Video: OL Nick Gargiulo feeling right at home with Gamecocks
When South Carolina hit the transfer portal to add talent to their offensive line, it was evident by just looking at Nick Gargiulo why the Gamecocks wanted him so badly.
Standing at 6-foot-5, 327 pounds, Gargiulo was Yale’s lone captain last season, which captured the Ivy League title. When making the decision to come to Columbia, it wasn’t hard for him after meeting the Gamecock coaches.
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“There were three things why I wanted to come down here,” said Gargiulo. “I wanted to see how (Shane) Beamer operated, I wanted to see how Luke Day operated, and coach (Lonnie) Teasley and coach (Greg) Adkins. Once those (four) people checked the boxes, which happened within the first ten minutes I was down here, I knew this was the place for me.”
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While at Yale Gargiulo was extremely versatile. He started in ten games at center last season but before that, he appeared in 15 games at tackle for the Bulldogs. The majority of those snaps were at left tackle. And Gargiulo knows that. His willingness to play wherever the team needs him to, mix in with his work ethic and natural ability to lead instantly earned him the respect of his peers.
“I’ve built relationship in the six to eight months that I’ve been down here already with the group of guys that were here. We have a real solid core group of guys here that want to get better and want to continue to grow their game. When you have guys that have alignment in their vision it’s easy to get along and to accomplish what you want.”
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Moving on from Eric Douglas, Jovaughn Gwyn, and Dylan Wonnum the need to find stability on the offensive line is a must. But with Week 1 being against another Power 5 team in UNC, Gargiulo understands that they’ll have to get on the same page as a uint quickly.
“You make practice harder than the games. I think over the next three weeks the practices are gonna be really tough. There’s gonna be periods where you expose the things that you’re not necessarily good at yet and then you hone in on your skills so that by the time (the first) game rolls around you’ve already been through it 21 times, you should be ready to go.”
