Fine-Tuned: The secret behind

HIGH PERFORMANCE

Molly Binetti excels at fine-tuning Dawn Staley’s elite athletes

Molly Binetti thinks of herself, in a way, as the mechanic of South Carolina women’s basketball. The team’s sports performance coach, she guides, tinkers and strengthens the team’s core — literally — so it can be a well-oiled machine.

“We get Ferraris. We get Maseratis,” Binetti told Spurs & Feathers. “[The players are] already coming in in a really good spot, for the most part. They’re strong. They’re fast. They’re athletic.

“My job is to just make sure the brakes are tightened a little bit, make sure [their] bodies are strong and make sure we’ve got the wheels aligned.”

When she said that in early March, the high-end players were heading down the home stretch.

Binetti and her team were put to the test the following weekend when No. 1 South Carolina played three games in three days to win the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C.

“Molly has been ‘the one,’” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said. “Molly and [athletic trainer] Craig [Oates] both have. With the athletes, and athletes of this caliber, they need a sense of confidence. If they’ve got a bump or bruise somewhere, they need to know psychologically that they’re OK. Part of a strength coach and a trainer is to treat it and then treat their minds.

“We’ve got the best of them.”

By Josh Hyber | Staff writer • Photos by Allen Sharpe

Binetti’s guidance was a major reason why South Carolina’s quintet of Ty Harris, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and Aliyah Boston started all 33 games. It was the first time in Staley’s 12 seasons with the Gamecocks that the same unit started every game.

“Molly is an important factor,” Boston said. “She has been throughout the entire season.”

Above everything else, Binetti — who was hired by the program in June 2018 — tailors workouts to each specific player based on the player’s needs. As Binetti says, all players have different body types and personalities and respond differently physically and emotionally to different regimens.

It’s about getting each player’s body to “feel the best” and “as strong and as powerful as possible.”

Binetti keys in on what reduces a player’s chance of injury and then looks to continue to train what they are good at to make that better. She trains players for what she calls the “worst-case scenario.”

“To get them prepared not just for the demands of one game, but the reality of playing three games back to back to back, potentially going into double-overtime, I want our team to be physically capable,” she said.

Binetti wrote in a blog post earlier this season: "The best teams have their best players ready and available on game day. [The postseason] is also the time of year athletes should be their strongest and most powerful, which makes balancing the training with the demands of the season a tall task.”

“I take it very seriously upon myself to make sure I’m doing everything possible to put them in the best position to shine,” she said. “And that’s just dialing in, everything from our training to recovery, our nutrition, our hydration, what type of recovery garments we’re wearing, what we’re doing in the hotel, what we’re doing between games.

“Making sure we’re not leaving anything up to chance.”

Binetti uses a team approach with Oates and a team dietician to get things done. The Gamecocks boarded its bus to Greenville with hydration packets, Gatorade and Gatorade chews, the latter which she gives players about 20 minutes before each game.

She also brought recovery shakes that players drink about 30 minutes after each game. For afternoon games she makes sure they wake up at about 7 a.m. for the team’s 8 a.m. breakfast.

For night games she makes sure players drink and eat afterward and use a cold tub if needed. She routinely checks the data from the team’s Polar Team Pro — which they wear during games and practices — to track heart rate.

“We want to make sure we’re doing everything for them that mentally makes them feel

good,” Binetti said. “And we prioritize sleep more than anything.”

Binetti teaches velocity-based training, a method that emphasizes balance, strength and speed. “Every day that we train there’s a different focus or a different emphasis,” she said.

And she preaches competition.

This past summer, she had her players compete to see who could make the most weight gain with dumbbells, and players often posted their achievements on social media. The goal: lift the heaviest weight possible 20 times in sets of three followed by a fourth “money” set.

In the end, guards Ty Harris and Destiny Littleton each could lift 60-pound dumbbells 20 times.

“Which is no easy feat,” Binetti said. That success has translated to the court.

Harris played 40 minutes in the team’s 70- 52 victory over No. 5 Connecticut.

“I was feeling it and felt like I needed to be in the game to control everything,” Harris said after the game. “Molly [Binetti], our strength coach, shout-out to her for the conditioning we did in the preseason.”

“Ty is built for moments like that,” Binetti said. “She’s one that I’ve never had to worry about her preparation. She always comes in prepared, and in the offseason she works harder than anybody. In the offseason she put herself in a position where she could play 40 minutes on the biggest stage and shine in moments like that.

“… To see her come up big in moments like that, it’s why I do it.”

Also, to win.

On Binetti’s LinkedIn résumé it lists the skill “preparing champions.”

Did she think South Carolina had what it takes to win the NCAA Tournament?

“Absolutely,” she said. “That’s based off their preparation and being able to see that from day one in the summer and to see the work they put in up until this point. There’s no doubt in my mind. … And there’s no doubt in my mind they’re well coached. They want the biggest moments.”

10 players deadlift or squat more than 300 pounds (BEST: Laeticia Amihere, 410-pound deadlift; Harris, 510-pound belt squat). Ten also bench press more than 135 pounds (BEST: Harris, 175).

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

players can bench press 50-pound dumbbells 20 times (BEST: Harris 60 x 20)

players have a standing, vertical jump of 24 inches or more (BEST: Victaria Saxton, 28 inches).

3.1 Harris, Destanni Henderson, Brea Beal and Zia Cooke all registered 3/4-court sprint times between 3.1 and 3.14 seconds

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With practice halted, Muschamp using new technology to develop plan for 2020 season A BRAVE NEW WORLD

Like most college football coaches, Will Muschamp is always working.

Even during the offseason, there’s plenty to do. Whether it’s reviewing spring practice, installing new offensive and defensive schemes, game-planning for upcoming opponents or recruiting, always recruiting, Muschamp’s days are normally full.

Leisure time? What is that?

But like most Americans, Muschamp had to adjust to a new normal as the nation battled the spread of the coronavirus. With campus locked down, shutting him out of South Carolina’s state-of-the-art football facilities, he had to find new ways to lead his team.

And, along the way, learn some new things he had never experienced in the pre-COVID-19 days.

“I embarrassingly admit I didn’t know much about Netflix,” he said during a light-hearted moment on April 6. “I do now. My wife and I watch ‘Bloodline.’ That’s a heck of a show, we watch that every night. In about two weeks, we worked through all three seasons of it. It was pretty good.”

He also has had to discover new ways to communicate and interact with his football team. Whether through video conferencing, FaceTime or digital apps, Muschamp had to enter a brave new world as teams and programs across the country adapted to life without sports and normal athletic activity.

“The players are a lot better at this than I am,” he said. “They are able to get on the phone and

By Jeff Owens | Executive Editor • Photos by Allen Sharpe

this Zoom thing and do a really good job; it takes me a while to get it all cranked up.”

South Carolina had just five spring practices before all athletic activities were shut down and student-athletes were sent home due to the spread of the virus. The April 4 Garnet & Black Spring Game was canceled and Muschamp and his players entered the offseason not knowing when they would be allowed back on campus, when practice could resume and when the 2020 season would be played.

But that didn’t stop them from quickly developing a new routine, one powered by virtual meetings using video services like Zoom, and preparing for the 2020 season with programs like Learn To Win, a digital sports app that allows players to watch film and learn game plans just like they were sitting in a meeting room.

Beginning in April, Muschamp and his staff met online twice a week and held offensive and defensive meetings daily. Coaches also met with players daily, starting with a review of their five days of spring practice, and then implementing new phases of their offensive and defensive systems.

With players taking online classes, academic advisors were using video conferencing to meet with players every day to help them with their studies or discuss academic issues. Director of Player Development Connor Shaw met with players once a week to discuss mental health issues while dealing with the pandemic, while noted sports psychologist Dr. Kevin Elko met with the staff and leadership

group to discuss dealing with adversity during a time of crisis.

The most important thing, Muschamp said, is keeping his team connected, upbeat and positive. Shaw even developed an online Madden video game tournament to help keep players engaged and entertained.

“Connor has done a really good job of keeping our team connected,” Muschamp said. “The number one thing is having a daily routine. … Connor is doing a really good job, and Dr. Elko, at keeping guys connected during this time as best we can to keep our spirits up, stay positive and stay safe.”

Muschamp and his team are using Zoom and the Learn To Win app to conduct online team meetings to study film and work on different schemes and game plans. The app even allows coaches to quiz players on certain formations and protections, just like during a film session.

At the end of the day we are going to make it through this and we are going to be fine, we just don’t know when.

– WILL MUSCHAMP

“It has been really beneficial. That has been a good part of the learning process,” he said. “That’s the best we can do at this time.”

The virtual meetings have been particularly helpful to the 10 early enrollees from the 2020 signing class, which got just five spring practices before athletic activities were halted and campus was shut down.

“We were fortunate that we were able to get [those five days of practice] in before the situation occurred. That was a huge benefit for them,” Muschamp said. “Now we are in a video-conference Zoom situation and they have an idea of what we are going through and what we are talking about.

“Obviously, would we like to be on campus and practicing and working out and having them in the meeting rooms? Absolutely. But that’s not where we are right now so we have to adapt and adjust a little bit with how we are teaching and going through those things.”

New strength and conditioning coordinator Paul Jackson, who drew high praise from players during spring practice, has also helped players develop their own workout routines, depending on how much training equipment they have access to at home. Coaches are not allowed to physically monitor off-campus conditioning but they can advise them on programs to help them stay in shape and continue training.

“We are talking to our guys every day and making sure they are working out the best they can, whether they have access to weights and a workout situation or they don’t,” Muschamp said. “They can do some body weight at home. Some are doing the best they can with what they’ve got, and that’s all we can ask right now.”

Muschamp’s biggest challenge during the offseason is keeping his players positive and focused, particularly amid the uncertainty of the upcoming season. Like all college athletes, his players were shocked and frustrated by the

Strength & Conditioning coach Paul Jackson

sudden shut-down and have had to adjust to new, more challenging routines.

“Any time you deal with the unknown and the uncertainty of a situation, it creates some anxiety, it creates some angst, and that’s natural,” he said. “But we always talk to our guys about control what you can control. We have got no control over this other than what we can do to help prevent the spread of the the virus. We understand that, we explained that to our players countless times, and they understand that.

“They are frustrated, we all are. But at the end of the day we are going to make it through this and we are going to be fine, we just don’t know when.”

In mid-April, Muschamp had no idea when his players would be allowed to return to practice or when the 2020 season might begin. He estimates it will take teams about eight weeks to prepare and get in shape to play.

When that happens, he says his team will be ready.

“As a staff and as a team, we have to plan as if we are playing this fall and until someone tells us otherwise, that’s our plan,” he said. “We are planning on playing this fall and we’re planning on having 80,000 people at Williams-Brice. That’s the way I am looking at it.”

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LIGHTING A FIRE

Intense new OC Mike Bobo commanding respect, revamping Gamecock offense

It didn’t take long for Ryan Hilinski to learn what he was in for playing for new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Bobo.

During their first meeting together, Hilinski and Bobo were watching film from last season, studying the offense and evaluating what went right and what went wrong. During the Vanderbilt game, Hilinski scrambled into the open field and stepped out of bounds about five yards from the closest defender.

Bobo turned to Hilinski and said, “I didn’t know we had little babies out there. Next time go lower your shoulder against the guy.”

Bobo was only ribbing his new quarterback, a light-hearted comment to break the ice and help build a relationship with the player expected to lead the Gamecock offense. But the moment also gave Hilinski a little insight into his fiery new position coach, an intense, nononsense coordinator who commands respect and pushes his players hard.

“You can already tell that our guys are starting to respect him a lot just by the way he comes at it and how intense our practices are,” senior offensive lineman Sadarius Hutcherson said.

“He’s definitely more vocal and that gets guys going a little bit more,” Hilinski said. “He might light a fire underneath you and you don’t want to get called out. I think that is what is in a lot of guys’ minds right now. Just trying to be able to execute and not be that guy who lets their teammates down. And I think that’s a big difference when it comes to his style of teaching.”

By Jeff Owens | Executive Editor • Photos by Allen Sharpe

Bobo, who replaced Bryan McClendon as offensive coordinator, is charged with resurrecting an offense that struggled last season, averaging just 22 points per game and scoring just 24 points total in the last three games, all losses. Bobo’s offenses have averaged more than 30 points and 425 yards in his 13 years as a player caller — eight as Georgia’s offensive coordinator and five as head coach at Colorado State. His offenses at CSU set three of the topsix marks in school history for total offense, ranking in the top 20 nationally three times.

What will his offense at South Carolina look like?

With spring practice cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard to say. But Bobo offered some hints when he met with the media after the team’s fifth (and final) spring practice.

It starts, he said, with consistency — consistency in practice and in everything the team does.

“Offensive football is about being consistent play after play and doing your job,” he said. “It is about execution and the only way you execute is being consistent every single day and how you approach practice and how you learn from your mistakes. I have been really, really pleased with that.”

The next step is developing an offensive identity, and Bobo and his staff were just starting that process when spring practice was interrupted. He was learning his team’s personnel while also waiting on a group of six more 2020 signees scheduled to arrive over the summer for fall camp.

“The one identity that doesn’t matter whether we are playing three or four wides, two wides, two tight ends, two backs, one back, we want to be tough. Mentally and physically tough,” he said. “That is going to be part of our identity.”

With starting quarterback Jake Bentley lost for the season and Hilinski running the offense as a true freshman, the Gamecocks averaged just 372 yards per game and 5.2 yards per play last season. Bobo wants a balanced attack. A perfect game, he said, is rushing for more than 200 yards per game and passing for 300 or more. His last two teams at Colorado State averaged more than 300 yards passing and his 2017 team ranked 11th in the nation with 492.5 yards in total offense. His Georgia offenses, which relied heavily on the running game, were even more balanced.

“We played Kentucky one year and didn’t punt, went 10 for 10 on third down. That was a pretty good game,” he said.

The challenge at South Carolina is developing a young group that has lost a lot from last season, including three experienced running backs, a three-year starter on the offensive line and one of the top wide receivers in school history.

It starts at quarterback, where Hilinski returns but faces stiff competition when

He might light a fire underneath you and you don’t want to get called out. I think that is what is in a lot of guys’ minds right now. … [Don’t] be that guy who lets their teammates down.

– RYAN HILINSKI

practice resumes or training camp begins. The sophomore from Orange, Calif. completed just 58 percent of his passes, throwing for only 2,357 yards in 11 games (214 yards per game). His QB rating of 56.0 was No. 72 in the nation among FBS quarterbacks.

Bobo was pleased with Hilinski’s progress during the offseason and in spring practice but he will be pushed by two newcomers. Grad transfer Collin Hill started for Bobo at

Colorado State and will be available this fall after recovering from his third ACL surgery. Freshman Luke Doty, a four-star recruit from Myrtle Beach, also looked good in the first few days of spring practice, completing 11 of 11 passes during one session.

“He was awesome. He hit every target,” Bobo said. “Luke has been very accurate.”

Doty also brings another dynamic to the offense, scrambling away from defenders and making plays by running the football.

“I’ve been really pleased with Luke,” Bobo said. “He’s very conscientious, wants to learn, wants to put himself in position to compete. … His willingness to learn and master the offense is going to give him a chance to be really, really good. He has the skillset that the other guys don’t have … to be able to run and make plays with his legs. He doesn’t have the arm strength that Ryan has, but he’s been an accurate passer.”

Completing passes will be crucial for whoever starts at quarterback. Bentley completed 63 percent of his passes and was 19-14 as a three-year starter, including 9-4 in 2017. Hilinski managed only 58 percent last season as the Gamecocks fell to 4-8 in head coach Will Muschamp’s fourth season.

“We have to be accurate to play quarterback,” Bobo said. “I don’t care what offense you are running, you have to be able to throw the ball nowadays. … If you are not an accurate thrower, you won’t be able to play quarterback.”

Hilinski was showing progress in spring practice with accuracy, footwork, mechanics and his grasp of the offense. He was poised to enter fall camp as the starter.

“If you want to be a good football team, you have to have good quarterback play and that’s what I’m looking for,” Bobo said. “Right now, Ryan Hilinski has had good quarterback play. I have been pleased with him.”

Bobo was experimenting in spring practice with having his quarterback play more under center instead of in a shotgun formation, which he believes would improve both playaction passing and the run game. The formation could feature a tight end and/or a fullback or H-back, which likely will be manned by transfer Adam Prentice, who also played for Bobo at Colorado State.

“Being under center allows the gaps to open up to the back,” Hilinski said. “He can see a lot more once we get the ball back to him. It allows me to play faster as a quarterback too. Once I play faster, the back will play faster. He will get cutbacks, he will hit the A-gap, he will hit the B-gap, whatever he needs to do. The wide receiver will block for the D-gap. There’s just a lot of good stuff going on under center.”

The unit Bobo was most pleased with early in spring practice was the offensive line, which returns eight players who started games last year. Hutcherson returns at guard along with Jovaughn Gwyn and Jordan Rhodes. Though starting tackle Dylan Wonnum missed the spring after hip surgery, Jakai Moore and Jaylen Nichols both got starts as freshmen while

big junior-college transfer Jazston Turnetine (6-7, 330) was impressive in the spring. Eric Douglas and Hank Manos were battling at center with redshirt freshman Vincent Murphy and freshman Trai Jones.

“I think our best position group right now is our offensive line because we have the most competition there,” Bobo said. “Those guys are competing every day to stay with the first team.”

It also looks like there will be stiff competition at running back, a position which lost three-year starter Rico Dowdle, senior transfer Tavien Feaster and dependable backup Mon Denson. The only experienced backs are sophomores Kevin Harris and Deshaun Fenwick, who both got limited playing time last year. They were being pushed by highlytouted freshman MarShawn Lloyd, who drew high praise from his teammates and Bobo in spring practice.

Fenwick, who had two 100-yard games in his only extensive play time, flashed in the spring.

“He is a guy that has embraced it with open arms, a clean-slate mindset,” he said. “He’s a big, good-looking guy and he’s running physical and has shown some toughness. … He’s got good hands and he’s a smart kid. I am really, really pleased with him.”

Of Lloyd, Bobo said: "MarShawn has a chance to be a special player. He's very diligent about how he approaches every day. He comes with the right mindset. He’s sitting in coach [Bobby] Bentley’s meeting room 30 minutes before the other guys get there. He wants to learn and he wants to be ready.”

The trio will be joined in the fall by freshman Rashad Amos and junior-college transfer ZaQuandre White.

“There is good competition there. I wish we had more guys out there competing, but those guys are doing a good job,” Bobo said.

His biggest challenge is reinvigorating a wide receiver corp that has lost two of the best receivers in school history in the last two years in Deebo Samuel and Bryan Edwards. Senior and three-year starter Shi Smith and junior Josh Vann return, but senior Randrecous Davis missed the spring again with injuries.

The two players who impressed Bobo most were sophomore Xavier Legette, who flashed at

Shi Smith

the end of his freshman season, and sophomore Dakereon Joyner, the former quarterback who moved to receiver full time after last season.

Bobo said Legette and Joyner have both shown “toughness” and can be productive, explosive receivers.

Freshman Mike Wyman was also in spring practice and Bobo is anxious to get a look at newcomers Rico Powers Jr. and Ger-Cari Caldwell, both whom will arrive in time for fall camp. The biggest need, he said, is speed. Shi Smith is the team’s fastest player and caught a long touchdown pass in the final spring practice. Bobo is looking for more players who can stretch the field.

The Gamecocks averaged just 5.7 yards per pass last season, a number Bobo believes should around 8.5 or 9. Alabama and LSU both averaged more than 10 yards per pass last season.

“That’s the thing we need around here. We need some guys who can stretch the field with speed,” he said. “Hopefully we will get it with a couple of guys coming in that we signed. That’s one of our major focal points in recruiting is finding guys who can run.”

However Bobo’s offense evolves, his players have confidence in his approach and believe the offense will be explosive and productive.

“Very exciting,” Joyner said. “He demands respect in terms of his offense and he’s a guy who wants us to be better. He wants us to be the best offense in the SEC, and I know we will be.”

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After loss of promising season, Gamecocks face new world when baseball returns LIFE WITHOUT BASEBALL

When Mark Kingston last met with his players on March 12, they all believed they would be starting SEC play the following day in an empty stadium at Founders Park.

Then, on Friday, March 13, they learned that they wouldn’t be playing for at least two weeks. Then, as they headed home to do their part to battle the spread of the deadly coronavirus, that date was pushed back to April 15. Eventually, with big events like the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the College World Series already canceled, they had to endure the traumatic news that their season was officially over.

“I think everybody has been dealing with it differently,” head coach Mark Kingston said on April 8. “Disappointment obviously is an emotion that our team has.”

But, like all of his coaching colleagues, Kingston quickly switched into mentor role and reminded his players of the bigger picture.

“My message to them has been, there are much bigger things going on in the world and people are fighting for their lives and that is much more important than us playing baseball right now,” he said. “Their passion is baseball, baseball is a big part of their lives, but this is one of those moments in life where you get a reminder that there are much bigger things than baseball.

“So I encouraged our guys to understand that and use this to make them appreciate their gifts and their ability to play the game and some day we will be back on that field together, but until then we just need to do our

By Jeff Owens | Executive Editor • Photos by Allen Sharpe

part to help make this go away as quickly as possible.”

When they do return to campus and baseball activities, their team might not look all that different — which, strangely, will be a surprising and perhaps unsettling development.

Nearly half of Kingston’s players expected or hoped to be playing professional baseball next year, either after getting selected in the 2020 MLB Draft or signing a free agent contract. But for most, those plans are likely out the window now.

Thanks to COVID-19, which wiped out the first month of the major league season, MLB is also making drastic changes. The draft is expected to be delayed at least a month and likely will be reduced from 40 rounds to as few as five. That means more than 1,100 players who expected to get drafted won’t, many of them college players. And while the players selected will still get the expected signing bonuses, free agents might be capped at $20,000, prompting many high school players to go to college and collegiate players to return to school.

The NCAA provided some much-needed relief for college players and an incentive to return to school by granting all spring sports athletes an additional year of eligibility (see page 32), a move Kingston called “the right decision.”

The challenge, though, for college baseball programs will be managing what will be increased rosters. Seniors and grad transfers who decide to return to school won’t count under the NCAA’s roster and scholarship limits, but programs like South Carolina could still have way more players than normal.

“It’s a challenge for every coach around the country,” Kingston said. “There will be a lot more players in college baseball [next] year that would normally have been in professional baseball because of the draft being cut down to such a small number compared to what we have done in the past.”

South Carolina could have four players return under the NCAA waiver in seniors George Callil and Graham Lawson and grad transfers Dallas Beaver and Bryant Bowen. Though all four hoped to move on to professional baseball, they have the option to return.

The bigger challenge is the potential return of more than a dozen draft-eligible sophomores and juniors who had hoped to enter the draft but will now likely return. While Friday night ace Carmen Mlodzinski, a projected first-round pick, will likely move on to play professionally, juniors like Noah Campbell, Andrew Eyster and several junior-college transfers may now return for one more year. Kingston said he also expects draft-eligible sophomore Brett Kerry, a freshman AllAmerican in 2019 and one of the team’s best pitchers, to return.

While that’s good for the 2021 team, it creates a maddening numbers crunch with a new recruiting class also on the way. Some of the highly-rated recruits who might have gotten drafted may now choose to play college ball, a boon for the program but a problematic issue for coaching staffs.

As of mid-April, Kingston and other coaches were having to tackle those problems under the same scholarship (11.7) and roster (34) restrictions as in the past. While returning seniors won’t count toward those limits, it still leaves a glut of players looking for playing time.

Kingston is hoping the NCAA will address those concerns as well by increasing roster sizes and possibly scholarship limits.

“We’re holding out hope,” he said. “We are still hoping the NCAA and the baseball council will understand the uniqueness of our sport. We are the only sport that has so many roster restrictions and has to deal with the major league draft out of high school, after their sophomore year, if they are eligible age-wise, and after their junior year. Now we are dealing with the coronavirus and there are so many factors involved, we are hoping the NCAA sits back and says, even if it’s only for one year, we need to try to help these players and these coaches manage an unprecedented situation.”

While the numbers crunch will work itself out, the Gamecocks should return a strong team next season. They were 12-4 and riding a five-game winning streak when the season ended.

They were surging behind a suddenly dominant pitching staff. After some early bullpen issues, South Carolina had lowered its team ERA to 2.81 and opponents were hitting just .180. They had twice as many strikeouts (184) as hits allowed (92).

“We were really starting to hit our stride,” Kingston said. “I think our pitching staff had gotten to where we needed it to be. We’ve got a lot of good pitchers on that staff, a lot of very talented arms. If you look at the stats, they really jump off the page. … If you look at the last five games we played, pitching was absolutely dominant.”

South Carolina was also starting to come around offensively. Sophomore Brady Allen was hitting a team-leading .327 while leadoff hitter Noah Myers was 4-for-4 in his last game to raise his average to .324. Eyster was hitting .304 with four home runs and 12 RBI while Wes Clarke led the SEC with eight home runs.

“Having a 12-4 record, I think it could have been even better than that, but the first quarter of the season is for figuring out how the pieces fit together,” Kingston said. “I was pleased with where we were trending and I thought this was going to be end up being a very, very good baseball team this year.”

With the addition of what Kingston calls “a very good” recruiting class with a lot of “highend talent,” South Carolina could have a strong team in 2021.

Kingston, along with a legion of fans, can’t wait for those days to come.

“People love baseball here. That’s one of the reasons I came here, because I wanted to be in a place where people love and cared and had a passion for baseball, because I do too,” he said. “I think there is a little bit of a void right now, but it’s going on everywhere. We can feel sorry for ourselves, or we can be part of the solution.

“At some point, we will be back on that field, our fans will be back in Founders Park and things will return to normal, and I can’t wait for that day.”

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NCAA waiver to help spring sports stars recover lost season ONE MORE YEAR

When the NCAA announced March 30 that it would grant an extra year of eligibility to spring sports athletes who had their seasons suspended and canceled by the coronavirus, it was a critical decision for dozens of student-athletes at South Carolina and throughout college sports.

The ruling could have a big impact on almost all of South Carolina’s spring sports teams, allowing key seniors and grad transfers to potentially return for one more year while granting all spring athletes an additional season. While the NCAA left it up to each school to decide whether to implement the waiver, South Carolina Athletic Director Ray Tanner said the university would provide that opportunity to every spring athlete.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Tanner told The Athletic. “The NCAA quite often gets criticized for different reasons, but the decision they made to grant spring eligibility was a victory. I think it was a great move.”

The ruling was widely applauded by college coaches.

“These student-athletes deserve the opportunity to play four years of collegiate athletics,” South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston said. “They worked their whole lives to get to this point and I think the NCAA did the right thing in still providing that opportunity.”

Here’s a look at how the ruling could impact each South Carolina team.

By Jeff Owens | Executive Editor • Photos by Allen Sharpe and SC Athletics

BASEBALL

No team could be impacted more than Kingston’s program, which could have several players return who might have moved on after this season. But no sport is more complicated than college baseball, which is impacted each year by the MLB Draft.

With the MLB season also suspended, there were also major questions surrounding the 2020 draft. The league was considering postponing the draft from June to July, shortening the number of rounds to as few as five and altering the way signing bonuses are paid for both drafted and undrafted players. All of those moves could impact whether or not draft-eligible players decide to return to college for another season.

Though Kingston had only two seniors and two grad transfers on this year’s team, more than 15 draft-eligible players could be affected by the ruling, giving them the option of an extra year if they are not drafted or not selected as high as they hoped.

“The draft really will have the biggest impact on our roster moving forward, who gets drafted, who does not, who’s coming back, who’s not,” Kingston said.

Senior shortstop George Callil, senior pitcher Graham Lawson and grad transfers Dallas Beaver and Bryant Bowen would all be eligible to return next season. Callil, a juniorcollege transfer, was in his final season at South Carolina while Lawson was a fifth-year senior who returned after missing the 2018 season after having Tommy John surgery.

Beaver and Bowen transferred to South Carolina this season to try and improve their draft stock. After the Gamecocks played just 16 games (12-4), both could elect to return for another season.

Juniors Andrew Eyster and Noah Campbell entered the season as strong prospects for the 2020 draft, but the season suspension and NCAA ruling could persuade them to return to repeat their junior seasons. The Gamecocks also have six juniorcollege transfers — Jeff Heinrich, Noah Myers, Anthony Amicangelo and pitchers Thomas Farr, Brannon Jordan and Andrew Peters — who could decide to return. Farr and Jordan, who both got off to strong starts, were considered likely draft prospects, while Peters, another highly regarded prospect, was working his way back from Tommy John surgery.

Other draft-eligible players who could decide to return include pitchers Brett Kerry, TJ Shook, Cam Tringali and John Gilreath.

The player who may not be impacted by the ruling is Friday night starter Carmen Mlodzinski, who entered the season as a top-10 prospect. Though it was still uncertain how MLB signing bonuses would be paid, Mlodzinski is unlikely to return if he’s selected in the first round. M i a H o r v i t

SOFTBALL

Beverly Smith’s softball team could also get a big boost from the NCAA ruling with four key seniors on the team.

Shortstop Kenzi Maguire and second baseman MacKenzie Boesel are both three-year starters who were having C a y l a D r o t a r

strong senior seasons for the 17-6 Gamecocks, while Lauren Stewart was a two-year starter in center field who was also off to a strong start.

The ruling could be particularly huge for senior pitcher and slugger Cayla Drotar, who was injured early in the year and had missed several games of her senior season. The return of those four players could give Smith another strong nucleus for the 2021 season.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Seniors Mia Horvit and Silvia Chinellato helped lead Kevin Epley’s squad to the SEC Tournament Championship and the NCAA Elite Eight last season. They were looking to lead the 8-4 (4-0 in the SEC) Gamecocks to another deep postseason run when their season was cut short.

With No. 25 Megan Davies and a wealth of young talent returning, another season for Horvit and Chinellato could give Epley one of the top teams in the country again next season.

MEN’S TENNIS

Josh Goffi has only one senior on his No. 29-ranked team, but he is defending NCAA Singles Champion Paul Jubb. But with a promising pro career waiting — and after a strong professional debut last summer — Jubb is unlikely to return for another season of college tennis.

The only other upperclassman is junior and two-year starter Thomas Brown, but the Gamecocks could benefit from another year for nationally ranked sophomores Daniel Rodrigues and Raphael Lambling.

GOLF

This is a bittersweet development for women’s golf coach Kalen Anderson. Her Gamecocks had climbed to No. 4 in the country when the season was suspended and were expected to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

On the flip side, two of her top golfers, seniors Lois Kaye Go and Ana Pelaez, will be eligible to return. Go is one of the top golfers ever at South Carolina and owns the lowest scoring average (72.63) in program history. Pelaez, a freshman AllAmerican in 2016-17, has also had a solid career.

Men’s coach Bill McDonald could also benefit from the ruling with the potential return of seniors Jamie Wilson and Caleb Proveaux. Both golfers had two top-five finishes this year and double-digit rounds of par or better.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

The beach volleyball team, led by head coach Mortiz

Moritz, has five key upperclassman who could benefit from an extra year of eligibility.

Seniors Katie Smith, one of the top players in program history, Franky Harrison and Carly Schnieder, could all return, along with grad transfers Morgyn Greer and Madison Brabham, who had cracked the starting lineup during the 2020 season. K a t i e S m i t h

TRACK & FIELD

Curtis Frye’s team was looking for another strong showing at the NCAA Championships when the outdoor season was halted. Though he has a young men’s and women’s team, the Gamecocks could get another season from some highly decorated seniors, including national champion sprinters Quincy Hall and Aliyah Abrams.

Hall was the outdoor national champion in the 400M hurdles last year, while Abrams led the 4x400m relay team to a national championship and is one of the nation’s top 400m sprinters. Both may jump at the opportunity to compete for another national title.

The Gamecocks could also get back senior shot put champion Eric Favors and distance runner and cross country star Anna Kathryn Stoddard.

Away from home and her season over, Silvia Chinellato can’t wait to return to tennis COPING WITH COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has made things tough for studentathletes worldwide, but for South Carolina tennis senior and Italy native Silvia Chinellato, overcoming adversity has become a way of life.

“I was really sad that I couldn’t go home,” Chinellato said after student-athletes were sent home in mid-March because of the virus. “A lot of my friends here have gone home. A friend from Spain went home, and another girl from Brazil is going home, but my part of the country is closed down. I am glad that I have a family here that is here for me.

“I do want to go home, but I have to wait for a good time because I don’t want to have to

By Brad Muller | SC Athletics • Photo by Allen Sharpe

quarantine myself. It’s been hard, but I’m glad I have people here helping me out.”

Chinellato was last home in Como, Italy over Christmas break. She speaks with her family every day.

“Everyone in the family is healthy, so that’s good,” she said. “It’s a mandatory quarantine. So, if you want to leave the house, only one person can do it if they need to go to the convenience store or things like that. You have to have a permit from the police. They just have to stay at home unless it’s absolutely necessary. It’s kind of tricky.

“They’ve told me to stay home. They don’t want for it to get as bad here as it did in Italy.”

With the university closed, Chinellato has been staying at the home of her boyfriend’s family.

A two-time ITA Scholar Athlete, she has been a steady contributor in helping the Gamecocks reach the NCAA Tournament each year of her career. Head coach Kevin Epley’s Gamecocks won the SEC Tournament title last year and advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history.

They were off to a solid start this spring, winning their first four SEC matches, before the rest of the season and all spring sports were canceled. Although what should have been her senior year is over, Chinellato is excited about the prospect of returning for a fifth year after the NCAA’s ruling that spring sports athletes will be granted an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was weird because I didn’t expect my career to finish like that,” she said. “I was sad and kind of surprised. At first, I thought that this was the end. It’s not in my control, but after looking at how my parents were doing, not in terms of their health, but how their lives were being altered, I thought if this protects people’s situations, then OK. It’s miserable in Italy right now. Italy has lost a lot in the tourism industry and a lot of people are sick. Seeing that, I’m glad they’re trying to prevent that situation in the United States.

“The team was doing great. The NCAA decided really quick about getting our eligibility back, so this is great. At first, I thought about how this was not how we thought our senior season would go. We were looking forward to senior day and everything like that. I understand people are sad about losing their seasons, but in talking to my parents and having them explain how things got really bad there, I can see why they have taken all these measures here.”

Chinellato suffered a knee injury as a sophomore but bounced back only to have some issues with her other knee this year. She was scheduled to have surgery and is looking forward to the pandemic being over so she can have have a healthy final season of college athletics.

“There is plenty of time to practice for next year,” she said. “I’ve battled several injuries in my tennis career and my coaches and my teammates were really supportive in my coming back when I got hurt before. I had to be motivated with all that support around me.”

Like everyone else, she is facing new challenges. Accustomed to her schedule being filled up with classes, practice, travel and other team-related activities, Chinellato was finding ways to occupy her time before the state of South Carolina was placed under a stay-at-home order.

“I love cooking, so I’m cooking a lot lately,” she said. “I play tennis a little bit to keep myself busy. I work out a little bit and go kayaking or listen to music. I’m not really a person who watches TV. I’d rather go do something active.”

Having already earned her degree in hospitality and tourism management, Chinellato is working on her master’s degree. She had planned to work as a volunteer assistant with the team next year, but now looks forward to rejoining them on the court.

“I’m really excited to be with my teammates again and spend more time with the coaches who have helped me a lot over the last four years,” she said. “We’ve been doing great this year, so it will be nice to pick up where we left off and see how far we can go next year.”