South Carolina has a new strength coach as former Ole Miss head strength coach Paul Jackson was officially introduced in Columbia on Thursday with a press conference attended by Will Muschamp.

The new direction of the strength program is something Gamecock fans were calling for following a rough 2019 season that saw South Carolina get devastated by injuries which severely hindered the progress of Muschamp’s program in his fourth season in Columbia.

While South Carolina is hoping Jackson can solve this issue moving forward, the Gamecocks are still dealing with a few lingering issues that will cost the team five players this spring in Columbia.

According to Muschamp, the following players will miss spring practice: linebacker Spencer Eason-Riddle, tight end Nick Muse, offensive lineman Dylan Wonnum, defensive linemen JJ Enagbare and Tyreek Johnson.

“There are five guys, obviously Spencer Eason-Riddle and Nick Muse had ACL (injuries) so they will miss spring,” Muschamp said on Thursday. “Dylan Wonnum, in the recruiting process, Dylan’s body structure, both of his hip bones grow inward. We knew when we recruited him that we were eventually going to have surgery. So we went ahead and had hip surgery, so he’ll miss spring.

“JJ Enagbare got cut in our last ball game and had a little bit of an issue with the hip, I don’t know that he will be back for spring, he had the same surgery. Tyreek Johnson had the same issue that OrTre (Smith) had, suplex knee cap, it’s a heredity deal that we went ahead and had the surgery on. Those five are the only ones. Everybody else will be ready to go.”

Being down a handful of players for spring football isn’t the end of the world but this is exactly why Muschamp needed to make a change and bring in a coach with a successful track record in the SEC like Jackson. Following a season that saw the program finish 4-8 on the field, you don’t want to start the next season still dealing with lingering issues from last fall.