Stone Blanton shifting focus to football, making big strides in practice
Stone Blanton’s offseason has looked much different from what he’s been used to.
Since he was a kid, Blanton had gone from playing football to baseball without much time off. It’s a routine that can be exhausting on his body.
But as baseball season is in full swing, Blanton won’t be on the field anytime soon. Instead, he took time to recover from a long college football season.
“It’s a big difference, for sure. Usually I’m rolling out of one sport going into the next,” Blanton said. “Having this kind of time in between where I just lock in on football as an offseason has been extremely beneficial.”
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Blanton, who came to South Carolina as a two-sport athlete, quickly found playing time on the football field as injuries arose. He played in 12 of the Gamecocks’ 13 games last year.
But playing more than he expected took a toll on his body, specifically his shoulder. Not playing baseball this spring has allowed it to better heal. And there’s also been other benefits that he pointed out.
“I wanted to change my body composition, so I ended up losing like five or six pounds of body fat and gaining almost 10 pounds of muscle, which was a good jump. I think that’s really going to help me — I already feel it,” Blanton said. “This offseason I’ve been working with Chip (Morton). We’ve really been strengthening my shoulder so it’s my first time I’ve been able to play without my braces since I don’t know freshman year.”
“I think that’s another thing that’s really going to help my game out just being able to move a lot better. I feel like it’s going to be able to take my game to the next level.”
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As Blanton begins his sophomore season with the Gamecocks, he’ll have a real chance to make an impact.
Sherrod Greene and Brad Johnson graduated and Mo Kaba, who’s recovering from an ACL injury, hasn’t been cleared for practice yet. Blanton and Debo Williams have been taking first team reps at spring practice.
“He’s more vocal. Him and Debo are clicking together right now,” Kaba said. “You could tell he’s taking control of his opportunity that he has in front of himself.”
In the time that Kaba has been sidelined, he’s been instrumental in Blanton’s development by giving him tips and pointers.
“Even to this day in practice he’d come up to me and be like, ‘Hey man, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that,'” Blanton said. “He’s a great encourager too. So he’ll come up to you and give you words of encouragement that you need that gets you through practice.”
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But while Kaba is out, his starting spot is up for the taking. His absence, which could linger into the summer, could give Blanton and other a chance to shine.
“I think what it comes down to is just competition. We’re going to compete at the end of the day,” Blanton said. “That’s what we’re here for is to just compete. He’s obviously a great player so we’re all going to have an opportunity to compete.”
As for his future in baseball, Blanton doesn’t plan on suiting up this season. But that could always change in the years to come.
“I’m just working on my shoulder stability, it has to get better,” Blanton said. “Right now, it’s gotten a lot better over this past winter. So looking forward to my progression as I go through that and time will tell.”
