South Carolina fans remember Sam Howell—albeit not very fondly—and will get one more chance to play him in what will likely be Howell’s final game at North Carolina.
The Gamecocks will be bookends for Howell, who made his first-career start against South Carolina at Bank of America, and will present the biggest challenge for a Gamecock defense missing its most recognizable edge rusher.
“(He’s) a huge challenge. I knew what a great player he was but didn’t realize how talented a runner he is. I think he’s seventh in the ACC in rushing yards per game," Shane Beamer said. "Take the sacks out of it, he’s up there probably one or two in the conference. It’s not flukes. He’s breaking tackles and guys are bouncing off of him. I have so much respect for him.”
Howell was projected as arguably the top overall pick in this year’s NFL draft and, while he’s not that right now, is still a likely first or second round pick if he declares and will be a taxing issue for the Gamecocks.
This season, Howell is completing 62.7 percent of his passes and is just 149 yards away from his third consecutive 3,000-yard season despite some of the Tar Heels’ struggles this season.
Howell is still averaging 8.7 yards per attempt but has 23 touchdowns to just nine interceptions.
Where he can hurt the Gamecocks—outside of his arm—is on the ground where he’s rushed for 825 yards and is averaging 4.9 yards per carry with 11 scores.
“I think Sam Howell’s a very good player," Carlins Platel said. "He’s big, he has an arm and is dangerous with his feet. He’s hard to bring down. As long as we contain him and keep tight coverage windows I think we’ll do a good job.”
The Gamecocks this season have been a much-improved pass defense this year, holding opponents to a paltry 6.7 yards per attempt and an 80.46 passer rating.
They’re also generating 13.6 pressures per game this year and one on every 20.6 percent of defensive snaps this year.
If they want to get to Howell, the Gamecocks will have to do it without star JJ Enagbare—the team-leader with 45 total pressures, 28 more than the next-best player on the team (Aaron Sterling, 17)—who is skipping the bowl to prepare for the NFL draft.
“Sam’s a 6-1 guy so we have to do a great job up front clogging the lanes up for him. He’s a quarterback who’s going to find the open area,” Clayton White said. “He’s going to scramble out and step up. He does all the things you want a quarterback to do, so we have to make sure it’s a long day for him in charlotte and do our best to corral him and tackle him. He does a great job of breaking tackles.”
Without him, the Gamecocks will rely heavily on Sterling and Jordan Burch (nine pressures) at defensive end and Jordan Strachan (10 pressures). Strachan is expected to get his first start of the year at the BUCK position.
Burch and Strachan have each played in all 12 games with a combined 40 tackles, six for loss, and 2.5 sacks.
Both have an interception on the year as well, and a combined three pass breakups something that could be a positive with Howell having 19 balls batted down at the line this year.
“With the guys we have on our defense I feel like we can hone in and find him in the backfield. He’s a guy that can move around and feels that pressure coming out him," Brad Johnson said. "With the game plan we have, our scheme and the guys we have executing those schemes we should definitely be able to wrangle him down.”
The Gamecocks will take on North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl Dec. 30 with kickoff scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on ESPN.
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