Eric Douglas liking what he's seeing from Gamecock offense
Getting one percent better each day is the message that Gamecock head coach Shane Beamer has been stressing so far in preseason camp.
For an offense that ranked 11th in the SEC last season in yards per rush attempt, it can be easy to feel like there’s a long way to go. However, Beamer has made sure his players remain focused on the here and now.
“Don’t get too high on the highs. Don’t get too low on the lows. Just keep going and being consistent,” sixth-year center Eric Douglas said.
South Carolina struggled offensively in 2021, rushing the ball inconsistently and rotating through four different quarterbacks. Over the offseason, the Gamecocks spent time trying to add offensive depth to the roster to take a leap on that side of the ball.
As the leader of an offensive line that returns three players with at least 20 starts, Douglas has liked what he’s seen so far in practice.
“Just the playmakers that we have out there. We have offensive linemen that are willing and ready to work. Doesn’t matter what the play call is—get it done,” Douglas said. “You got great quarterbacks, Spencer (Rattler) and Luke Doty. They’re pushing the young guys. And you got great running backs, Juju (McDowell) and Marshawn (Lloyd) and (Christian-Beal Smith), they’re pushing (DJ) Twitty and (Lovasea Carroll) to be better.”
One thing that has impressed Douglas about the running backs is not being afraid to hit during pass protection.
“It’s easy to say they make us look good when we run blocking but the main thing I love with them is when they’re willing and ready to stick their nose in there,” Douglas said. “Like Juju, however much he weigh, he’s ready to stick his nose in there. That’s the fight I love from our running backs and everyone in that room, I’m ready to go to war for.”
Douglas has also liked the work that the Gamecock wide receivers have been putting in. Even after practice, they can be found finding ways to improve their play.
“They’re still out there catching punts right now. It’s just the competition and the cohesiveness that we got as an offense to grow and want to get better each day,” Douglas said.
With 23 consecutive starts under his belt, Douglas has seen a lot of good and bad with the Gamecocks. After watching film from last Saturday’s scrimmage, he didn’t shy away from pointing out mistakes he caught.
Douglas said his biggest takeaway from the scrimmage was how the offensive line beat themselves.
“If you go back and watched the film, it was stuff we did internally,” Douglas said. “If we took one step this way or we blocked this one way, we have a different feeling. I mean, either way we still produce out there and had a really great scrimmage.”
“The main thing that we need to do is just keep the main thing the main thing and focus on what we can control. Just go out there and execute.”
This season, the Gamecocks will play against five of the top 50 defenses from 2021. For the offensive line, getting daily reps versus their own defensive front has been helpful in improving.
“It’s always good to get against our defensive line,” Douglas said. “Just getting to go against TJ (Sanders), Nick Barrett, just to see their growth and development. Then, also you see it in (D’Andre Martin), you got Jaamal Whyce and Felix (Hixon), they’re coming along real nice. Just to see the interior of that defensive line room shape up besides the guys that you know about. Just pretty good to get competition against those guys and get better every day.”
