These two South Carolina blue-chip freshmen are impressing early on defense
South Carolina defensive tackle Zacch Pickens knows what it’s like to get thrown into the fire of SEC football early. He went through that last year, learning from mistakes and successes along the way.
Now he’s more seasoned, and he’s watching a pair of former blue-chip recruit teammates take a similar path. A couple games in, defensive linemen Jordan Burch and Tonka Hemingway have his attention.
“They showed up a lot,” Pickens said. “I knew they were going to do big things as soon as they got here. Burch and Tonka, they’re all like, funny, I enjoy them. They’re real cool off the field.”
Burch is one of the highest-rated recruits to ever join the program, a five-star prospect ranked No. 8 nationally in his class. He hasn’t played a ton of snaps, maybe 20 across two games, but he’s made at least two plays that stood out.
Against Tennessee he slanted past a blocker and blew up a running back for a loss of several yards. Against Florida, he got out in space and helped corral explosive Gators receiver Kadarius Toney on the sideline for a four-yard loss.
Hemingway has been working at the team’s bigger defensive end spot behind Aaron Sterling. He’s seen about as much playing time as Burch, and he delivered a big play with a forced fumble on Saturday.
Neither player is a starter, as the Gamecocks have a set of three seniors and a junior in the starting lineup and a talented group of former blue-chippers behind them.
Down the road, they could end up as book ends to the line or pairing up at that end spot. But for now, they’re giving the Gamecocks a little extra pop without much experience on the big stage.
“Both of them are extremely talented,” Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said. “God’s blessed both these guys a lot of ability. But they both are really really smart, very intelligent. They catch on well. They’re very coachable in everything that they do. They’re two of the best young men you’ll ever meet in your life, just as far as who they are as people. So we’re very fortunate to have both guys.
“The more snaps that they see, the faster they’re going to play. And they’re gonna be really good football players for us. They need to play more.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 5:42 PM.
