Kentucky football: Five things to know about the South Carolina Gamecocks
Five things to know about Kentucky football’s next opponent, the South Carolina Gamecocks. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.
1. South Carolina is busy conducting a coaching search
Will Muschamp got the ax on Nov. 15, a day after South Carolina lost 59-42 to Ole Miss, dropping the Gamecocks to 2-5 this season and Muschamp to 28-30 overall and 17-22 during his four-plus years in Columbia.
It’s not the first time Muschamp has been fired by an SEC East school. After successful stints as an assistant at LSU and defensive coordinator at both Auburn and Texas, Muschamp was hired to follow Urban Meyer at Florida. He lasted four years there, going 28-21. His 2012 team went 11-2 before losing to Louisville in the Sugar Bowl. It was all downhill after that with the Gators going 10-13.
Still, after Muschamp spent a year back at Auburn, South Carolina gave the former Georgia defensive back another shot. The Gamecocks went 6-7 his first season, followed by 9-4, 7-6 and 4-8 last season. The 6-13 over the past two years was enough for AD Ray Tanner to recommend the school bite the bullet and pay the coach’s $13 million buyout.
“It’s different getting ready for South Carolina not having Will on the opposing sideline,” UK Coach Mark Stoops said this week. “I really have a lot of respect for Will and the work he’s done and just the competitor that he is. It won’t be the same competing without him being over there as well.”
As for Muschamp’s successor, the apparent leader is Shane Beamer, currently associate head coach under Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma. The son of legendary Virginia Tech (and Murray State) coach Frank Beamer, Shane was an assistant at South Carolina from 2007-10 before working for his father at Virginia Tech from 2011-15. After two years at Georgia, the 43-year-old Beamer moved to Norman.
Beamer is known as an excellent recruiter and according to Ben Breiner, who covers the Gamecocks for The State, Muschamp was never able to recruit well enough to make South Carolina a contender for the SEC East title. If USC’s next coach does not turn out to be Beamer, Louisiana Coach Billy Napier could be next on the list.
Update: Lousiville coach Scott Satterfield reportedly interviews with South Carolina
2. Kevin Harris is South Carolina’s best player
Harris, a 5-foot-10, 225-pound running back out of Hinesville, Ga., might not be South Carolina’s best NFL prospect, but he has been the team’s most consistent all-around player.
The sophomore has carried the football 164 times for 928 yards and 14 touchdowns for the Gamecocks, who are 2-7. He’s averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Harris rushed for an eye-popping 243 yards and five touchdowns on 25 carries against Ole Miss. He ran for 126 yards at LSU, 171 yards at Vanderbilt and 100 at Florida. He’s also caught 20 passes for 142 yards and another score.
“With Harris,” said UK Coach Mark Stoops this week, “he’s one of the top two-three-four backs in this conference and you know that is saying a lot. He is hard to get down. He runs exceptionally hard. They do a really good job blocking. I really respect the way they put a hat on a hat and run very physical. They block physically and he runs tough as well.”
Harris is 72 yards shy of becoming the ninth player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards. And he will have done it in 10 games.
“I think it’s a goal that is on our kids’ minds, and not just Kevin,” South Carolina interim head coach Mike Bobo said. “It’s something that the offense takes pride in, especially the offensive line and the running backs. They know how close he is and what he’s meant to this football team, offensively in the run game and the pass game.”
3. South Carolina has a new quarterback
Speaking of Bobo, the former Georgia offensive coordinator and Colorado State head coach brought grad transfer quarterback Collin Hill with him from Fort Collins when he accepted the job as Muschamp’s OC at South Carolina.
Hill beat out sophomore Tyler Hilinski in preseason camp and started South Carolina’s first eight games, completing 127 of 215 passes for 1,411 yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions. But when the Gamecocks’ offense bogged down during a 17-10 loss to Missouri, Bobo turned to freshman Luke Doty.
A 6-foot-1, 210-pounder out of Myrtle Beach, Doty hit on 14 of 23 passes for 130 yards with an interception against Mizzou. He started last week against Georgia, completing 18 of 22 passes for 190 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Recruited as a dual-threat quarterback, Doty rushed for 59 yards on 11 carries against Missouri. Sacks skewed his rushing numbers — 15 yards on 15 attempts — against Georgia. Remove the sack yardage and Doty has rushed for 90 yards on 26 carries this season.
He reminds South Carolina fans of former Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw, who just happens to be his quarterbacks coach this season. To Bobo, Doty is one of the most positive people he has been around.
“So it’s always been ‘Positive Thursday’ for me on Thursdays to get myself right going into going into Saturday,” Bobo said this week. “But when I came here, Luke Doty, it doesn’t matter whether he threw a pick or misread something, he is the most positive guy in the world. So I changed it to ‘Luke Doty Thursday’ because he’s positive. That’s the story.”
4. South Carolina has had some high-profile opt-outs
The first was defensive back Jaycee Horn, considered one of the top cornerback prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft. He opted out before the Missouri game. Through seven games, he had recorded 16 tackles with two interceptions and six pass breakups.
Mel Kiper, draft analyst at ESPN, has ranked Horn as the sixth-best draft-eligible cornerback. But the Alpharetta, Ga., native had to defend himself over criticism from South Carolina fans for bailing on the season.
Soon after Horn opted out, so did fellow cornerback Israel Mukuamu, also considered a potential high NFL Draft pick. Before the season, ESPN’s Todd McShay had Mukuamu going in the latter half of the first round.
Safety/linebacker RJ Roderick and defensive tackle Markius Scott opted out before the team’s game with Georgia.
Because of injuries, South Carolina is also missing defensive end Aaron Sterling and linebacker Brad Johnson. Star wide receiver Shi Smith has missed time, but he could be back Saturday night to face Kentucky. The senior has 54 catches for 605 yards on the season but missed the majority of the Missouri game and all of last week’s loss to Georgia because of a head injury. Bobo said this week that Smith has cleared concussion protocol.
[Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s loss to South Carolina in 2019]
5. Kentucky-South Carolina has been a series of streaks
Stoops brings a 5-2 record against the Gamecocks as the Kentucky head coach into Saturday’s matchup. After losing to Steve Spurrier and USC 35-28 in 2013, Stoops beat Spurrier in successive seasons, 45-38 in 2014 and 26-22 in 2015. Stoops then extended his mastery of the Gamecocks to five straight with three wins over Muschamp before South Carolina won 24-7 last year in Columbia.
South Carolina is 17-11 against Kentucky since the Gamecocks entered the SEC in 1992. Much of Carolina’s advantage was built on a 10-game series win streak from 2000 through 2009. Lou Holtz beat UK’s Hal Mumme in 2000, Guy Morriss in 2001 and 2002, then Rich Brooks in 2003 and 2004 before retiring. Spurrier went 5-0 against Brooks, then 2-1 against Joker Phillips before Stoops arrived at UK in 2013.
It was after South Carolina’s 54-3 win over Kentucky in 2011 when Spurrier made his infamous “Kentucky has a heck of a punter, I know that” statement. Actually, UK did have a heck of a punter that long afternoon. Ryan Tydlacka punted nine times for 398 yards, an average of 44.2 yards per punt.
On the flip side, it was exactly one month after Kentucky beat South Carolina in 2015 that Spurrier told his team he was retiring immediately. The Gamecocks were 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the SEC at the time.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 4:45 PM.
