Shane Beamer 'fully expects' Pup Howard to play Saturday, talks South Carolina linebackers

The Gamecocks spent the last few recruiting cycles trying to beef up its linebacker room and add depth to a room that very much needed it when Shane Beamer arrived. 

South Carolina finally got to a good place–entering the 2023 season with maybe the most depth on the roster in a few seasons–and it only took a week into the year for it to get tested. 

Mo Kaba is out for the year and, with Bam Martin-Scott still banged up, a once-deep room is now relatively thin. 

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“We don’t want to have to ask our guys to play that many plays. That’s a long season for sure. And we want to be smart with our guys,” Shane Beamer said. “So we’ve got to continue to develop that depth in that room. And we’ve got four solid guys. We have to keep them healthy…We need other guys to come along to be able to help us from that standpoint, and they will. I’m confident.”

Kaba entered the game as the Gamecocks’ No. 3 linebacker behind starters Stone Blanton and Debo Williams and was injured less than a half into the game covering a kickoff. 

With him out, both starters played all 71 defensive snaps in the game with Williams sporting a Pro Football Focus (PFF) grade of 67.4 to Blanton’s 58.4. 

They played well, combining for 24 total tackles and Williams had the Gamecocks’ lone tackle for loss. But Beamer knows having those two log 60-plus snaps week in and week out isn’t a sustainable model. 

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This is why South Carolina needs to continue developing that young group of linebackers. The good news is four-star prospect Pup Howard should make his long-awaited college debut on Saturday against Furman. 

Howard–the No. 186 player in the 2023 class–made the trip to Charlotte in Week 1 and dressed out but didn’t find his way into the game. That should change in the Gamecocks’ home opener. 

“(We) absolutely expect Pup to play. He could have played last week in Charlotte. We didn’t have him really going on any special teams because he hadn’t been practicing a lot and we didn’t want to throw him in there on a special team when he hadn’t done a ton of practicing leading up to the game from a special teams standpoint. Defensively, it just got to be one of those games,” Beamer said. 

“The longer the game went, the less you want to put a guy in there for his first college reps ever at the linebacker position. And our defense did a better job of getting off the field in the second half than what they did in the first half. So he never got in there, but he could have gone. I fully expect to see him play this week.”

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Bam Martin-Scott, who’s been a reserve since arriving on campus, missed the opener with an injury but South Carolina is hopeful he’s back this weekend against Furman. 

The Gamecocks also brought in former four-star prospect Jaron Willis (Ole Miss) out of the portal this offseason. After that, there are a few key walk-ons like Andrew Colasurdo, Ronnie Porter, Colin Bryant and freshman Jamian Risher Jr.

“Those guys have to continue to come along. You know, Jaron Willis is here. He needs to get better. Jamal Risher is a freshman that we brought in,” Beamer said. “He’s got to continue to get better as we develop depth. Because that’s going to help us because those linebackers are typically core special teams guys as well.”

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For Kaba, though, his prognosis isn’t known outside of the fact he’ll miss the entire year. It’s a big blow for him after tearing his ACL last season, and a big blow for the Gamecocks’ defense. 

“My heart breaks for him. He’s a fantastic human being, first and foremost. He’s a fantastic player for us. It’s a really hard deal when he tore his ACL last year against Arkansas. It was tough for us to deal with from an emotional standpoint. The kid worked his butt off throughout the spring and was practicing with great energy. He was truly loving being back out there…I really hurt for him.” 

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