Two South Carolina transfer newcomers are expected to miss the rest of spring practice after suffering injuries during the first couple of weeks of practice.
Offensive guard Nick Sharpe and EDGE Jaylen Brown are out for the spring, head coach Shane Beamer said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
“The only two new additions (to the injury report), unfortunately, are Nick Sharpe on the offensive line and Jaylen Brown on the defensive line,” Beamer said. “You know, disappointing, because that’s two positions that we really need to stay healthy at. But both those two guys suffered injuries last week and they’ll miss the rest of spring, unfortunately.”
Beamer did not specify the exact nature of the injuries.
Sharpe, a transfer from Wake Forest, joined the team this offseason and is competing for a starting job at left guard.
Brown, a true sophomore who transferred in from Missouri, is competing to be in the rotation at EDGE.
The newly announced injuries are in addition to the news from two weeks ago that four players would miss all or most of the spring.
Tight end Michael Smith, defensive tackle Caleb Williams, center Ryan Brubaker, and offensive tackle Damola Ajidahun are all out with various injuries.
“Unfortunately, those four guys are out for spring with some injury things that we wanted to go ahead and get done now, so they’d be ready for the season, and they all will be,” Beamer said in mid-March. “Optimistic that maybe a couple of guys will be able to do a little bit more towards the end of spring practice but right now they won’t start with us and we’ll see how it goes as we go through the spring. But other than that, everybody is in good shape.”
South Carolina completed its sixth practice of the spring on Tuesday. The Gamecocks will be back in action on Thursday morning.
It didn’t go the way they expected. Then again, that was kind of how their freshman years went as well.
By the fifth game of the 2023 season, South Carolina had two freshmen starting on the offensive line. Tree Babalade became the starting left tackle by Week 3, then Trovon Baugh joined in as the starter at right guard two games later. They held onto their spots for the rest of the year, gaining valuable experience of starting every week in the SEC.
Their sophomore years were a different story. Babalade only made one start and played in four games to keep his redshirt after last season. Baugh didn’t redshirt since he played in 12 games, mostly on special teams. He didn’t make a single start on the offensive line, though.
