Pete Lembo explains how he handles injuries with coaching special teams
Right out of the gate, the injury bug has hit the South Carolina Gamecocks hard. It’s only been one week and plenty of players have already felt the wear and tear from being on the field.
It hasn’t just affected one spot — it’s everywhere. And for special teams coordinator Pete Lembo, he doesn’t particularly love dealing with it.
“I’m a big fan of Ronald Reagan and trickle down economics but what I don’t like is the trickle down on the depth chart when we start having injuries to guys that you’ve trained for a year or two that are contributors on units,” Lembo said.
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For Lembo, the injuries aren’t that brutal to his group. The Gamecocks’ injuries mostly reside on offense and defense. Still, most players end up helping out on special teams, so in a way it does trickle back to Lembo.
As a result, it puts Lembo in a spot where he has to figure things out on the fly and have guys fill in. It can be tough, but he does what he can to make it work.
“What ends up happening is you’re filling in gaps and moving people around and those types of things. Maybe playing guys that aren’t quite as experienced. So for me, that heightens the sense of urgency to get guys ready,” he said.
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How does Lembo handle that sense of urgency he gets?
“I use the analogy of coaching youth camp here during the preseason. Still to a degree, there’s some of that going on where these young guys are still learning how to practice even,” Lembo said. “Like what’s the tempo that I need to go at in this drill to actually get better at what I’m doing? And we’re still coaching a lot of those real basic things at this point.”
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While Lembo has years of experience handling these types of situations where it’s all hands on deck, the Gamecocks players don’t. That’s where it becomes more of a challenge during the season for him.
“You’re taking some of those guys and you’re saying, ‘Guess what buddy? Whether we like it or not, you’re going on Saturday and we’ve got to get you ready to go,'” Lembo said. “It’d be nice to have next spring and next summer and next preseason to get you there but this is where we’re at right now.”
Even though it can be stressful at times, Lembo knows it’s a part of the game. He can only control what he can control.
“That comes with the territory for me. Like I say all the time, I worry so they can go play. And that’s the mode I’m in right now,” Lembo said.
