Gamecocks will rely on young talent on defensive line

Ideally, Lance Thompson would like to have about 10 defensive linemen he can rotate during games: five inside and five outside. That may be a little tricky this season.

The Gamecocks have 16 defensive linemen listed on their preseason roster, but only seven played or contributed majorly last year. They do have three seniors—Ulric Jones, Dante Sawyer and Taylor Stallworth—but outside of that, the rotation thins.

“It’s going to be dictated by what offenses do: their pace of play, if they’re spread, if they’re two back,” Thompson, the defensive line coach, said. “But ideally you’d like to play five or six guys inside and five or six guys outside. I don’t if we’ll have that luxury, but that’s ideally what we’d like to have.”

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They return two starters on the line, Stallworth and Jones, along with Sawyer and sophomore D.J. Wonnum. The two played in every game last year with no starts with Sawyer backing up Marquavius Lewis and Wonnum backing up Darius English.

Aside from those four listed starters, three other Gamecocks played last year and return for their sophomore seasons: Daniel Fennell, Kobe Smith and Keir Thomas.

Shamiek Blackshear, who missed last season recovering from injury and is out right now with a concussion, returns for his sophomore season after playing partially in 2015.

“The guys we got are the guys we got. We’re going to do the best job we can with them," Thompson said. "Those guys are going to be ready and they’re going to do the best job they can do. We don’t make excuses for anything.”

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Griffin Gentry and Aaron Thompson come into this season hoping to play after redshirting last year. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks signed Brad Johnson, Aaron Sterling, M.J. Webb and JUCO product Javon Kinlaw.

Thompson said Sterling has been a “pleasant surprise” and is coming along well similar Wonnum did last year and Webb has been taking reps at both left and right defensive tackle to get acclimated to the position.

Kinlaw, listed at 6-foot-6, 326 pounds, is another body that could be inserted into the rotation gradually through the season because of his girth.

“That’s why we signed Kinlaw,” Thompson said about Kinlaw’s size. “The biggest thing is you don’t play that many two-back run teams, direct run teams, gap scheme guys. But when you do, you got to have a guy you can put in and anchor and have some girth.”

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While Sawyer, Jones, Stallworth and Wonnum are listed as the starters right now, nothing is settled according to Thompson. The younger players will get their fair shot at playing time this season, mainly because there are limited other options.

Thompson said players are still competing for those four coveted starting spots, and nothing is guaranteed to the seniors. Everyone has a chance to be the starter in a competition that could go until right before the season opener.

“I don’t want any of them to feel comfortable like they’re entitled to anything. There is no entitlement; you earn what you get. Everything’s important, and they need to understand this is the best life lesson they can learn. No one is going to give you anything; you have to go earn it.”