowell Loggains expects South Carolina's WR room to be more 'by committee' this year. Here's why
What Xavier Legette did in his final season at South Carolina was truly special. But at least for right now, it’s going to be hard for any one player to replicate what he did with over 1,200 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
With Legette gone and in the NFL, there’s going to be plenty of production for the taking. With this year’s team, though, there won’t be that Legette-type player. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains expects something different.
“You’re not ever going to replace that guy. So it’s more like moneyball,” he said. “You’re trying to figure out which three to four to six guys can replace the production he had, and is there different ways to replace that production?”
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To say Legette was the focal point of South Carolina’s offense last year would be an understatement. He was responsible for more than 25 percent of the team’s receptions. Plus, the next top two targets, Trey Knox and Ahmarean Brown, have moved onto the NFL, leaving a bigger hole to fill in the process.
From what Loggains has seen in fall camp, there’s still an ongoing competition in the receiver room. He even went as far as saying no one has separated themselves from the rest of the group yet. So for now, this means South Carolina could be looking at going by committee in terms of who’s catching passes.
“There’s Rocket Sanders and Juju (McDowell) playing to that, these tight ends we just talked about playing to that. So it’s spreading out balance…it’s different skill guys touching the ball and being productive that way,” Loggains said. “I don’t think we had very good balance last year outside of Knox and Legette. We need to improve that. And so we’re counting on some of those guys and doing it a different way. Obviously this year, no one’s going to come in and replace (Legette) and what he did.”
With a little over a week until the regular season begins, head coach Shane Beamer has an ideal number of receivers he’d like to travel this year. In his preliminary travel roster list, nine of the 74 players were receivers. But that could always change depending on the week.
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“Ideally, if we’re playing three receivers, typically both snaps, you’d love to have three guys and three guys that can back them up, which is six, and then two or three swing guys. So ideally, eight or nine,” Beamer said. “Could it be less than that? Sure, especially depending on how the tight ends come along. Could it be more than that? Absolutely, but it’s going to be because they’re really good special teams players.”
Who could be a part of that every week group? It could depend, but there are plenty of options. Jared Brown, Nyck Harbor, Dalevon Campbell, Dre Jacobs, Luke Doty, Gage Larvadain and Mazeo Bennett all seem to be safe bets.
To get to nine, that only leaves a few more spots open, and that’s not even factoring in who travels from the other offensive position groups. In the end, it will really come down to who the most versatile players are and how they can help the team, outside of just playing as a receiver.
“If we’re going to take nine, then we’re counting on a couple of those guys being really, really good special teams players,” Beamer said.
