Offensive identity is something that, over the next month before the season starts, will be used a lot. The Gamecocks, needing to find one and let one develop somewhat organically as practice continues.

But, on the flip side, defensive coordinator Clayton White has already begun to instill an identity into his unit with a few non-negotiable pillars to play in his defense.

“You have to throw it out there what you want people to think about you when they see you. We have two mindsets: it’s all about the ball. That basically means that during training camp basically ball is one of the most important things in your life. It’s rivaling family. That’s the mindset,” White said.

“Then the other mantra is put the ball down: PTBD. That’s just saying in our mindset when we go out to take the field we want to play regardless of the situation: turnover, backed up, at the 50-yard line, it doesn’t matter.”

White is in his first year with the program, coming over after four seasons at Western Kentucky where he operated in what was a 4-2-5 defense.

There he stressed the same types of philosophies rooted in three things working in tandem: aggression, discipline, unpredictability.

“I’d say we’re aggressive, we’re disciplined—meaning we don’t get fooled by trick plays and on play action there’s not a tight end running down the middle of the field and our eyes are right—and we’re unpredictable,” he said. “To be unpredictable you have to understand the system and concepts we’re trying to put in so we can call the game and call a practice in a way where the offense can’t understand.”

Despite welcoming in a slew of new defenders in between spring practice and preseason camp, White is already further ahead than in previous years with his defensive installation.

The Gamecocks have already been through some summer install work, allowing White the opportunity to get his base defense in before official practice started Friday.

Those core tenets were oft talked about during those, and when all three levels are doing those then the defense has a chance to play well.

“When teams watch us play,” White said, “up front we play with great gap integrity, our D-line uses their hands and tackles hard, our linebackers are downhill, our DBs are great, aggressive covers.”

South Carolina’s defense is coming off a year where it struggled, allowing 6.6 yards per play, 4.9 yards per rush and almost nine yards per pass attempt. The defense allowed 54 plays of 20 or more yards, fourth-worst in the SEC.

It’s up to White and his defensive staff to make necessary corrections so they can achieve the ultimate goal of being one of the best defenses in the conference.

“The big picture goals is that whenever that day is—could be the end of this year, could be five years from now, 10 years from now—is this is a top 25 defense and this is the best defense in the East,” he said. “Right now our goals is let’s win football games because of how we play in the fourth quarter. That’s what we’re fighting.”

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