Gamecocks enter camp in good health despite 'gnarly, nasty, grueling summer'

On3 image — South Carolina's Mohamed Kaba and Jordan Strachan. (Katie Dugan, Gamecock Central)

With the South Carolina football team set to kick off its preseason camp in less than 24 hours, head coach Shane Beamer met with the media Thursday afternoon and provided the latest injury report on his team.

“Everyone will be out there. Now we’ve got some that are going to be limited but there’s nobody that’s not going to be on the field for any reason other than they may be limited from an injury standpoint,” Beamer said. “But nobody really new. It was a physical-as-can-be, gnarly, nasty, grueling summer, so there’s certainly some things that flare up throughout the summer that guys may be a little bit limited as we go into preseason camp, nothing that will keep anybody out long term where they wouldn’t be ready for game 1 other than who we previously talked about.”

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Five Gamecocks — Mo Kaba, Jordan Strachan, Cason Henry, David Spaulding, and Tonka Hemingway — missed all of spring practice while recovering from prior injuries but all five are expected to be available for the Gamecocks’ season opener against North Carolina in a month.

Beamer said during SEC Media Days two weeks ago that Kaba and Strachan may be limited at the start of camp but that they’d be full-go by the opener.

Strachan and Kaba both suffered severe, season-ending knee injuries in Week 2 of last year.

Last week, Beamer added that Henry was at about 85 percent and would be 100 percent by Game 1.

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Spaulding told GamecockCentral on Thursday that he feels like he’s at about 90 percent but that he expects to be full-go on Friday and that he’ll be 100 percent by the first game.

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Beamer added that freshman Kam Sandlin, a tight end signee who will play running back for the Gamecocks at least for now, is one of the players who will be slightly limited at the start of camp.

Left tackle Jaylen Nichols will miss at least part, if not all, of the season with a knee injury suffered in the spring game.

After reporting on Thursday, South Carolina has preseason practice No. 1 at 9:20 on Friday morning.

The Gamecocks open their 2023 campaign in just under one month when they travel to Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium for a neutral-site showdown with North Carolina on Sept. 2. The 7:30 p.m. kickoff will be on ABC.

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