‘I just can’t wait.’ Gamecock Kyle Kennard ready for NFL Draft moment
With the NFL Draft on the horizon, Kyle Kennard made sure he got some last-minute advice from a couple of retired league veterans.
The South Carolina defensive end spent some time talking with a pair of former Super Bowl champions in Troy Brown and Duce Staley before Thursday’s South Carolina Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Brown, who won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and Staley, the former Gamecock who won one with the Pittsburgh Steelers, were part of this year’s SCFHOF class. Kennard was on hand to receive the Blanchard-Rogers Trophy, given to the state of South Carolina’s most outstanding collegiate football player.
“When I first got here, I was talking to Duce Staley and Troy Brown,” Kennard said. “With Duce I was talking more about our South Carolina ties. With Troy, I was signing some autographs and was asking him for some advice on how to sign things quicker because he has been around a long time. Just chopping it up and getting intel from guys like that is invaluable.”
It won’t be long until Kennard realizes his NFL dream just like Brown and Staley did years ago. The NFL Draft is next Thursday-Saturday in Green Bay and the defensive end is expected to be part of a large class of South Carolina players taken this year.
Four Gamecocks are projected to go in the first three rounds of ESPN’s Mel Kiper and Field Yates’ latest mock draft. The most players USC has had since the draft went to seven rounds in 1994 is seven (2009, 2013). There is a good chance the Gamecocks might see that mark eclipsed this year.
Kiper and Yates have Kennard projected to go in the third round to the Los Angeles Rams. NFL.com has Kennard going in the third round to the New York Giants.
“Kennard plays with a great motor, and he’s long and powerful. He had 11.5 sacks in 2024. Kennard could be yet another Day 2 value for the Rams,” Yates wrote of Kennard.
Kennard admits to glancing at the various mock drafts but not taking too much stock into them. He plans on watching the draft with his family in Atlanta.
“I try not to feed into it because that takes away from the moment,” Kennard said of draft projections. “Regardless of what number it is, I will be fulfilling a lifelong dream. I just can’t wait.”
The draft will cap off a whirlwind last few months in which Kennard has been preparing for the draft.
Kennard was a relative unknown when he transferred from Georgia Tech to South Carolina for his final college season. At Georgia Tech, he had six sacks and 11 tackles for loss during the 2023 season. But he enjoyed a breakout with the Gamecocks and nearly set the school’s season record for sacks.
Kennard finished with 11.5 sacks and 28 tackles, was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year and won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s top defensive player. His 11.5 sacks were just shy of tying Jadeveon Clowney’s school record of 13 in a season.
“It was nothing short of a blessing,” Kennard said of his time at USC. “One of the better decisions I ever made was to come to the University of South Carolina. I have to give a huge testament to my coaches, Sterling Lucas and Shane Beamer.”
Now, Kennard hopes to bring that same production and work ethic to the NFL. He said he has really enjoyed the draft process.
Kennard said he met with the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons over the last few weeks in Top 30 visits in which teams can bring prospects for in-person visits.
“Been a hectic tedious process but this is what you dream of your whole life. It is a dream come true,” Kennard said. “.... I feel like they are getting the complete defensive end. I won’t get into too much of how other people view me. But I feel like I am a complete defensive end. I feel like I could bring a good balance of rushing the passer and stopping the run.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
