Former South Carolina DB lands on-field coaching gig
Former South Carolina defensive back and football staffer Jaylin Dickerson has landed the first on-field gig of his young coaching career.
Former Gamecock tight ends coach Jody Wright, now the head coach at Murray State, has added Dickerson to his staff as the Racers cornerbacks coach, the school announced today.
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Dickerson first moved onto the South Carolina staff as a student assistant in March of 2022 when he medically retired from football as a once-promising career came to an end due to injury after injury.
Dickerson, who was universally liked and respected within the program across two coaching staffs, generated buzz as a possible early impact guy from the moment he arrived on campus as a player in 2017 but season-ending nerve surgery stopped that season in its tracks.
Dickerson played in 10 games in 2018 but then missed the entire 2019 season after preseason hip surgery. He then played in eight games during the COVID-shortened 2020 season before playing seven in 2021, that season too ended prematurely due to injury.
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Now after two seasons as an off-the-field assistant at his alma mater, Dickerson will get the chance to coach his own position group as Wright’s cornerbacks coach.
Dickerson is one of two Carolina staffers Wright has now elevated to on-field roles this offseason. He also named former South Carolina special teams analyst Tyler Zielenske his special teams coordinator.
Dickerson originally signed with South Carolina as a three-star prospect out of Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, N.C.
What South Carolina coordinators said about start of spring
South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and defensive coordinator Clayton White met with the media Wednesday to discuss the Gamecocks spring practice, which kicked off Tuesday morning.
Below is an informal and paraphrased recap of what each had to say about Day 1 of spring.
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Dowell Loggains
— The message to the QBs is the guy who gets the team in the end zone the most is the one who will win the job. Tells the story about playing with Matt Jones at Arkansas. It wasn’t always pretty in practice but when the scrimmages hit, he put the ball in the end zone. The guy who gets the team in the end zone and operates the best is going to be the QB.
— Five guys are getting reps at QB. LaNorris Sellers, Robby Ashford, Luke Doty, Davis Beville, and Dante Reno. The message to them all is the same. There is not a named starter but Sellers did take the first snap. We’re going to rotate. Sellers took the first reps but he didn’t take ALL the reps with the ones. Right now we’re very healthy on offense so there’s a lot of rotation and we’ll rotate every day. Every day is an interview. Also working with the new helmet communication systems.
