Having to miss five games of his senior season with a stress fracture in his back wasn’t fun for South Carolina football commitment R.J. Roderick.
But it helped him learn something.
The senior, who was a dynamic option quarterback for Cane Bay High School, will play safety on the next level. That side of the ball wasn’t his specialty coming up, and that came into focus while sitting out.
“Defensively, I knew I was raw,” Roderick said. “I just didn’t know how raw, talent-wise, I was. But just being able to sit back with my head coach, coach (Russell) Zehr, and just to spectate and see things that I might have missed out on, I might not have taken account for, and then coming back now, I see the game differently, I play the game differently.