Everything Travian Robertson said about South Carolina spring football practice on Monday

South Carolina defensive line coach Travian Robertson met with the media on Monday to discuss the progress of his group in spring practice so far. Here’s everything he had to say.

How’s it been working with mostly a brand-new room?

“A lot different knowing that the guys that we lost and had two years with them, but it’s good. It’s part of football. Guys come here, they leave, they come and leave. So it’s been different. We miss Tonka (Hemingway), we miss TJ (Sanders), we miss Boogie (Huntley). But it’s a challenge getting these guys to buy into, coming from a different school, so just to buy into our terminology, what we do.”

With Monkell Goodwine and Nick Barrett coming back, it would seem like those are kind of the main leaders for you. How have you seen them sort of elevate into that role and take on that type of challenge?

“Well, it’s good to have them back. Not having them back would have been a little different, but knowing that they have already been here, we have the same coaches. They understand how we practice, they understand how we do things. So it’s good to have them because having new guys coming in whether it’s freshmen or transfers, they can help be an extension to coaches. So it’s always great to have experience, especially on the d-line.”

Through spring practice so far, what have you been most impressed with from your guys?

“Just them buying in. I tell guys, with the way football is going, now we’re going to always have a new team. So just to get the guys to buy in. And I’m very impressed knowing that there have been five practices, and you can actually see guys buying into the way we practice, in the way we play. And they all have been, you know, very impressed. We had a meeting and all the guys that was coming from different places stood up to explain what was different. And they all seem to think that we work really hard and do things a lot differently than other places.”

What was the conversation in the middle of last year to have Nick Barrett redshirt and be able to come back this year?

“It was just Nick knowing the situation. I didn’t recruit Nick and I didn’t know that his freshman year, it was kind of him just being on field goal a lot, and he really didn’t play a lot of defense. And Nick is the type of kid who’s going to do whatever it takes to help the team. And to have Nick back is huge for us, because we have a guy who is going to do whatever he asks to have the team, was great. Nick, first year his his only role was to be on field goal. He did that. He played his role well. Just to sit behind the guys who were leaving, Nick is more mature. It’s a blessing to have Nick back because he’s matured a lot. He’s seen a lot, and it’s his time. He’s hungry. He’s been waiting. He’s changed his body, he’s changed his mindset. It’s great to have Nick back.”

Bringing in a guy like Zavion Hardy, what does that do for your room, especially with losing so many guys? And does it help at all that he’s already had college experience, if you will, coming from JUCO?

“It always helps. When you get experience, it always helps. It just helps. Zavion is exactly what we were looking for. We love guys that play multiple sports and dominated in multiple sports. Zavion kind of fit the trait that Tonka and Boogie had. When we brought in those guys, they were mostly basketball players during their high school careers. They were pretty good, and they can move really well. And Zay, like you said, he played two years in JUCO. He has a lot of things he needs to work on, but one thing that we cannot coach is his size and speed. He can move good. All the other things, we got to coach him up, just like we did other guys.”

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With Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy and Monkell Goodwine, are there similarities between those two guys?

“They both bring similar things that we look for. I like twitchy guys. Gabe is strong and twitchy. And like I said, this game is a process for the trenches. And it sucks because everything has to speed up for those guys that don’t, they don’t get the necessary develop. And Gabe kind of got caught in the situation at the other school. We’re just happy to have him. He’s explosive. They are all different players, but they’ve got similar traits, and that twitchy is the similar trait that they both bring. They’re very twitchy, and Gabe is twitchy, strong. Monkell is very twitchy and strong, too.”

Obviously, it’s still early in spring practice, but what was kind of your impression of Davonte Miles?

“When we got Davonte, he was like a tweener. We didn’t know if he was going to be an EDGE or. What impressed me about him is his ability to gain weight. He had the frame, and he’s put on a lot of weight. He’s actually stronger than you think he is. That’s just watching him walk around and just being himself normally. He has some strength. And, like I said, challenges are always going to come when you’re making changes from one school to another. But I’m very impressed by how much he’s bought into it. He’s catching on to things, and he’s willing to learn. That’s one thing I love about guys that’s coming in. They don’t give up. They are willing to learn. He’s getting extra work. He’s coming in doing extra, so I’m very impressed with what he’s been bringing.”

What’s sort of the plan with Caleb Williams as he’s doing his thing right now?

“Well, just get him healthy right now. I mean, you cannot plan anything with anybody. He’s just getting healthy. He’s exactly what we need. 6’5″, 6’6″, guy that’s big. And he’s just getting healthy. He’s training, he’s getting stronger, and he’s doing a great job in the classroom as a freshman. He’s supposed to be in high school. The kid got straight A’s, and I’m very proud of him for that. So he’s getting stronger, and he’s doing what he’s supposed to do off the field. So Caleb is doing exactly what we wanted to do. He’s on the process, and he’s going to be back and helping us this summer.”

Do you like the ability to rotate guys like you did last year, regardless of your personnel? Or could you see maybe this year it’s six, seven guys you rotate and play more?

“That’s a hard question to answer, because as the season goes, things happen. I would like to rotate the number of guys that we’re going to take. We take six guys, I want to rotate all of them. But it’s hard to answer that question right now how I see it going. I’ll have to wait till August. Six guys, the seven guys I’m traveling, see how healthy they are and what they’re doing. This is a new group, so I’m learning them. They learning me. So it’s hard to see how the rotation gonna go in the middle of spring right now. So I wish I could tell you, but I cannot tell you how the rotation gonna go in the middle of spring. But it’s ideal to have a good rotation. This is a tough league to play in. We got a good o-line, good d-line, and it’s good to have a good rotation. So I would like to have a nice rotation up front.”

What does Rondarius Porter add to this group, even though he’s a little undersized?

“He’s undersized on paper, but he plays bigger than anybody on the field, and that’s why you saw him on the field last year. We don’t discriminate by size. Obviously, you have to be a certain size to play, but Rondo understands the game. He understands how to play the game. When he walks on the field, he doesn’t care about size; he cares about dominating, and that’s why we see Rondo on the field. He’s going to play a huge role for this team. And we are very fortunate to have that guy. Very fortunate.”

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