Gamecocks football 2012: 22 positions 22 days-Wide Receiver
Yesterday Garnet and Cocky took a look at the South Carolina Gamecocks offensive line. Today our “22 positions in 22 days” series shifts outside to possibly Carolina’s biggest offensive question mark-Wide receiver.
It’s safe to say junior Ace Sanders is USC’s best receiver right now. He was one of two SC WRs last season to catch more than 17 passes, and the other two projected starters are DeAngelo Smith and D.L. Moore, who caught a combined 11 passes for 74 yards and one touchdown in 2012.
Moore, a 6’5″ senior, will have to step up. He’s by far the tallest of the projected starters, and he’ll probably be put in a lot of one-on-one matchups, because defenses know the Gamecocks will be looking at Sanders first in most passing situations. Anything short of a 25 catch season would be a bad thing for this football team.
Smith is 6’1″ red-shirt junior, and he too will see a bunch of one-on-one coverage. He had a break-out spring game last year, but played behind Alshon Jeffery the entire season and never really got anything going.
Steve Spurrier said recently after practice that Shaq Roland, the Gamecocks best recruit last year and former Mr. SC in football, will probably play this year.
He’s going to have to. Roland was a four-star prospect last year according to Rivals.com, which listed him as the 10th best receiver in the 2012 class and the 66th best player overall.
Roland has impressed reporters and coaches in the limited practice time the team has seen this season.
Bruce Ellington will also be called upon to step up. The two sport star was an intregal member of the team last year, returning kicks, keeping defenses on their heels as a wildcat quarterback and catching passes. Ellington caught 17 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown last year. Look for him to be more involved this season.
Another guy to look out for is Damier Byrd. The sophomore caught just one pass last year, but he’s been described (rightfully so) as a track star with football hands. His season was derailed after he was suspended at the beginning of the year by the NCAA for being part of a recruiting violation.
He might not catch a ton of passes, but the ones he does catch will be long and I bet he’ll catch a few touchdowns this year, too.
Nick Jones is a player that could have a breakout season. He won’t start, but he will play and when he does he’ll be another Carolina receiver in one-on-one coverage. He caught 12 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown last year as a freshman and he’s got the talent to at least double those numbers this year.
With Alshon Jeffery gone, experts, writers and prognosticators are well within their rights to question this unit. I agree with them that it is a question mark, yet to be answered.
But a stable quarterback situation and a healthy Marcus Lattimore (not to mention a sophomore Brandon Wilds) should be able to mask any weaknesses on the outside.
Who knows, if Connor Shaw has progressed as much as Spurrier thinks, WR might not be a weakness at all this season.