Defense hopes to shore up holes
Secondary coach Grady Brown preached one thing to his players this week: focus.
After watching his secondary allow two 70-plus-yard pass plays that let Central Florida back into the game in the fourth quarter last week, disappointment reigned supreme. Even with the 28-25 victory, the Gamecock defense’s tripping over the little things and allowing a close game overshadowed the win.
“It’s terrible to me,” redshirt senior cornerback Jimmy Legree said. “I feel like we’re a much better secondary than that. We didn’t play like it, and other teams are going to attack us even more. So we have to step up and make them pay for it.”
Brown said each player has to do a better job of focusing the entire game. He said missed assignments and missing small details were a cause of big plays down the stretch.
“If you can execute an assignment properly in the first half, you can execute it in the second half,” Brown said.
Coach Steve Spurrier said the team is fortunate to be at 3-1, considering that it has let teams come back in the past two games. He added that the defense cannot allow long plays when the team has a big lead.
A main focus in practice has been the three-deep defense, in which South Carolina has three safeties play deeper in coverage, so they can keep everything in front of them. It was the defense they played in the fourth quarter against UCF, but it did not succeed in stopping big gains.
Junior defensive end Jadeveon Clowney and redshirt junior cornerback Victor Hampton said after the game that there were some players on defense, specifically some of the older players, that got too relaxed when they had a big lead.
Spurrier said he had a talk with Clowney and Hampton about calling the defense out publicly but added that his players did not say any names in the press conference, which would have been a bigger problem.
The Gamecocks have been doing more tackling drills in practice because the defense is not playing fundamentally sound, Spurrier said. Many players are going high and arm tackling instead of wrapping up and getting low.
The matchup against Kentucky is the first time that South Carolina must prepare for two quarterbacks.
Sophomore Maxwell Smith starts for the Wildcats and is more of a passing threat. His backup, sophomore quarterback Jalen Whitlow will come in to shake things up. Whitlow is a versatile player and is a more mobile quarterback.
South Carolina saw more of Whitlow in last year’s game at Kentucky after Smith left during the first series with an ankle injury. The Gamecocks succeeded in containing Whitlow, as he only had six yards on 16 carries, but he did manage a touchdown run in the contest.
Kentucky has two running backs to go along with Whitlow’s running capability in true freshman Jojo Kemp and senior Raymond Sanders III. Each of the top three options in the Wildcats’ run game have at least 169 yards rushing, with Kemp leading at 186 yards.
When it comes to planning for two quarterbacks, defensive line coach Deke Adams said it is difficult when one is predominately a runner and one is a thrower.
“It’s tough to do, but we’ve done a good job so far; the guys are focused, and I think we’re going to be fine,” Adams said. “You change some things up, but you don’t totally change your defense up. We’ll do some things that give us a chance to be a little more successful in each phase.”
True freshman linebacker Skai Moore said the team is smart and capable enough to make the necessary adjustments. Moore added that he expects to be in the rotation of linebackers even more on Saturday after receiving significant playing time against UCF.
Spurrier hinted that Moore would get more reps in the rotation along with redshirt freshman linebacker T.J. Holloman.
“You don’t know what you’re going to get from some of these young linebackers until they get out there,” Spurrier said. “There’s guys who look good in practice, and when they get in the game, they don’t do a dang thing. And there’s some guys who may not do much in practice, but when the game starts, the lights come on, they do something. As coaches, that’s what you have to find — who can practice and who can play.”
If sophomores Kaiwan Lewis and Marcquis Roberts or redshirt junior spur Sharrod Golightly don’t get the job done, it should not come as a surprise if Holloman and Moore get extended playing time.
Holloman said last week’s finish was disappointing for the defense, but after watching the film, the players knew their mistakes could be fixed.
“We need to keep focusing on the little things the coaches ask us to do,” Holloman said. “If we continue to pick up on those little things, we’ll be just fine.”