After Jaylan Foster excelled at Byrnes high school in the upstate of South Carolina he committed to Gardner-Webb and racked up 45 total tackles and five interceptions in his freshman season.
He then transferred to South Carolina and sat out a year, was a scout team member, a reserve defensive back and was then eventually put on scholarship last year during fall camp.
Foster has taken advantage of his opportunity this season and propelled the South Carolina defense to new heights.
""We talk about taking the ball away and creating turnovers in every single drill that we do," Beamer said. "We have drills like a lot of teams do to emphasize taking the ball away and creating turnovers."
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Foster must've been listening.
Through five games, he is already tied with ECU's Ja'Quan McMillian from ECU and Oregon's Verone McKinley III for the most interceptions in the country with four.
While Foster deserves all the credit in the world for the way he's played this season, he would tell you that his coaches deserve most of it.
"The coaches do a great job with the game plan," Foster said during the post game press conference of the Kentucky game. "Coach Gray does a great job helping us fine tune the route concepts and things like that, I follow those keys that they give us and I just try to make a play."
Foster leads the SEC in interceptions as well, with ten players chasing him tied for second with two interceptions, one of them being his teammate Damani Staley.
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Due largely in part to the success Foster has had this season, the Gamecocks are first in the SEC for interceptions and sitting at third nationally.
Interceptions aren't the only thing Foster has excelled at this season, he also just plays defense well. Foster leads the South Carolina defense with 39 tackles and his tied for the lead on the team with two forced fumbles.
In 147 coverage snaps he's only been targeted 14 times for just 62 yards and allowed just one touchdown to his four interceptions.
On top of improving on the field, Foster has also made the jump off the field. Defensive Coordinator Clayton White has praised Foster for his leadership skills multiple times throughout the season.
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"Jaylan has done a great job this year for us leading the defense and coming to work for us every single day, trying to get better, " White said. "I'm proud of how he's brining other guys along and being an influence of the other players on the defense and the football team."
RJ Roderick said prior to the Kentucky game that he's been amazed by Foster's path to get to where he is now.
With RJ Roderick being suspended for the first half of this weeks game due to a targeting penalty against Troy, Foster will have to continue to step up and be a leader on the field against Tennessee this weekend.
"Just to see the journey that Jaylan has went through, how hard he's worked , how much work he's put in, just to see him in the spot that he's in right now," Roderick said. "You can't do nothing but commend him and respect it."
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