Gamecock Digest

Dowell Loggains Using NFL Experience To Navigate Rash Of O-line Injuries

South Carolina's Football team is dealing with a tumultuous injury situation on the offensive line, one that OC Dowell Loggains has dealt with in the past.

Andrew Lyon

Dowell Loggains Using NFL Experience To Navigate Rash Of O-line Injuries
Dowell Loggains Using NFL Experience To Navigate Rash Of O-line Injuries /

As of this current moment, this is the injury list for the offensive line on South Carolina's Football team:

  • Jaylen Nichols (Hurt in Spring Game, may return at some point this Fall)
  • Cason Henry (OUT since week one, questionable for the Texas A&M game)
  • Vershon Lee (Missed Missouri game, questionable for Texas A&M game)
  • Oluwatosin "Tree" Babalade (Questionable for the Texas A&M game)
  • Trovon Baugh (Questionable for Texas A&M Game)
  • Markee Anderson (OUT for the season)
  • Ni Mansell (OUT for the season)
  • Ryan Brubaker (OUT for the season)
Tree Babalade looking on after a play against Furman (9th Sept., 2023)
Tree Babalade looking on after a play against Furman (9th Sept., 2023) / Fisher Brewer

During his weekly Sunday night teleconference call, Shane Beamer admitted that when the team returned to practice on Tuesday, they weren't going to be able to field an entire backup offensive line. It is genuinely a Defcon one type of situation regarding the availability of the team's offensive linemen.

The one silver lining through this whole ordeal is that Shane has been able to lean on the advice of a couple of head coaches currently in the NFL, along with his offensive coordinator in Dowell Loggains, who told the media on Wednesday how they adjusted in the NFL and the kind of challenges a depleted offensive line presents.

"Yeah, the NFL becomes more about service teams. So it's like your first offense practicing against a second-team defense. What makes it tough is you have six or seven scholarship offense linemen on IR. Not IR, but that's what we called in the NFL, but they aren't available to practice. So then it becomes a challenge for the defense, and all of a sudden you're going against three offensive linemen and two tight ends playing offensive line," Dowell explained. "So coach [Beamer] asked me about the other day is like, 'Hey, what's the fewest offensive lineman you've ever gone into a game with?' I'm like 'seven', which is really scary," Loggains lamented.

While the staff has to be extra cautious with the o-linemen that remain healthy at this point, they also can't afford to change the entire structure of how they practice because of one group, which can, in turn, make the week more challenging for those who can practice.

"The bigger challenge becomes this: guys like Nick [Gargiulo] start taking more reps than they normally take on a tough schedule playing in this conference," Dowell stated. "All of a sudden, the wear and tear in their body becomes more because you know someone has to take the reps."

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Andrew Lyon
ANDREW LYON

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