South Carolina still hasn’t settled the question of where Jacarrius Peak fits once he’s cleared to go, and Shane Beamer said the staff has already started sorting through the possibilities.
Peak, who arrived from N.C. State in January, was sidelined by a knee injury suffered during an organized team basketball tournament a few weeks after he got to campus.
He has experience at both left and right tackle from his three seasons at N.C. State, but he did not dress for South Carolina’s season-opening win over Kent State on Saturday.
That opener gave the Gamecocks a first look at the current tackle setup. Freshman Darius Gray started at left tackle, while Ferris State transfer Dayne Arnett opened at right tackle and split work with Shedrick Sarratt Jr.
For now, South Carolina is moving ahead with Towson coming to Columbia this weekend and Mississippi State following as the first of nine straight SEC games. Peak’s role will be determined when he is ready, but Beamer made it clear the staff is not locking itself into anything just yet.
“We got to get to that point first. … Hopefully, when he comes back, which will be very soon, everybody on our offensive line is healthy and everybody on our offensive line is playing at a high-level,” Beamer said on Sunday night. “If that's the case and then (Jacarrius) Peak is healthy, that is a win-win for everyone in a best-case scenario, so assuming that's the scenario, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
There were some encouraging signs from the opener, too. After the Kent State game, Pro Football Focus gave Gray the Gamecocks’ best pass-blocking grade at 85.6. Arnett also stood out, finishing as the second-best run blocker on South Carolina’s offensive line with a 75.6 grade.
Beamer also said Sunday that left guard Nolan Hay was one of the offense’s two players of the game for the coaching staff.
And even with the lineup still taking shape, Beamer said the group has options.
The sixth-year head coach said they have “a lot of guys on our offensive line that can do a lot.”
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Matt Fuller helped provide the early jolt, even after an illness briefly forced him off the field, and he still found a way to get into the end zone on the Gamecocks first touchdown. The bigger takeaway for Shane Beamers team was how complete it looked on both sides of the ball, and how quickly it turned an opener into a building block for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]