Jordan Burch feeling good after dealing with 'little tweak'
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer said Saturday that junior EDGE defender Jordan Burch didn’t participate in the Gamecocks’ scrimmage earlier that day but that the undisclosed injury was not considered serious.
“We’re limiting his reps a little bit right now,” Beamer said then. “Nothing major from his standpoint. … If we had a game, he probably would have played today. It’s nothing long-term.”
Speaking a few days later on Wednesday afternoon, Burch indicated that he was well on the road to recovery, if not already completely there.
“Just a little offseason soreness,” Burch said during a press conference. “I had a little tweak but I’m good now. I’m out there practicing.”
In the open portion of practice last week that the media was allowed to attend, senior Tyreek Johnson was working with the first team in Burch’s absence. Beamer explained on Saturday that Burch has been able to participate in certain parts of practice, just not everything.
“It’s really frustrating not being out there,” Burch said Wednesday. “But I always cheer on my teammates and encourage them and try to help them out. It’s just something I had to deal with but I’m good now so I try not to worry about it.”
Burch, the former five-star recruit from Columbia’s Hammond School, is largely expected to be a starter opposite fellow EDGE defender Jordan Strachan when the season kicks off in less than three weeks.
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Burch, the center of a highly contested recruiting battle involving LSU, Clemson, Alabama and Georgia, famously decided to stay home and play for the Gamecocks.
Burch and Strachan will be tasked with replacing the production of last year’s starters, Aaron Sterling and J.J. Enagbare, who was drafted by the Packers in the fifth round of April’s NFL Draft.
“I think we picked up where they left off,” Burch said Wednesday. “We’re learning a lot of new stuff too, going forward. We’ve learned a lot from Coach (Sterling) Lucas, a lot of stuff we didn’t know last year. So I think we’ve been pretty good.”
South Carolina is now a week and a half into its preseason camp and two and a half weeks from its season opener with Georgia State which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium on SEC Network Plus.
