Jadeveon Clowney owns USC sack records. He’s still rooting for Kyle Kennard, Dylan Stewart
All season long, Jadeveon Clowney has spent his Saturdays watching his South Carolina Gamecocks play. Watching a young coaching staff and a veteran defense make the sort of waves Clowney hasn’t felt since he left school over a decade ago.
If this Gamecocks team (8-3) wins out, it will be the fifth 10-win South Carolina team in program history. And three of those — 2011, 2012 and 2013 — Clowney was a part of.
Finally, South Carolina football is back to the way he left it.
“They’re making USC come back to life,” Clowney told The State.
Clowney, in the NFL and now just up the road playing for the Carolina Panthers, has been able to carve out time every Saturday to watch this Gamecocks season. And, well, something keeps sticking out.
“Most of the time,” he said, “I’m seeing their D-end trying to break my record down there.”
Clowney is alluding to South Carolina edge rusher Kyle Kennard, who is within striking distance of the single-season school sack record as the Gamecocks close out their regular season this weekend at Clemson.
With the rivalry game and bowl game on the horizon, Kennard — sitting at an SEC-high 11.5 sacks — has some work to do. That’s because in 2012, Clowney brought the quarterback down 13 times, including a remarkable 4.5-sack performance against Clemson, still a USC single-game record.
For his part, Clowney is rooting for Kennard to take the crown.
“I hope he can do it,” he said. “I’m a big fan.”
Clowney has even reached out to Kennard on Instagram, voicing his support and telling him, “Man, keep up the good work,” he said. And Clowney genuinely seemed excited by the idea that someone was closing in on one of his records, speaking about Kennard as if he was showing reverence for a peer.
Kennard’s bend, Clowney said, is such a joy to watch. The way he can contort his body and get up and under offensive linemen is impressive. And then there’s the speed off the ball, Clowney said. Kennard is out of his stance like a sprinter who heard the gun go off, blazing after the quarterback in a blink.
“I feel like Kyle — he looks like me out there. He’s explosive,” Clowney said of Kennard, then talking about the whole defense. “They’re explosive. You can see it. I just hope they keep carrying over. I’m a big fan of the whole defense, not just them. The defense itself is a special defense. It looks like us when I was there back in the day.”
Like those early-2010s South Carolina defenses, too, it isn’t just one guy racking up the stats. In the same way Clowney had guys like Melvin Ingram and Kelcy Quarles making his life easier, Kennard has Tonka Hemingway and Dylan Stewart holding their own.
Speaking of Stewart, he’s also chasing one of Clowney’s school records.
With at least two games to play, Stewart is sitting at 6.5 sacks — the most for any South Carolina true freshman Clowney totaled eight back in 2011.
“I think he’s pretty good,” Clowney said of Stewart. “I think he’s got great speed, great bend. And I can tell he’s been working (on) his moves.”
Clowney and Stewart seem bound to be tied together. While Kennard arrived in Columbia as a Georgia Tech transfer with just a year of eligibility left, Clowney and Stewart were both five-star recruits who somewhat surprisingly picked South Carolina and then made a major college impact right away.
In the same way Clowney sees himself in Kennard’s play, his journey draws many parallels with Stewart’s. So what advice would the former No. 1 overall pick give to USC’s heralded freshman?
“Just stay strong and stay the course,” he said. “Don’t get too big-headed, as far as how you come off. People are gonna start paying some attention to you, so just stay on that grind phase. And enjoy that process.”
