It was a nice bounce-back year for the Gamecocks after a tough 2020 season defensively and the Gamecocks’ grades from Pro Football Focus actually reflect it.
South Carolina put together some nice individual performances—mostly on the edge of the defensive line and the secondary—with some of the higher grades in the SEC among those.
Here’s the five highest-graded Gamecocks from PFF who logged an average of 10 snaps per game.
JJ Enagbare, 88.5 overall
Enagbare came back to put more on film for NFL draft purposes and had himself a fantastic year. He finished the highest-graded Gamecock regardless of snaps or position and was one of the highest-graded pass rushers in the country.
He’d lead the team with 45 quarterback pressures—the next highest was 17 (Aaron Sterling)—and ended with 16 quarterback hits. He’d force a fumble and only missed five tackles in 553 total snaps.
He was one of the Gamecocks’ best players and was an issue for offensive lines all season.
Cam Smith, 88.4 overall
Smith quietly had a pretty lockdown season at corner, his best season by far on campus. He was targeted 32 times, third most on the team, and only allowed 15 receptions for 184 yards. He’d allow just one touchdown, pick off three passes and break up nine more.
Quarterbacks, when targeting his receiver, had a quarterback rating of just 36.5. Penalties were an issue at times—he was flagged four times, most on the defense—but was a big reason why the Gamecock secondary was much improved.
Jordan Strachan, 75.3 overal
lThe former FBS sack leader, Strachan logged 258 snaps and ended up with 10 pressures and eight quarterback hurries with 12 stops in the run game.
He helped bolster the Gamecock pass rush and was one of the better players at knocking passes down at the line of scrimmage this year and he only missed four tackles in 258 snaps.
Darius Rush, 72.8 overall
After not seeing the field much at all his first few years on campus, Rush had one of the better seasons on the entire team as part of a solid Gamecock secondary.
He finished being targeted 36 times, second-most on the team, and allowed a reception on just 44.4 percent of those. He’d allow four touchdowns but had seven pass breakups.
Jaylan Foster, 71.2 overall
Foster was the breakout player on the Gamecock defense and ended fairly highly graded. Foster was only targeted 26 times but had five interceptions but gave up five touchdowns while allowing 17 receptions and 19 missed tackles.
Foster was good in the run game, generating 25 stops, second-best on the team, and even generated four pressures and two sacks.
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