Video: LB Stone Blanton shares what's different about him this season
Just a few seconds being around Stone Blanton and it’s clear something is different about the sophomore linebacker.
“I came in (a year ago) and I was a little too heavy, you know overweight,” said Blanton. “Being able to trim that fat down and get more lean is gonna help me be a lot faster and lot quicker… Working with coach (Luke) Day and the entire strength coaches have been huge for my game.”
Last year, Blanton weighed 235 pounds. According to South Carolina’s program, as of today he’s down to 224 pounds.
As a freshman he racked up seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and and one pass breakup. Beginning the year primary on special teams, he saw in an increase in his workload on defense late in the season. That carried over into the spring with the departures of Sherrod Greene and Brad Johnson. In addition, Mo Kaba wasn’t fully cleared so Blanton was working with the ones on defense.
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“Having that opportunity was huge. Just getting more comfortable with playing with the ones, there’s higher expectations. You learn that you have to eliminate mental errors and I feel like I did a pretty good job of that. I studied (the playbook) really hard because I didn’t wanna let my teammates down. Just stuff like that.
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I’ve said this before, with the depth at linebacker being thin, Blanton will have an opportunity to see plenty of playing time this season. Even if Kaba is healthy to start the year, I could see Blanton eating into some of his snaps. Knowing that Blanton still has two years of eligibility after 2023, South Carolina’s coaching staff could be more inclined to get him on the field, which is normal anywhere you go.
If Blanton can capitalize on the opportunities that come his way, don’t be surprised to see him start a few games late in the season. With how young this USC team is, players like Blanton are the future of this program. The more experience they get early in their careers the better off South Carolina could be two years from now.
