Spring practice got underway for South Carolina on Tuesday as the Gamecocks look to build on what was a great start to the Shane Beamer Era in his first season as the program’s CEO.
Now, Beamer enters a monumental sophomore season as head coach, looking to build on a 7-6 campaign and take this team to what has the potential to be a breakout 2022 season and major building block for a program on the rise.
Today, as we continue our spring football coverage, we are diving into a position group that didn't live up to some big expectations in 2021 and has some key production to replace: the defensive line.
Catch up on the rest of our spring practice breakdowns here:
Taking hits
The hope for South Carolina heading into 2021 was that the defensive line would be the strength of defensive coordinator Clayton White’s unit. They were loaded with five-star talent and depth in the trenches.
The secondary, meanwhile, was unproven and considered shaky. But the anticipated success of the two units was flipped, as the defensive backs wound up being the most reliable for the second-best passing defense in the SEC.
The defensive line, though, got gashed in the run game as the Gamecocks owned one of the worst run defenses in the conference at 178.9 rushing yards allowed per game. They also didn’t generate enough pressure, recording the third-fewest sacks in the SEC (26) and finishing No. 9 in the conference in sack rate (7.14 percent).
And now, after losing both Kingsley Enagbare, Aaron Sterling and Jabari Ellis, the Gamecocks are left in a potentially precarious position.
Big returns ... literally
There is optimism, despite those three key losses, that South Carolina will have a solid defensive line now that the page has turned to 2022.
South Carolina returns two former five-star prospects up front in Zacch Pickens and Jordan Burch.
Pickens was ranked No. 9 overall and No. 1 at strongside defensive end in the 2019 class, but he is entrenched as the team’s top returner as a starting defensive tackle. He will look to build on the best season he has had in Columbia thus far after racking up four sacks, five tackles-for-loss and 38 tackles last season. He will lead a defensive tackle unit that will likely feature Rick Sandidge as the other starter after Sandidge missed last season with an injury.
Burch was expected to have a big year in 2021 but didn’t quite live up to that hype. But he got plenty of experience and important snaps, and he will start at one defensive end spot with Jordan Strachan, transfer from Georgia State, likely to secure the other.
Same face, new place
We have already harped on how hard Beamer and Co. hit the transfer portal this offseason and how huge that could be for the Gamecocks.
Their group of seven new players – led on offense with headliners Spencer Rattler and tight end Austin Stogner – is among the nation’s best portal classes. On defense, Devonni Reed has a shot at making a critical impact and fight for a starting safety spot. It’s a similar case at defensive end with NC State transfer Terrell Dawkins.
As a redshirt freshman, Dawkins racked up the most sacks in the ACC for a freshman (4.5), plus nine tackles-for-loss and 36 tackles. But he battled an offseason injury that required surgery, missing spring and summer ball with an injury that was reaggravated in the fall. Without being fully healthy, and missing arguably the most important offseason of development for a college player (the offseason between a player’s second and third year in a program), Dawkins saw a massive dip in production by finishing with just six tackles in 10 games.
That’s what makes Dawkins one of the most intriguing defensive players to watch this spring.
If he’s at full strength, Dawkins has the type of ability to be a dynamic player for White – either as a pass rusher or as a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker at the Gamecocks’ Buck position.
