South Carolina football: first scrimmage takeaways

The South Carolina football team held their first scrimmage last Saturday.

Will Muschamp and the South Carolina football program had their first live scrimmage of the offseason on Saturday, as they move closer and closer to the upcoming year. The competition lasted about 125 plays as the team continues to prepare for 2020.

Prior to the scrimmage, we highlighted some things to keep an eye on as the Gamecocks look to answer a few unknowns prior to the season’s start. South Carolina’s home opener against the Tennessee Volunteers is now less than a month away.

Coach Muschamp was mostly pleased with the performance of his team, and he hit on a few topics of interest to those around the program. Obviously, quarterback play is at the top of the list, with Ryan Hilinski and Collin Hill battling for the starting role. Here’s what the head coach had to say about his signal callers.

"“I was pleased with both. As far as functioning, we had a couple of delay of game (penalties) and we need to correct those issues, understand where the clock is. I told the coaches, ‘Do not come onto the field. The guys have to manage things for themselves.’ I thought we did some really good things. I thought both guys had really good command in the huddle, which is what we need to be successful.”"

That quote doesn’t necessarily give us incite on who has a leg up on the competition, but it does hopefully show that the coaches have two passers that they’ve got confidence in to successfully run the offense.

There was a heavy focus on special teams, too, and coach Muschamp did let fans in on a couple of position battles within that unit. First, at punter. Freshman Kai Kroeger and transfer Christian Kinsley are pushing for the starting role. Kroeger, for now, seems to be the leader.

"“Each group, and we repped three groups, got about 45 snaps. There were about 125 scrimmage snaps and a lot of kicking work. We got a kickoff, but I wanted to get another and we didn’t. We got a lot of punt work as far as our protecting and covering with Kai (Kroeger) being a new kicker and (Christian) Kinsley has done a nice job with that as well.”"

The competition at punt returner has also been one of interest, as the Gamecocks must replace Bryan Edwards. That battle has come down to two defenders in Jaycee Horn and Jammie Robinson.

"“To get out, spread the lanes and be able to cover – Jaycee Horn and Jammie Robinson have done a good job returning punts for us and would be our top two returners at this point. It was good to be able to get them into some live situations with them catching the ball with people covering downfield. That was really good. We incorporated that within the scrimmage and that was good to be able to transition to be able to go to special teams unit from an offensive or defensive set.”"

Muschamp also complimented his first team defense in redzone and third down situations, but noted that the second and third teams need to step up in run protection. The offense had some explosive plays, and the head coach seemed pleased with the running game, singling out freshman Rashad Amos as having a particularly good day.

Muschamp ended his opening statement by complimenting the overall competitiveness of the team as a whole.

"“There are some things we needed to correct but I liked how our guys competed. I liked how the guys went about it and got after each other. There was good on both sides of the ball, offense and defense.”"

The Gamecocks will resume their offseason practice this week, as they continue to get ready for that first matchup.