COLOMBIA – Many wondered when Mike Bobo took over as interim South Carolina coach if the Gamecocks’ defense would change. It was the poor defense, not so much Bobo’s attack, that led to the 2-5 record that led Will Muschamp to resign.
Yes, everything will change, starting with Saturday’s home game against Missouri. A defense that has been bleak for the entire season lost five starters this week.
Cornerbacks Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu, the best candidates for the NFL team, announced that each is choosing not to participate in the final three games to gain an initial advantage in their professional training. Security RJ Roderick is also opting out of what Bobo labeled “personal reasons / COVID”.
Defensive striker Aaron Sterling and linebacker Brad Johnson, who lost last week’s loss in Mississippi, are out of season due to injuries, and striker Makius Scott, who has not played this year and has been cast in the red shirt, is also out. choosing to leave.
There are 22 matches, 66 tackles, four of the Gamecocks’ six interceptions and seven of the 19 pass separations that suddenly disappear.
“The guys who are here are here,” said Bobo. “No ill will towards those who are not, but the guys who are here have a great opportunity to deal with adversity and get up.”
Horn would probably leave after the NFL season anyway, and Mukuamu had that option too, although a groin injury against Ole Miss left him in doubt to play the rest of this year. His decisions along with Roderick to leave now with three games at the table appear to be the consequence of Muschamp’s resignation in the middle of the season, although Bobo declined to elaborate.
“It’s been a long year, it’s a different year, when children are told, ‘Hey, you don’t have to play this year, you can choose to go out and it doesn’t count’, that gives them a way out, in my opinion,” he said Bobo, who does not foresee more exclusions before the year, but warned that you never know. “This is not the only place where coaches are having problems with a long season and the possibility of giving up. There is no hard feelings towards anyone. “
Bobo coached his first team on Tuesday, and it was no good. He needs to improve substantially to beat Missouri on Saturday.
“Obviously, it will be a difficult process for people to respond to. But we still believe we can play for each other, ”said Connor Shaw, who was promoted to assistant center back this week. “Good things happen to people who don’t give up.”
Gamecocks will move former headline striker Jordan Rhodes to the defensive line to get more meat up front. The running back of the third ZaQuandre White sequence, a highlight of the special teams, is safe this week.
Cam Smith and John Dixon must occupy the starting positions left by Horn and Mukuamu, while Joey Hunter and Darius Rush can also intervene. Gamecocks are putting as many fingers in the holes as possible, but the leaks are becoming unbearable.
Bobo has been head coach before, but his plate was filled with a second and a third portion of responsibilities. More obligations to the media (he had two press conferences in two days and has to take Muschamp’s place on the SEC coaches call on Wednesday and on Thursday’s local radio show) to oversee coaching shuffle and depth charts, it’s been a tough week.
“It is already a challenge when you have to take over and you are not the main coach. It is a challenge this year with what we are dealing with, with children being able to give up at any time, ”he said. “We talked about it being about us. He talked about how it is not an individual sport, it is a team sport. “
A team riddled with defections in the past two days.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.