Spring preview: With Kinlaw, Brunson, Wonnum gone, USC defense has to replace leaders
The South Carolina defense carried its football team for stretches last season, and now it has some key faces to replace.
Gone are three starting linemen, plus the most experienced linebacker. The secondary returns mostly whole, but had no depth last season and needs to get some younger players up to speed.
Spring practice for the Gamecocks starts Feb. 26. The questions at each spot:
Defensive line
This position features a slew of departures and probably the most talent on the team. Future NFL draft pick Javon Kinlaw is gone, as is top edge rusher D.J. Wonnum and a steady presence in Kobe Smith. But there is also an army of rising talent in five-star Zacch Pickens, four-stars Rick Sandidge, Joseph Anderson, Kingsley Enagbare and a few other established players. The tackle position should have options, but the ends are more intriguing.
At the Buck spot, Wonnum’s departure leaves only veteran Brad Johnson, who missed most of last year, and redshirt freshman Rodricus Fitten as options — so someone else likely has to move there for depth. The bigger end spot has Aaron Sterling, who posted six sacks last year, Enagbare and Anderson, and that would likely be the spot for five-star newcomer Jordan Burch when he enrolls this summer. Shaking out both of those will carry some weight.
Watch this interesting storyline: The position has its third coach in three years with Tracy Rocker taking over for John Scott, who left the Gamecocks for the same job at Penn State.
Linebackers
Ernest Jones is the main guy in the middle, and that’s a place to start. The next question is replacing T.J. Brunson. A middle linebacker-turned-weakside player, his spot could be taken by last year’s veteran backup, Damani Staley; or by Sherrod Greene, a former starter who emerged as a strongside option; or by Jahmar Brown, a versatile talent who showed some potential as a freshman last year.
There are a lot of returning options, and the big questions come around who takes that spot, how the depth shakes out and how the staff wants to use the group. (They played three linebackers for long stretches last year.)
Watch this interesting storyline: Rod Wilson is taking over after coming on board just before spring starts. Sorting out the weakside spot will be big as well.
Secondary
The Gamecocks have experience here and seem to have talent. There’s just a need to have a few more guys to round things out. The quartet of Jaycee Horn, R.J. Roderick, Jammie Robinson and Israel Mukuamu form a solid base, four players the staff has demonstrated trust in. After that, there are questions. Two likely candidates who project to take a step: former four-star Cam Smith, who redshirted last season; and John Dixon, who played in all 12 games last year and got some work on defense. Freshmen O’Donnell Fortune and Dominick Hill enrolled early.
South Carolina has played a short rotation here in the past but is usually looking to try to avoid that.
Watch this interesting storyline: What Smith and Dixon can do. Dixon was the more ready player last year, but Smith’s ceiling is high.
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
