South Carolina Football: Akeem Auguste Reinjures Groin

As many of you have probably heard, Akeem Auguste reinjured his groin over the weekend. It was his first practice with full contact since the original injury earlier this month.

With this looking more and more like it might be a lingering injury that will keep Auguste out for a while, and considering that Auguste has proven himself to be injury-plagued his entire career, it's time to begin wondering how our backups will fare in Auguste's absence. Jimmy Legree will apparently get the first shot at being the starter. After showing a lot of improvement in fall camp last year, Legree earned a starting spot at safety, but he struggled in that role in two starts. However, he's done his best work in practice at cornerback and is reportedly much more comfortable at the position, so here's to hoping that what we saw last year doesn't say much about what we'll see this year. If Legree doesn't do well, Ahmad Christian might get a look. Christian was reportedly one of the more improved players in spring practice, but he doesn't seem to be turning heads in fall camp. My sense is that we really need to hope Legree is ready, because Christian almost certainly isn't.

One thing is for sure: Although there have been a lot of positive vibes coming out of fall camp, Auguste's injury is a decided negative, as is, in hindsight, the injury to Rico McWilliams, who might have been able to help us in Auguste's absence. Corner was a thin position going into camp, and we really needed Auguste to come in and give us a high quality of play. Unfortunately, it's beginning to look more and more like that may not happen, at least early in the year. Hopefully, Legree can carry us through Vandy and Auguste can make it back for Mizzou. If this becomes a 2010 Shaq Wilson situation, though, I hope the front brings the heat, because we might struggle quite a bit in the secondary this year. I'm not completely sold against Legree, but I won't believe that he can stop Georgia or Arkansas when I see it.