South Carolina’s Dylan, DJ Wonnum battle in practice. But forget the sibling rivalry
Anyone looking to find stories of extreme sibling rivalry are bound to be a little disappointed. Ask them if they’ve ever clashed in practice and they’ll give you examples of why the other is such a good player, not petty put-downs or childish antagonism.
D.J. and Dylan Wonnum are brothers, but when it comes to South Carolina football, they’re teammates first and foremost.
“They’re both professionals,” offensive line coach Eric Wolford said when asked if he ever had to separate the two in practice. “They really are. Just a great family, you know, and they’ve a pleasure to coach and a pleasure to be around.”
Jake and Bobby Bentley may be the most high-profile family duo in the Gamecocks program, but the Wonnums are a close second. Senior D.J. is expected to be a leader on the defensive line with a strong chance of leading the team in sacks at the BUCK position. Sophomore Dylan started as a true freshman and is slated to anchor one end of the offensive line at right tackle.
So if they’re on the opposite sides of the trenches, how often are they butting heads and talking trash?
“We talk trash, just a little bit of trash,” D.J. said.
“I feel like I give it to him pretty good. He might say the most, but he knows what’s up,” Dylan said.
Mostly, though, they compliment the other’s ability.
“My brother,” is the hardest to block, Dylan said, noting his speed on the edge.
“He’s different. He’s got good feet,” D.J. said. “So when I go against him, I have to set my pads up different when I go against him.”
But just because they’re now competing for the same team doesn’t mean they don’t have a few stories about battling it out as kids.
“We was at it, every day,” D.J. said. “A lot, we got a lot of whoopings growing up.”
And because they’ve both always been bigger than most, the damage they caused was significant.
“Probably a hole in the wall. We was playing, I fell in the wall,” Dylan said of the biggest thing they broke. “I had to be 12, he had to be 14. … I was more than 90 (pounds). I don’t know how much I weighed, but it was more than 90.”
When it came time for Dylan to choose his college, though, D.J. didn’t throw his weight around too much, and Dylan didn’t treat South Carolina as his forgone destination.
“Him doing a lot of good things, it pushed me, but other than that, I really wasn’t trying to compare myself to him, because I am my own person at the end of the day,” Dylan said.
“(My recruiting) was wide open, it was really wide open … until the very end.”
Nowadays, as the pair prepare for a 2019 season in which D.J.’s NFL hopes are on the line and Dylan will look to build on his SEC All-Freshman campaign, the quiet professionalism Wolford sees in them both has led to healthy competition and growth. And of course, they may be teammates, but there’s always something a little extra playing with your sibling.
“Just him pushing me, me pushing him, it allowed us to get better each and every day,” D.J. said. “I love having him as a brother.”
“At the end of the day, we’re both getting better, so that’s all that matters,” Dylan said. “There’s nothing better, especially when your brother’s on the team.”
