Other Notes & Observations From South Carolina's First Fall Camp Practice

South Carolina's Football team opened Fall camp on Friday morning. What were the main takeaways from the Gamecocks first practice of August?

We're about a month away from Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks kicking off the 2023 season against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Before Carolina takes on their northern neighbors in Charlotte, they have multiple questions to answer on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

Fall camp will be an excellent opportunity for the Gamecock's third-year head coach and his staff to figure out who they can rely on to help the team this upcoming season. So what were some of the initial takeaways from Friday's practice?

Let's start with guys who've been dealing with injuries or had procedures done before Spring ball. Mohamed Kaba and especially Jordan Strachan could be key players in a Gamecock defensive front looking to improve in rush defense and pass rush. After they both tore an ACL against Arkansas this past September, both were fully dressed out and on the field, participating in position-specific and special team drills. Both looked good regarding their vertical and lateral movement, but we'll see how things look once the pads come on.

Defensive end Tyreek Johnson was the sole player wearing a blue non-contact jersey on Friday morning, and we never caught word of why that was the case. Kam Sandlin is also limited right now per Beamer's comments from Thursday's Media Day, and he seemed to try and push through despite having a little hitch in his giddy up. Cason Henry was also out there with the team participating in seemingly most of the individual work with his fellow linemen-mates.

Three freshmen offensive linemen got some second-string reps in a quick on-air script run by Dowell Loggains' offense halfway through our viewing window: Oluwatosin Babalade, Trovon Baugh, and Markee Anderson. These guys are expected to get an opportunity to earn some snaps considering the lack of proven pieces and depth along the offensive line.

The last thing I'll do is list guys who physically jumped off the hoof that I saw at practice on Friday:

LB Grayson "Pup" Howard

DE Tyreek Johnson

RB Dakereon Joyner

WR Nyckoles Harbor

QB LaNorris Sellers

Edge Jatius Geer

Edge Bryan Thomas Jr.

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