Will Muschamp<\/strong> and the brand new South Carolina\u00a0Gamecocks<\/strong> coaching staff are in the early stages of establishing a new attitude for their program. The buzz the last couple of years was that the atmosphere was too laid back, most noticeably at practices. Former\u00a0Head Coach Steve Spurrier’s<\/strong> sudden mid-season resignation left fans and players stunned. After an initial spark provided by interim\u00a0head\u00a0coach Shawn Elliott<\/strong>, the Gamecocks limped to a 3-9 record for the season. Enter the Will Muschamp era, bringing with him a strong recruiting staff. Which brings us to this look ahead at what the efforts of a culture change may ultimately provide Gamecock Nation<\/strong> in year one.<\/p>\n Immediately, Coach Muschamp established a more aggressive tempo to everything around the program, from spring drills to the weight room. “Physicality” became the watchword heard often in interviews and press conferences, which contrasted the perceived laid back vibe of the prior regime. This fall, pads are popping, and there is the expectation that the much-maligned defense of the past two\u00a0years will fly around and make plays. They will have to, in order to help make up for the loss of All-SEC linebacker\u00a0Skai Moore<\/strong>, who is out\u00a0for the season with a neck injury. The secondary lost one of the team’s leading tacklers, Isaiah Johnson<\/strong> to graduation, and will have to find a play-maker in what is probably the thinnest position group on the team. The new day brings many new faces, depth, and talent deficiencies all over the lineup, especially on defense. So it is understandable that the staff is preaching effort and intensity to the players and selling it to the fan base. Muschamp and first year Defensive Coordinator Travaris Robinson<\/strong> have installed a scheme featuring a “Buck” position, a hybrid defensive end\/outside linebacker spot designed to pressure the quarterback and make plays on the edge. Gamecock fans are excited, because since Jadeveon Clowney<\/strong> provided a one-man blitz for three\u00a0years, there has been very little in the way of backfield penetration for South Carolina. Bryson Allen-Williams,<\/strong> who has bounced around at several defensive positions, is a player that the coaches believes will flourish at the Buck position. Allen-Williams, according to all observers, has had an outstanding spring and summer under the new defensive coaches’ tutelage. Senior defensive end,\u00a0Marquavius Lewis<\/strong>, who arrived last season from the JUCO ranks with high expectations, has had a great preseason and is poised for a strong year, according the coaches. Lewis will likely line up at both defensive end and defensive line spots in 2016. Another name to watch for, newcomer Jamarcus King<\/strong> is a big (6-2, 180lbs) corner with strong cover skills. He arrived from junior college and is expected to play a lot in that revamped Gamecock secondary. The new era for USC<\/strong> will feature many new faces, and thus is the challenge for the new staff.<\/p>\n The offensive side of the ball is also full of fresh newness for the Gamecocks. Offensive Coordinator Kurt<\/strong> Roper<\/strong>, after a stint in the NFL<\/strong>, walks right into a very unsettled quarterback situation. Senior Perry Orth<\/strong> returns as the most experienced signal caller, having started eight\u00a0games last season (1-7 record as a starter, 12 tds, 9 INTs), but will be pushed by not one, but two, highly recruited freshman quarterbacks. The first challenger for the starting nod is 6-0\u00a0Brandon McIlwain,<\/strong> a jewel in the signing class who enrolled in classes in January and has been sharing first team reps with Orth since he arrived. The added twist in the QB race has been 6-4 Jake Bentley<\/strong>, who reclassified, graduated early from high school, and has shown up looking good in summer workouts and fall camp. The original plan was to go into the season with Orth as the starter, eventually bring on the more athletic and talented McIlwain as he gained experience. But Bentley, son of running\u00a0backs\u00a0coach Bobby Bentley<\/strong>, has reportedly been throwing lasers in practices and in at least two scrimmages, ths slowing down talk of red-shirting him for the season. Coach Muschamp has stated multiple times publicly that he plans to play two\u00a0quarterbacks throughout the season opener vs Vanderbilt<\/strong>. Look for all three to play. The competition has raised the play of each player in practice, and\u00a0Coach Muschamp sees the multiple quarterback\u00a0approach as an advantage. It may be harder for Vanderbilt to prepare for more than one quarterback, with different skill sets, but it will also mean splitting valuable practice reps. There will be a new face carrying the football also, with Brandon Wilds<\/strong> taking his experience with him to the Atlanta Falcons<\/strong> training\u00a0camp. The favorite to start\u00a0September 1st vs Vanderbilt is red-shirt freshman AJ Turner,<\/strong> who has been consistently good throughout spring and fall practices. Turner has no collegiate carries, and he will be backed up by bigger, more experienced junior David Williams<\/strong>,\u00a0who came to Columbia<\/strong> very highly recruited, but has\u00a0been in the coaches’ doghouse for poor practice habits. The hope is Williams puts it all together and has a breakout season in 2016. At\u00a0the receiver spot, the group is very young, with sophomore\u00a0Deebo<\/strong> Samuel<\/strong> as the wily veteran. Although Samuel missed much of last season with\u00a0nagging hamstring issues, he is a talented play-maker who has great ball skills (he was also an All-State basketball player at Chapman High School). Another new name to help usher in the new era is freshman wideout Brian Edwards,<\/strong> whom the Gamecocks beat out Georgia, among others, to bring into the fold. Edwards is a big target at 6-3, which may\u00a0come in handy to move the chains while the quarterback situation is\u00a0getting settled. There is\u00a0the opinion out\u00a0there that, as the season develops, the receivers two-deep depth chart will be all freshmen and one sophomore. The offensive line is coached by the Spurrier staff holdover, former interim head coach Shawn Elliott, and they will look to embody the new mantra of intensity and physicality. They will be the most experienced\u00a0group on the team, and will be counted on to set a tone in which the youth around them can gel.<\/p>\n The new era\u00a0for the University of South Carolina<\/strong> football team, is epitomized by Head Coach Will Muschamp,\u00a0whose intensity is\u00a0well known.\u00a0He has aggressively hit the recruiting trail, and made some quick inroad. The 2017 class is starting to look good. As for now, just off of the change of environment, the Gamecock fans have reasons to embrace the new day.\u00a0 This staff, and the players, have seen the preseason predictions. They have wallowed in the 3-9 finish for nine\u00a0months, and they have the belief that the team will surprise many with their play this season. There are enough 4-star rated players, that if they awake, the season can be a pleasant surprise. Isn’t the best thing about a new day, the chance to make it better than the day before? That is the hope of Gamecock football 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Will Muschamp and the brand new Gamecocks coaching staff are in the early stages of establishing a new attitude for their program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1440,"featured_media":203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[79,71,20,80,81],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-sec","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-will-muschamp"],"modified_by":"Lauren Beasley","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1440"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}New Coach, New Physicality<\/h3>\n
On The Offense<\/h3>\n
A New Era<\/h3>\n