The South Carolina football team finished its 2023 season in the bottom half of the SEC in multiple defensive metrics.
The Gamecocks finished ninth in points allowed amongst all SEC teams, as opponents averaged 26.3 points against them, and South Carolina also came in 12th in yards allowed per game, with 398.5.
Those numbers could have been higher had the Gamecocks not gone on a strong defensive stretch to finish the campaign. During that stretch, the team went 2-1 and allowed just 12 points per game against Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Clemson.
That end-of-the-season run led to senior linebacker Debo Williams wanting the Gamecocks’ defense to improve even further in 2024.
“I just told the defense not too long ago, ‘We’re going for doughnuts.’ I want zeroes on the scoreboard. I want complete domination,” Williams said at SEC Media Day on July 15. “You talk about some of those great defensive teams — the ‘Bama’s back in the day, the Georgia’s not too long ago' — complete domination.”
Despite Williams' lofty goals, South Carolina's defense has yet to shut out an opponent this season. The closest the Gamecocks have gotten to doing so was on Sept. 21, when it allowed just 7 points against Akron.
But the team's defense, overall, has served as a source of strength all season, providing both positive and negative moments for the South Carolina football program.
Through six games, the Gamecocks' defense has shown improvement in some areas. South Carolina has allowed exactly 6 fewer points per game (20.3), putting it in 10th place among the 16 SEC teams. The Gamecocks are also just one of six defenses in the SEC averaging fewer than 300 yards allowed per game (299.5).
Much of that success stems from the team's disruptive pass rush, which ranks 13th among all Division I FBS programs in total sacks with 19. Fifth-year edge rusher Kyle Kennard has contributed to 7.5 of those sacks, in addition to a team-high 11.5 tackles for loss, four quarterback hits and two forced fumbles.
The other half of South Carolina's edge-rushing duo, freshman Dylan Stewart, has an additional 5.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, three quarterback hits and two forced fumbles to his name.
“A lot of times last year, we’d have the running backs blocking the tackles a little. But now, their focus is on our edge guys — them boys been ballin’ lately — and it’s just freeing it up for us, and vice versa,” redshirt junior defensive tackle T.J. Sanders said. “We complement each other out there really well.”
Kennard's and Stewart's individual efforts led to positive overall performances on the defensive side of the football early in the season. Despite allowing 305 total yards of offense to Old Dominion, the Gamecocks were disruptive on defense, logging eight sacks and five quarterback hits.
South Carolina also allowed just one touchdown and 154 yards of offense two weeks later to Akron, the only other non-conference opponent the team has faced this year.
“I said before the game to (defensive coordinator Clayton White) that these are games where dominant teams can be dominant," Kennard said after the Gamecocks' 50-7 win over Akron. "If you claim that you’re the kind of defense that we claim we are, then this is the game we put our stamp on — there should be no questions about it."
But outside of the team's 31-6 victory over Kentucky — where it held the Wildcats to just 183 yards of offense, made 11 tackles for loss and sacked the opposing quarterback five times — playing against SEC competition has been a different story.
On Sept. 14, the Gamecocks encountered its then-toughest test of the season in the form of then-No. 16 LSU, who scored 36 points and generated 417 yards of offense, both of which, at that point were season highs that South Carolina's defense has allowed. The team came up with two interceptions against redshirt junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier for touchdowns, but both were called because of penalties.
South Carolina committed 13 penalties for 123 total yards in the loss.
“When I had turned around, I saw the whole defense was down there, and I saw those two flags. That was kind of a killer. You know that was a critical moment,” junior defensive back Nick Emmanwori, whose pick-six was brought back, said. “I’m not really too sure what happened, but I was giving everything I had on that whole drive.”
The Gamecocks' struggled in its next matchup against a ranked opponent, which happened to be then-No. 12 Ole Miss. The Rebels totaled 425 yards of offense in what was a 27-3 loss, South Carolina's largest margin of defeat to an opponent all season. Ole Miss jumped to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter, when the Gamecocks committed two defensive offsides penalties in the first quarter.
“We’ve got a good defense, and we thought we could rely on them,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “We talked about it all week — that this is their first true road game … This was going to be the first hostile crowd they played in, so we felt good about our defense.”
Although South Carolina would fall to 3-3 on the season after a narrow 27-25 defeat to No. 7 Alabama, the Gamecocks' defense would rebound in a big way. The team's offense out-gained the Crimson Tide in total yardage, 374 to 313, and its defense forced two turnovers, both of which were interceptions on redshirt junior quarterback Jalen Milroe.
Sophomore defensive back Jalon Kilgore said he hopes South Carolina's performance sends a message to the rest of the country about what its defense is capable of doing.
“We’re definitely a competitive team. We can compete with any team in the SEC, in college football,” Kilgore said. “When you play us, just know that you’re going to get a good fight. We’re going to play balls to the wall every single snap.”