South Carolina's coordinators seeing growth from young defensive backs

South Carolina’s secondary has been through the wringer during Shane Beamer’s first two years in Columbia.

This year the Gamecocks had their fair share of obstacles with injuries – but at the same time, those injuries brought new stars into the fold.

Nick Emmanwori and DQ Smith both made instant impacts as true freshmen, Darius Rush turned into a top defensive back in the conference and Marcellas Dial turned into another cornerstone of the unit.

With Smith, Rush, and Devonni Reed all preparing for the NFL Draft, Clayton White’s defense may have to rely on younger defensive backs in the Gator Bowl and even next season.

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White said he’s seen growth from the likes of Kajuan Banks, Emory Floyd, Kennan Nelson, and Anthony Rose through the season – and credits defensive backs coach Torian Gray for helping them develop.

“It starts with coach Gray,” White said. “If you lift this (whiteboard) up you’ll see all the notes that you won’t see in regards to the details and what the DBs need to play at.”

The veterans in the room like Cam Smith and Rush have also aided in the younger guy’s development and progression, White said.

“They watch Cam (Smith), and they watch (Darius) Rush take the notes and understand it,” White said. “And the guys that were before Nick (Emmanwori) and DQ (Smith), they watch those guys learn the game.”

The most improvement the younger players have made has been “the details within the details,” White said. Meaning they aren’t so focused on how fast they can cover someone or how great of a play they can make anymore.

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“I think that’s where I’ve seen the growth,” White said. “They still have a ways to go, but I’ve seen the growth. So that’s the part that’s exciting for me, is watching young guys just continue to progress.”

Special teams coordinator Pete Lembo has worked with these younger guys on special teams throughout the season and said they are a great group athletically, but also just as people.

Lembo added that in a way they are representative of the growth and progression of South Carolina’s program as a whole and how it is still a work in progress.

“Ideally, those guys come in and they’re playing some on the scout team this year, they’re maybe getting on some special teams units this year,” Lembo said. “Next year, they’re playing on special teams, maybe they’re rotating in, playing parts of games on defense. And then evolving into starting roles if they’re good enough, if they’re talented enough, if they’re learning and growing the way they should, they should eventually grow into starters. And you hope that there’s a real process to making that happen.”

But it didn’t happen exactly that way – because of the aforementioned injuries and general roster turnover.

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“The way it played out for some of those guys this year, they went from maybe starting on the kickoff team in the opening game against Georgia State to, two or three weeks later, they’re playing the whole game on defense,” Lembo said. “So a few of those guys have actually missed a step or two in the process. And I hope that you know, two or three years from now, there is more time to truly develop those guys before we put them into those kinds of roles.”

Lembo gave credit to the players who had to step up and take those roles for their willingness to adapt, adding that they all handled it well.

“Kenan Nelson, for example, there has been pretty steady growth over the course of this season, to where they’ve played some special teams, or maybe now moving into a position where they can play some force on defense and special teams,” Lembo said.

Despite the uptick in playing time early in their careers, Lembo said the coaching staff has to remind themselves that they are still freshmen – so there’s still plenty of room for work.

“ I think we have to remind those guys when we come back and start spring practice, that they’re still just rising sophomores or rising redshirt freshmen and just because they’ve played a lot, doesn’t mean they’ve arrived,” Lembo said. “But it’s a great group. And it’s a group that’s certainly helping us now and will help us even more down the road.”

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