Everything South Carolina defensive backs coach Torrian Gray said about his position group on Tuesday

On Tuesday, South Carolina football defensive backs coach Torrian Gray addressed the media for the first time since spring practice started. Below is an edited transcript of his comments.

Thoughts on replacing All-American Nick Emmanwori at safety

He’s such a unique talent. I don’t know if you replace a guy like Nick. I’ve had Kam Chancellor, I’ve had Nick Emmanwori. Those guys are, you know, they’re different body types playing the defensive back position.

But you play as a group around them. I’m excited about the group we do have. So, you know, I’m looking forward to the guys stepping up to the challenge, guys playing new roles, and seeing if we can be better than last year. That’s the goal.

On what he’s looking for as South Carolina ramps up spring practice with full pads

It’s interesting because today is the first day in pads. We’re doing some physical contact, finally. So guys can look a certain way in shorts.

What you found out today was that we gave up some plays that we hadn’t given up the first two days of spring practice because ‘I’ve got on pads.’ Mentally, we’ve got to think we are adding more coverages. Who can handle the mental and physical grind of putting on the pads while we’re still installing a lot of the defense? The physical part that comes with it–we had a pretty physical practice today to start off–can those guys still, mentally [perform]? We had some guys do some breakdowns they hadn’t made when they were a lot more comfortable in shorts.

So, we’re just seeing how we’re going to be when things get tougher. That was kind of a thing that we’re watching and need to get better with. It was kind of telling today that we’ve got some ways to go.

On what has stood out about South Carolina transfer portal defensive back additions Brandon Cisse and Myles Norwood

Those guys are mature. They’re guys who have played a lot of snaps at the places from where they came. They bring a maturity to our room. They make our corner position and defensive back position better overall. So, I’m excited to have those guys in our program.

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On Jalon Kilgore staying at nickel

I’ll tell you what: if you move Jalon to safety–he’s pretty good at nickel. It takes kind of a unique guy who can do the things that Jalon can do from the nickel spot. He’s a big body, he’s a safety body type that can cover, that can intercept the ball, make turnovers, be stout on the perimeter in the run game. So, he’s just such a unique player in that spot.

Jalon’s a heckuva football player, and he’d be a heckuva safety, but for our defense, Jalon likes the nickel position, and we like him at the nickel position. So, we’re going to see if our safety position can play itself out and keep Jalon at nickel.

On Judge Collier’s development

Judge has made an immense jump. Because, you know, he works at it, and he’s starting to get to the point now where he understands the game of football. He’s not just trying to learn the defense. So, he’s come a long way, and I’m very proud of him.

He’s done a great job in the offseason to get bigger, faster, stronger. Now the football part is starting to become a lot more natural for him. I’m excited to see the growth that he’s going to have this upcoming season.

On the safety competition

At safety, we’ve got DQ (Smith). We’ve got Peyton Williams. Those are guys who have played the most snaps for us right now.

Then, you’ve got David Bucey, you’ve got Gerald Kilgore, guys who were with us for the first time last year that, hopefully, you need those guys to mature and take next steps.

We put Kelvin Hunter, we moved him to safety, so he’s now working at a new position. But he’s doing a great job through these first three practices. We’re so excited about those guys.

And then Ken(dall) Daniels is a true freshman guy who’s got to go through the process of learning it. But, as the game slows down for him, we’ll see what he can give us also.

And then Buddy Mack–he helped us a lot on special teams last season–gives us a veteran presence back there.

On DQ Smith’s ability to be a reliable player

He’s smart. You don’t have to tell him twice to do a lot of things. He did a great job last year. The year before, we gave up some balls over our heads from the strong safety position. He was really solid at making sure that he got his reads, and he did very well at that position, not allowing balls to go over his head.

So, we’ll let him play a little bit of strong safety but also some of Nick’s position, too. You know, he can mix in and be a little bit more versatile. But he’s just a smart player and dependable.

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