South Carolina has a really natural chemistry between the various players across their offense. They’ve been developing it for almost a year now, dating to the seventh game of the 2016 season when first-year head coach Will Muschamp looked at his 2-4 team and decided to go all in on a youth movement.

In that seventh game the Gamecocks started to emphasize the younger players across the roster, playing freshmen Jake Bentley and Rico Dowdle at QB and RB and sophomore Deebo Samuel at receiver. They finished on a 4-3 stretch while laying a foundation for the 2017 season.

Now they have a really versatile offensive group that can attack opponents in a variety of ways. The run game was lacking in opener, but Samuel offset that as a speedy punishment to teams that try to load up to answer their offensive challenges.

The foundation of the offense is the formational and run/pass balance they can get due to the hybrid skill set of TE Hayden Hurst. The 24-year old spent a few years in the Pirates minor league system and then came to college with some extra physical and emotional maturity that have doubtlessly been useful to him in developing a diverse skill set as a blocking H-back and a flex receiver.

Hurst’s ability to move back and forth between the backfield and the perimeter makes it easier for the Gamecocks to punish opponents for their personnel choices, to clear up the picture for young Bentley to know where to go with the ball, and to run the ball.

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N.C. State held the Gamecocks to 31 yards, but in general, the threat of Dowdle and run game forces opponents to dedicate numbers and attention to the backfield and can inevitably lead to 1-on-1 opportunities on the perimeter, where Samuel lives.

Opponents first have to decide if they are going to play nickel and rely on speed and aggressiveness to stop the run or else play a linebacker and hope that Hurst doesn’t torch them with his route running. The former bet is probably better, but now you’re trying to balance stopping the run with speed and aggression yet staying disciplined on Samuel out wide.

Samuel is simply a great athlete. At 6-0, 216 pounds, he’s pretty big for an inside receiver but that muscle seems to simply translate to speed as he is much too quick to effectively cover without help.

He’s a nightmare on play-action, especially with a QB like Bentley who has the arm strength to throw him open down the field.

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Bentley’s strength and mobility here to discard that contain rusher and get out into space where he could fire off that bomb is impressive as well. But it’s also a rough deal for opponents trying to match up to the Gamecocks that Samuel can take the top off with all that speed.

(He clearly showed that on the opening kickoff, too, taking it 97 yards for a touchdown.)

The Gamecocks also revealed that an attempt to balance those priorities by playing off coverage on Samuel is punishable with quick pass options attached to runs.

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SC’s OL and TEs are all executing run blocks here, so there’s no tell for the Wolfpack secondary that they need to send help to cover Samuel; corner Johnathan Alston is all by himself on an island.

The Gamecocks also got the ball to Samuel on traditional, dropback concepts, again often setting him up to run loose in space with how they used Hurst.

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On this touchdown pass, Hurst was on the line of scrimmage, which allows Samuel to play off the line a bit. That helped him avoid any bump coverage. Then they sent Hurst up and out to create a natural, legal “rub.” N.C. State stayed in man, rather than switching, but Samuel was able to burst into the opening for an easy pitch and catch.

What’s more, the Wolfpack blitzed their linebackers, so there’s no help inside and Bentley knows exactly how to punish their defensive call. With the Gamecocks’ speedy punisher on the outside, of course.

The Gamecocks are going to be a very difficult offense to match up due to the overlapping skill set of Hurst and Samuel. It’s doubtful Dowdle has another 27-yard day.

If he gets going (he topped 120 yards all three times he got 20 or more carries in 2016), the Gamecocks can load up the box and hammer the ball between the tackles or they can flip it out wide to Samuel in space. It’s up to the defense to decide which option they want to live with and neither is particularly appealing.