Gamecocks Connection: Football!

Hey, I’m Chris Clark with GamecockCentral.com, and welcome to Gamecocks Connection.

This weekly newsletter will consist of a summary of some of the latest happenings in Gamecock Country, reader questions, and one “main idea” that’s on my mind. Plus, there will be some other goodies along the way.

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What’s on the docket today?

In this edition, I’m looking forward to Week 1 of college football and to USC’s much-anticipated season opener on Saturday.

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Get caught up.

Three quick things to know about your Gamecocks from the last few days.

🏈 USC alumnus, Gamecocks superfan, and music star Darius Rucker is going to factor in heavily on College GameDay in Charlotte on Saturday. He will be featured on the new intro song “Comin’ To Your City” and will sing the national anthem prior to the USC/UNC game. 

🏈 Ever wondered which uniform combinations are favorites among USC players? They weighed in recently.

🏈 Shane Beamer was not too pleased with USC’s practice on Tuesday, saying that the team would “get their butts kicked” if the team plays on Saturday as it practiced during that session.

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The main idea.

— The unknown can be exciting, can’t it?

This is a Gamecocks team that carries plenty of it heading into the 2023 season.

There’s so much to look forward to on Saturday. Instead of opening with, as UNC head coach Mack Brown classified them this week, “laughers” for opponents, USC has a Power 5 opponent that sits in the top 25.

There’s a new offense under Dowell Loggains, with an uber-talented quarterback who has, by all accounts, had a great offseason.

Dakereon Joyner is now a running back, which seems to be a perfect fit for both him and South Carolina’s team, as we have written.

Questions are there on the offensive line. A couple more starting receivers are looking to go out with a bang in their final campaign.

Pete Lembo’s always-solid, always-entertaining special teams will be back on the field, and could always have a trick up the sleeve.

There’s a defense that lost some key pieces and has some guys looking to take a big step forward. 

Can the run defense improve from the past couple seasons? Will USC be able to pass the test against an elite quarterback in Drake Maye right off the bat?

Oh, and there’s a talented freshman class looking to make contributions, with many of them representing players that Gamecock fans have wanted to see line up since they committed. 

There’s always a lot of anticipation heading into a new season of Carolina football, but there seems to be a little extra going into this one.

I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens. We’ll have much more throughout this week to preview the matchup on GamecockCentral.com.

Who’s going to Charlotte?

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A question from the crowd.

Here’s one from The Insiders Forum…

Hey Chris. Seems like this is the year (or next?) we finally have the depth needed on defense and talent on the 2 deep. Feels like it has been 3 or 4 years of question marks and if a starter goes down, then we are in a big hole. What are your thoughts on the unit this year and our 2 deep compared to the last 3 or 4? I graduated from Carolina in 2015 and I miss the days of our Defense being intimidating.

— CockyinGSO

This is a great observation and question all in one. USC’s had some defenses in the last several years that were really adept at forcing turnovers, but none of them could be called dominant.

It seems that every season that the Gamecocks have entered the campaign with big depth questions at a certain spot. It seemed to be safety for many years. That position seems to be in a better spot with two returning starters and some talented, albeit young, guys behind them.

Linebacker is one that could really be pointed to in this regard. USC’s had Skai Moore and Ernest Jones in the last several years, but the overall talent and depth could certainly have been better. The thought is that Debo Williams and Stone Blanton could represent upgrades this season, but there are others like Mo Kaba (essentially a third starter), Pup Howard, and Bam Martin-Scott who provide the most athleticism that we’ve seen here in a while.

USC loses a couple NFL starters at corner but has a couple guys waiting that have played a good bit of ball (Marcellas Dial led the corners in snaps taken last season).

Defensive tackle looks to be two deep, at least. EDGE, as has been well-documented, is much more of a question mark.

The depth overall is not where it needs to be, in my estimation, for this team to begin competing for championships. But it has improved and could be getting better each year. 

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We are giving away tickets!

That’s right, you can win tickets to the USC/Furman game through our contest on GamecockCentral.com.

Enter here for your chance to win.

A thanks and a request.

I sincerely thank you for reading this newsletter and hope it’s informative and enjoyable for you.

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