Four-star freshman’s film has new Gamecocks coach excited
Incoming South Carolina linebackers coach Rod Wilson didn’t get much time to work with Mohamed Kaba.
Wilson only arrived on campus shortly before spring practice. That lasted less than two weeks before spring break, and then the coronavirus pandemic interrupted things.
And Kaba was just an early enrollee freshman, learning without doing while rehabbing from a torn ACL.
But the tall, versatile linebacker from Clinton, North Carolina inspired a certain something in his new coach.
“I’m excited,” Wilson said. “And I’m excited because of what I’ve seen on film of Mo.
“From a player standpoint, I look forward to working with him.”
The 6-foot-2, 212-pound inside linebacker was a force of a defender at Clinton High School, although his senior season was limited to four games by the injury.
On that film the four-star recruit shows the speed and movement skills to moonlight at tight end, receiver and even play a little option quarterback. He was part of a defense that allowed fewer than 15 points per game in his healthy junior season.
In late April, Kaba posted a video of himself doing lunges, showing no ill effects of the knee injury. Wilson said the rehab was coming along well.
Kaba joins a group that heads into 2020 with a good deal of experience. Ernest Jones is a steady presence in the middle. A third of the way through spring practice, seniors Sherrod Greene and Damani Staley were splitting the other two starting spots.
Then there’s Jahmar Brown and Rosendo Louis, a pair of younger players who at points have caught the coaches’ attention.
Still, there’s always a need for depth at those spots and, while Brown has shown flashes, neither he nor Louis has yet to be a consistent rotation player and won’t be before Kaba joins the mix.
Wilson made a point of praising the academic challenges Kaba navigated, having to finish out his first semester online as campus shut down.
“It sucks for him,” Wilson said. “Being a freshman, just got in, then all sudden had to go home. Had to go home and deal with online courses, and no longer being in front of a teacher, a professor, with these other peers in the classroom and having to go home and deal with online courses. So Mo accepted the challenge and he did the best job be could. I’m proud of him.”
