Expect South Carolina to employ more direct snaps to Pharoh Cooper, others
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After Week 1, questions about the South Carolina Gamecocks offense remain.
We got our first real glimpse at quarterback Connor Mitch and a new and improved defense. Interestingly, Perry Orth and Pharoh Cooper (3 completions) accounted for 25 percent of South Carolina’s completions.
The team utilized several direct snaps, as Cooper and Orth carried a combined six times. Brandon Wilds took at least one direct snap as well.
Let’s take a closer look at the Gamecocks offense from their Week 1 victory and what to expect moving forward.
A few questions:
Will coach Spurrier consider more direct snaps to non-quarterbacks?
I think that he absolutely will. There’s no question that Coach wants to throw the ball around, but with playmakers such as Pharoh Cooper, Brandon Wilds, and Shon Carson, he has to find a way to get them the ball with zero chance of something bad happening (minus a bad snap of course).
During a recent radio interview, coach Lou Holtz explained to me that the only way he wouldn’t get the ball to Tim Brown was if the defense intercepted the snap. That’s something that offenses and coaches are going to more and more: get the ball in the playmakers’ hands at the snap and let them sort of “freelance.”
Run game coordinator and offensive line coach Shawn Elliot will have his guys up front ready to run the rock and set the tone at the line of scrimmage. He’s one of the best in the business.
Could we see more running against Kentucky to keep the Wildcats offense off the field?
Last week we saw the Gamecocks offense rush 47 times for 254 yards against a pretty solid front seven of North Carolina. In comparison, they only threw the ball 27 times for 140 total yards.
From what I’ve heard from a few of the guys on the team, expect more of that. While Connor Mitch didn’t really blow up the stat sheet throwing the ball, he did run 10 times for 44 yards.
Expect much of the same this week in their home opener against Kentucky. The Wildcats have a potent offense led by Patrick Towles and can score in a hurry. Be ready to see more of Cooper and others in the wildcat formation.
Will freshman Lorenzo Nunez get any playing time?
Only time will tell. From everything that I’ve been told, the kid is a hell of an athlete. He still needs to learn the timing of Coach Spurrier’s offense and be able to read the defense a little quicker, but that doesn’t mean he won’t see any action this weekend.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see him make his debut but I also think that it depends on how Mitch is playing. If he’s playing well, I don’t see coach using Nunez when he can try and save his redshirt.
There are still major questions to be answered surrounding this Gamecocks team, but it’s a hell of a lot better being 1-0 than being 0-1. Now it’s SEC time!
The Man. The Myth. The Legend.
