Ten takeaways from South Carolina's win over Akron

1- Less conservative with Ashford

A week after seeing LaNorris Sellers leave the game early with an ankle injury, the play-calling for backup quarterback Robby Ashford just felt different. Ashford not only looked more comfortable in the passing game but he looked more confident in the pocket when it came to that internal clock quarterbacks have in their heads, which tells them when to stay in the pocket versus when to take off and run. Rushing for 133 yards and a touchdown, to go along with completing 15-of-21 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, Ashford looked like the Ashford that Shane Beamer and this coaching staff have been talking about since he arrived in January. It also backs up a lot of the things former South Carolina Jason Brown discussed on Mix in a Water Monday last week. For those who missed it, Brown explained the challenges of being the backup and having a game plan not tailored to you in the moment, as opposed to having a week of extra reps and the game plan playing more towards your strengths.

2- Being a traffic cone

If you’ve followed my work for a while, you’ve heard me use this phrase before when talking about defensive end and EDGE play: being a traffic cone. Sometimes, it’s gonna feel like you’re a traffic cone just standing out there because you’re not the one that’s getting all of the stats. With the Gamecocks limited to just two sacks all game, with only one coming before the backups were put in, it might not have been the performance that many expected from USC’s front. Why was that the case?

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It’s pretty obvious what happened. Akron head coach Joe Moorhead didn’t want South Carolina’s EDGE players disrupting their offense and tried to find ways to eliminate their impact with quick passes, including screens. While he did that for the most part, since Kyle Kennard was the only EDGE for USC to record a tackle for loss, it opened up the door for others to have big games. Guys like Debo Williams, Demetrius Knight, and Bam Martin-Scott stood out with their play last night at first glance. But after re-watching the tape, I was even more impressed by how Kennard played his role of having to be, at times, “a traffic cone” and facing double teams. Do your 1/11th. Some nights, you’re not gonna be the one who has two or three sacks. That was one of the main reasons why the Zips were held to just 158 yards of total offense.

3- Kai Kroeger’s mechanics

During the offseason, Kroeger told me that one of the biggest things that new special team coordinator Joe DeCamillis had been working on him with was his elbow placement on his punts.

“My biggest problem is sometimes my elbow will come in too much on my drop,” said Kroeger back in June. “It makes it turn inside, and then I kind of swipe across it. Some of those mishits will kind of go down the middle of the field. So, (coach DeCamillis) has us doing a lot of these drills that keeps my elbow extended outside of my hip. That makes us way more consistent. We’re able to hit the direction we want on punts. He’s been drilling that into us every day that we do it. Whether we’re kicking or just at workouts, we’re doing those drills every day, and it’s helped a lot.”

After kicking four punts with two inside the 20 with a long of 75 yards and an average of 53.3, it’s safe to say Kroeger is continuing to look like the Kroeger of 2022. Through four games, Kroeger is now ranked fourth in the country for punting with an average of 47.5 per punt. To compare that to where Kroeger finished in 2022 when he ranked tenth in the country and was named a first-team All-American, it’s 1.4 yards better this year. Last season, Kroeger ranked 45th in the country with an average of 43.5 yards per punt.

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4- Special teams play is contagious

It’s one thing to preach that you’re a program that invests a lot of time into its special teams, but it’s another to actually see it pay off in a game. What we continue to see on special teams this season from this group, especially since Week 1, further proves that. Last week, it was Maurice Brown making a massive special teams play (even if Brian Kelly will try to convince you otherwise). This week, it was Dalevon Campbell hustling down to knock the ball out at the one after Kroeger’s 75-yard punt. Do you know how many catches Campbell had last night? Just one. One catch for 27 yards in the fourth quarter of a blowout game. So, at the time of his big-time play on special teams, he hadn’t even caught a pass yet but he was still providing effort like that. DeCamillis’ special teams units have been fun to watch.

5- Feel good story

The highlight of the night didn’t come until late in the fourth quarter. That’s when third-string quarterback Davis Beville came into the game and threw a touchdown pass. Seeing the way he let his emotions come out shortly after, as well as how he was embraced by his teammates, said it all. A sixth-year senior who decided to walk on to this home-state school before earning a scholarship as the No.3 quarterback. What some might not realize is that was just Beville’s second-career touchdown pass and his first since 2021. He was still playing for Pitt when that happened before transferring to Oklahoma ahead of the 2022 season.

6- Mazeo Bennett

This is becoming a weekly bullet, and for good reason. Mazeo Bennett isn’t only slowly turning into one of South Carolina’s top wide receivers, but he’s also becoming perhaps their most reliable one. Through four games, the true freshman leads South Carolina in receptions (11), receiving yards (159), and receiving touchdowns (two). While it was a different quarterback last night, it appeared that Bennett has earned Ashford’s trust rather quickly as well. One thing to keep an eye on moving forward is with Gage Larvadain starting against Akron — after battling an injury to start the year — will it eat into Bennett’s targets? It could. But, with what Bennett has done thus far this early in his career, it’s hard to imagine that he won’t only continue to get better. If that’s the case, it’ll be hard for Sellers, Ashford, or whoever is back at quarterback not continuing to look his way.

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7- Next man up at running back

With Rocket Sanders leaving the game early on Saturday with an ankle injury, it opened the door for Oscar Adaway III to come and rush for two touchdowns. While it was the Ashford show on the ground, there were things Adaway did that won’t reflect in the box score. For one, he’s a three-down back who can make an impact in pass pro and as a pass catcher. I know that’s kind of funny to say since Adaway wasn’t targeted at all, but just go watch his tape at North Texas and how he would line up anything on the field. Just his presence will force defenses to keep an eye on him, which can help a guy like Ashford exploit a defense that is more concerned about the running back than him.

8- OD Fortune

I’ve been extremely impressed by OD Fortune in coverage this season. Last night, he allowed no receptions on three targets. LSU tested him a good bit last week, but outside of a deep ball against Kentucky down the sidelines in Week 2, teams aren’t having success if they try to test him deep. With his length, combined with the pass rush that USC has had this season, it’s made throwing the ball on him deep difficult. That will all be put to the test in two weeks against an Ole Miss group that is passhappy and will look to challenge him.

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9- They did what they were supposed to do but…

South Carolina came out and dominated Akron in every phase of the game. This was what was expected, and they took care of business. But after what we saw in Week 1 against Old Dominion, a performance like this shouldn’t just be overlooked. The timing of this game, in my opinion, was perfect. Not just because Sellers and Rocket are banged up but rather to gain some confidence as they head into the bye week with a huge tilt at home against Ole Miss coming up on Oct. 5. What did last night teach us? That this team continues to grow each week and has come a long, long way since Week 1. The new faces look more comfortable with the scheme, and players are bought into what Beamer and this coaching staff are asking them to do. That was extremely evident with Ashford and what he did on Saturday.

10- Where to be better

There are a handful of areas that stood out to me about where South Carolina needs to be after last night’s game. There were a few breakdowns defensively, sure. However, the thing that continues to stand out the most is self-inflicted wounds. Seven penalties last night for 70 yards. With 33 penalties through four games, the Gamecocks are one of the most penalized teams in the country. And yes, that would still be the case if you remove a penalty or two from last week’s game against LSU.

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