Starting South Carolina football O-lineman suffers ‘pretty significant injury’
A starting South Carolina football offensive lineman is expected to miss the start of the 2023 season after “suffering a pretty significant injury” in the Garnet and Black spring game.
USC offensive lineman Jaylen Nichols is likely to some of the 2023 season, head coach Shane Beamer confirmed during a press conference on Tuesday.
“He won’t be ready for the beginning of the season,” Beamer said. “Optimistic that the recovery process will go well and we’ll get him back hopefully before the season is over.”
Nichols, a fifth-year lineman from Charlotte, appeared in 12 games with seven starts for South Carolina last season at left tackle and was expected to help anchor the Gamecocks offensive line in 2023.
The veteran player left the spring game at Williams-Brice Stadium with what Beamer deemed then as a “lower body injury” in the first quarter. Beamer didn’t go into specifics Tuesday on the nature of Nichols’ injury.
Nichols’ left knee appeared to buckle during a pass blocking snap and trainers applied ice to the area on the sidelines after he exited the game. He didn’t return to the contest, which the Black team ultimately won 19-17 over the Garnet team on running back D.J. Twitty’s game-winning two-point conversion.
Nichols signed with South Carolina as a three-star recruit in the Class of 2019 out of Myers Park High School. He’s appeared in 37 career games for USC with 18 career starts (with 14 of those coming over the past two seasons at left guard and left tackle).
South Carolina is in the process of replacing two starters on the offensive line from last year in guard Jovaughn Gwyn and center Eric Douglas, along with veteran Dylan Wonnum.
With Nichols out, redshirt freshman Cason Henry and transfers Sidney Fugar (Western Illinois) and Nick Gargiulo (Yale) should compete for the starting job.
Henry worked with the second team offense during the later portions of 2022 and was expected to do so again, but has been hampered by a lower-body injury during spring. Fugar has also seen time with the first team in his first spring at South Carolina, while Gargiulo played every position on the line during his time at Yale — including tackle.
