Tonka Hemingway shares where he stands in injury recovery

South Carolina defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway missed spring camp. However, he doesn’t plan on repeating history in the fall. On Thursday, the Gamecocks senior gave an update on his condition.

“It’s been real good. I’ve been in the treatment, getting treatment, exercising. I’ve been working out. I’ve been doing most of the runs and everything. But I’m looking to be out there when fall camp starts,” Hemingway said.

Although Hemingway missed all 15 of South Carolina’s spring practices, he didn’t miss a moment of last season. The Gamecocks should be thankful. Hemingway tallied career-highs in tackles (33), tackles for loss (8) and sacks (4) in 2022. He also notched 24 quarterback pressures and 16 hurries.

For his efforts, Phil Steele named Hemingway second-team All-SEC. Additonally, Pro Football Focus selected the 6-foot-3 talent to its All-SEC Third Team. While Hemingway was forced to the sideline in the spring, he used the opportunity to build his leadership abilities.

“It was really weird,” Hemingway said. “I had to learn some new things. And help the young guys teaching them tips and tricks that I learned here from other people.” 

Hemingway is more than a monstrous defensive presence. He’s an occasional offensive contributor, as well. The South Carolina native caught a 16-yard fake punt from Kai Kroger to pick up a pivotal first down against Vanderbilt. He also showed off his agility on a two-point conversion against South Carolina State.

Only time will tell if Hemingway maintains that surprising speed following his offseason surgeries. South Carolina has still not disclosed the defensive anchor’s injury. Despite Hemingway’s absence from spring camp, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer was seemingly happy with what he saw.

“[I] know a decent amount, obviously, from going through spring practice with them,” Beamer said. “One thing I know is it’s a hard-working group. They’re hungry to show that last year, the end of last season, wasn’t a fluke. To show that we have a much higher ceiling than just eight wins. Certainly, they’ve shown me that with their work ethic since they came back in January.

“What we’ve talked about since January is there should be no complacency in our program. We went from two wins to seven wins to eight wins. So we’ve done some great things. But we’ve got a lot to improve on as well.”

Hopefully for Gamecocks fans, Hemingway can be a part of that improvement by August. South Carolina will begin its 2023 campaign by taking on North Carolina on Sept. 2.