Coaching staff hopes defense can remain on same page
After allowing 41 points and 536 total yards in last Saturday’s game against Georgia, coach Steve Spurrier was the first to say his defense’s performance was not pretty.
Spurrier called South Carolina’s third-down defense “lousy” and said it is not acceptable to allow long conversions. He added that the Gamecocks need to improve on the fundamentals and get lined up correctly. Spurrier said he blames himself for the team’s issues in those areas.
“We had a bad coaching day against Georgia,” Spurrier said. “There’s no shame in losing if you play smart and you play with a lot of effort, but we didn’t do those two things.”
Almost every defensive player that spoke to the media this week said the focuses in practice were getting calls in and lining up quickly, as well as tackling better.
Secondary coach Grady Brown agreed that the Gamecocks’ performance on defense was poor and knows they have to be improved before Vanderbilt on Saturday.
“We did not perform well as a group,” Brown said. “I have to do a better job as a coach of preparing my guys to go out and perform at a high level. If they did not perform well, it means I did not do a good enough job as a coach preparing them to play. I didn’t do a good job of making sure my guys understood the game plan.”
Redshirt junior spur Sharrod Golightly said two things were preached this week: being physical and keeping a short memory, with South Carolina’s concentration on the Commodores.
Golightly and his defensive teammates will have to deal with a Vanderbilt team that is constructed primarily of upperclassmen at the skill positions. Quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels, running back Wesley Tate and wide receivers Jonathan Krause and Jordan Matthews are all seniors.
Matthews, especially, will be a key player for South Carolina to stop, as he was the most productive receiver in the Southeastern Conference last season.
He finished the year with 94 receptions for 1,323 yards and eight touchdowns. Through two games this season, he already has 16 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns.
“Of course he’s a great player, but I think we can match up with him,” Golightly said. “I think the point of emphasis this week is to win the line of scrimmage and stop the run.”
Brown called Matthews a smart receiver and said that he will be a challenge for the Gamecocks’ secondary this week.
“He has a combination of a lot of skills,” Brown said. “He’s long, he has good hands, he runs good routes and he’s tough. He has deceptive speed. On tape, it may look like he’s not running very fast, but when you line up on him, if he catches a pass on you and you’re not close, it’s going to be tough to catch him.”
Sophomore boundary safety T.J. Gurley said that Vanderbilt likes to get the ball to Matthews any way it can and that he expects to see the receiver line up at different positions on the field.
Gurley said that after last week’s performance on defense, he expects the Commodores to go up-tempo on offense to keep the Gamecocks from getting lined up. South Carolina’s coaching staff and players have been working in practice to keep from being caught off guard for a second week.
After having practiced throughout the week, there is a chance junior Kadetrix Marcus will return this week to take Gurley’s spot after missing the Georgia game with a separated shoulder. Also on the injury report is redshirt junior cornerback Victor Hampton, who has been dealing with a bad ankle. it is uncertain if he will play Saturday.
The secondary will be key in keeping Carta-Samuels from finding a rhythm. It is the senior’s first year starting at Vanderbilt after transferring from Wyoming, where he was the starting quarterback for two seasons.
“We’re not going into this game expecting him to be rattled,” Brown said. “We know our fans will do a great job and make it loud for him. But we have to treat him like he’s been starting at Vanderbilt for three years.”
Sophomore linebacker Kaiwan Lewis acknowledged that Vanderbilt is on the rise and that practice has been more intense. He said there is more attention to detail this week and that the Gamecocks need to come out with a dominant mentality that they lacked against Georgia.
“The best thing we can do is come out and make a statement on Saturday,” Lewis said. “One thing we got to stress this week is having fun. The season’s still alive, and we have a lot to play for.”