Report card from South Carolina football's thrashing of rival Kentucky Wildcats

South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Kentucky Wildcats. LaNorris Sellers was better against Kentucky than he was against Old Dominion. However, he still didn't have a great game. He hit 11-15 of his passes (good), but he also threw a bad interception and fumbled 3 times on strip sacks (bad), and he did not display much blitz awareness on those plays. Sellers gutted things out after hurting his leg in the 1st half, and he made some nice throws in the 2nd half as he played tough and never quit. Robby Ashford had a couple of nice runs in relief of Sellers when the starter was out with his injury.. QUARTERBACK. QUARTERBACK. C+

B-. South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Kentucky Wildcats. Once again, the running back grade is a tough evaluation for the Gamecocks. The offensive line did not provide much push on the ground, especially in the 1st half, and Rocket Sanders and company were limited because of it. The backs also didn't have a very good day in pass protection. However, Sanders had a couple of nice runs in the 2nd half when the team needed him in order to step on Kentucky's metaphoric throat.. RUNNING BACK. RUNNING BACK

WIDE RECEIVER. C. South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Kentucky Wildcats. Spoiler alert: the South Carolina wide receiver room hasn't had a good start to the season. Mazeo Bennett had a good day on Saturday, catching his first touchdown pass and getting open a few more times, and Jared Brown did well when he didn't drop the ball (he had at least two drops). But not other Gamecock receiver caught a pass in this game. Some of that was because Carolina only threw 16 total passes in the game, but some of it was because Bennett and Brown were the only receivers who consistently got open. Perimeter blocking wasn't as bad as last week, but it still wasn't great on Saturday. This grade might has slipped into D-territory had it not been for Bennett.. WIDE RECEIVER

TIGHT END. B. South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Kentucky Wildcats. Shawn Elliott's tight ends had a pretty good game on Saturday. Just like he did last week, Michael Smith caught the first completion of the game, and he finished as the team's third-leading receiver on the day. Josh Simon was more consistent as a blocker this week and caught a touchdown pass on a nice seam route after being sent in motion. Brady Hunt and Simon helped out in a new way as blockers, lining up directly behind the guards in some sets, providing the interior of the line with some extra fortification. Had it not been for a bad holding penalty and a couple of blocking miscues, the tight ends might have earned an A. Even so, they showed improvement from last week and should be a major strength moving forward.. TIGHT END

C. South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Kentucky Wildcats. The Gamecock offensive line wasn't great again this weekend, but they had some decent moments. This best run play of the day came on a beautiful counter play in which tight end Josh Simon and guard Torricelli Simpkins led the way (Simpkins absolutely crunched his man, too). Penalties were too frequent up front, and there were some moments in which the unit got pushed around by Kentucky's big defensive tackles. However, it was not a horrible effort, and with another step forward next week, Gamecock fans might look at severe offensive line struggles as a thing of the past.. OFFENSIVE LINE. OFFENSIVE LINE