Replacing Kyle Kennard no easy task for South Carolina football team
Replacing the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year will be one of the top tasks for the South Carolina football team heading into preseason practice.
Kyle Kennard made a big impact in his lone season with the Gamecocks in 2024 after transferring from Georgia Tech. Kennard had 28 tackles (15.5 for loss) with 11.5 sacks last season in winning the league’s Defensive Player of the Year honors and becoming the first Gamecock to win the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given out to the nation’s top defensive player.
“He started the season off well and it continued through the rest of the season,” USC defensive ends coach Sterling Lucas said of Kennard, who was a fourth-round pick by the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Replacing Kennard’s production likely won’t come from a single player, Lucas said Monday after the Birdies with Beamer media golf tournament. The Gamecocks will rotate multiple guys on the edge with “hockey-style” shift substitutions.
It’s really just a matter who will get first crack to play on the opposite side of highly touted sophomore and preseason All-SEC selection Dylan Stewart, who had 23 tackles (10.5 for loss) with 6.5 sacks in his first year at South Carolina.
Senior Bryan Thomas Jr. brings the most experience to the role and has played 34 games in his three seasons at USC. The son of former New York Jets first-round pick Bryan Thomas Sr., he had 23 tackles (6.5 for loss) and 4.5 sacks last season while rotating in behind Kennard and Stewart.
“I am going to put my foot forward, put the work in and and do what I am supposed to do,” Thomas Jr. said in March.
Other options include returners Desmond Umeozulu and Jatius Geer; transfers George Wilson Jr. (Campbell), Demon Clowney (Charlotte) and Jaylen Brown (Missouri); and true freshmen Kobby Sakyi-Prah, Anthony Addison and Jaquavious Dodd.
Wilson and Clowney, the cousin of former Gamecocks great Jadeveon Clowney, didn’t arrive on campus until the summer, while Brown missed the end of spring practice with a knee injury. Geer, who transferred from Syracuse in 2023, has appeared in 19 games for USC but has just one sack.
“I am very confident and excited about all those guys,” Lucas said. “We are going to see how it will play out. Competition is a core value of our program and everyone is going to get ample opportunity in fall camp. You can’t play every snap anyway, so we will rotate some.”
South Carolina begins preseason practice Friday.
“We have more depth than we’ve ever had at the position, so I’m really excited,” Lucas said.
