UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA SPORTS

The Garnet team rallied with two 4th quarter touchdowns to pull out a 28-16 win over Black at the annual Spring Game Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.

It was a see-saw affair that saw five lead changes as the Gamecock football team wrapped up its 2019 spring drills before a crowd of 25,832.

A pair of young quarterbacks dueled for the number 2 role behind incumbent signal-caller Jake Bentley. Redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner of Fort Dorchester went 10-23 for 185 yards and a touchdown and interception, and added eight carries for 60 yards, while true freshman Ryan Hilinski completed 24-36 passes for 206 yards on the afternoon, including completions on each of his first eight attempts.

In limited snaps, Bentley was 9-14 for 96 yards and a touchdown.

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad,” Bentley said. “I feel like I really didn’t set in until the end, but it was good to get out there and lay out what we’ve been working on all spring. It was good to get a lot of the young quarterbacks reps.”

The Black got on the board 1st, scoring on its 1st drive of the game. With Joyner at the helm, the team covered 62 yards in 14 plays, consuming 4:54 on the clock, culminating with a 32-yard field goal by redshirt junior placekicker Parker White.

Early in the 2nd quarter, another Joyner-led unit produced points, this time for the Garnet squad. True freshman Kevin Harris burst in from 3-yards out for the game’s 1st touchdown. The drive was highlighted by a 18-yard keeper from Joyner and a 25-yard pass completion to tight end Kiel Pollard on a 4th and 10 to keep the drive alive.

The score remained 7-3 as the clock ran out in the second quarter. However, before the teams went into the locker room for intermission, White was rewarded with a scholarship in a videoboard presentation, eliciting a roar from the crowd as he was mobbed by his teammates.

The scoring picked up in the second half. The Black regained the lead on its first drive of the third quarter. Bentley, in for just his second series of the afternoon, found Deebo Samuel alone in the end zone from 25-yards out in the annual “off the bench” play, to give the Black a 9-7 lead, as no extra point was attempted.

The Garnet responded just 2 plays later when Joyner hooked up with Jay Urich on a short completion that saw Urich sprint down the sidelines untouched for a 62-yard score and a 14-9 advantage.

The Black countered with an 8-play, 65-yard scoring drive engineered by Hilinski. Mon Denson covered the final four yards to paydirt, putting Black back on top 16-14 with 4 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter.

Black had a chance to extend its lead, but was stopped on 4 rushing plays after having a 1st and goal situation from the seven. True freshman Derek Boykins was credited with 3 consecutive stops of freshman Kevin Harris to get the Garnet defense off the field and change the momentum of the game.

The Garnet took the lead for good when Lexington High School graduate Slade Carroll burst through the line for a 25-yard score with 4:50 left in the contest, giving Garnet a 21-16 advantage.

On the Garnet’s final scoring series, Urich completed passes of 9 and 29 yards to tight end Will Register of Chapin High School with a 12-yard run by Carroll squeezed in between them. The Garnet sealed the win in the waning seconds when Trey Adkins caught a 1-yard pass from Urich. Carroll finished with 4 carries for 33 yards, 2nd only to Joyner’s 34 yards on the Garnet. Register had just 2 catches for 38 yards. The versatile Urich, a quarterback by trade, completed 6-8 passes for 84 yards, and was also the game’s top receiver, catching 9 passes for 130 yards.

“I just want to help the team the best way I can,” Urich said. “Whatever coach wants, whatever this organization needs me to do, I’m going to do it.”

Linebacker Ernest Jones was the game’s top tackler with 9 stops, just ahead of safeties J.T. Irbe (8) and Jamyest Williams. Safety Jamel Cook recorded the game’s lone turnover, intercepting a Joyner pass in the red zone.

“Good day today,” South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp said. “I thought we culminated a really good spring from the standpoint of accomplishments of what we feel like we needed. We’ve got a deeper team than we’ve had, more competitive depth – especially on both lines of scrimmage.

“At the end of the day when you’ve got to come to practice every day and compete and strain against a good player all the time, that creates consistency in your performance. That’s what good programs have and that’s where we’re headed. I thought we accomplished some good things today.”