The South Carolina Gamecocks are set to take on the FCS' Towson Tigers in Week 2. As the Gamecocks open their first-ever night game in Williams-Brice Stadium, head coach Shane Beamer announced that it will do so without a member of South Carolina's secondary.
Coach Beamer said that redshirt junior Jalewis Solomon is out for Saturday night's contest. The South Carolina sixth-year head coach told reporters that Solomon, who is from Ellaville, Ga., got "banged up" during practice.
"Jalewis Solomon, one of our reserve defensive backs," Beamer said via Gamecock Central. "Got banged up in practice yesterday a little bit. He won’t play this week, but outside of that, we’re in good shape.”
Solomon has made eight game appearances across his three seasons, and did see game action against Kent State. Luckily, the Gamecocks starting secondary players in Judge Collier, Peyton Williams and the like are all ready to go.
That means that the Gamecocks will enter their second game of the season relatively healthy. Of course, the big injuries still facing South Carolina are to its two stars in offensive tackle Jacarrius Peak and Dylan Stewart, who have yet to return to the field fully. Beamer stated that both of them have been practicing in full pads in the week leading up to the Towson, a strong, positive sign that they could be cleared soon.
Beamer even hinted that both guys could be cleared just in time for South Carolina's Week 3 contest against Mississippi State, which marks the start of SEC play for South Carolina.
“Optimistic [about] what that injury report is going to say next week when we have to release it before our first SEC game,” Beamer said of Peak and Stewart via GC. “Proud of those guys.”
The good news is that South Carolina likely will not need to heavily rely on Solomon, Peak or Stewart to get a win on Saturday. The Gamecocks are favored by 43.5 points, so it's expected to be another big day for the Gamecocks. Towson has opened the season 0-2 against Maine and Navy.
While of course, South Carolina fans would love to see Peak and Stewart fully playing as soon as possible, getting them back just in time for the Gamecocks to start SEC play is the next best case scenario.
Saturday's game against Towson will kickoff at 7 p.m. ET, and air live on SEC+.
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