South Carolina Preparing to Play Physical and Put Hands on Deone Walker

Opposing offenses will spend all season preparing to block one of the best defensive linemen in all of college football, Deone Walker. It’s much easier said than done.

“This number 0, he can absolutely wreck your entire game plan. Not like mess up a play, he can wreck your entire game plan,” head coach Shane Beamer said in his Tuesday press conference.

A big part of the South Carolina game plan is running the football with Rocket Sanders and dual-threat quarterback LaNorris Sellers. The two ran the ball on 46 of South Carolina’s 79 offensive snaps, and yet the Gamecocks only averaged 3.1 yards per carry in a four-point win over Old Dominion.

Even though they did not have a high success rate on the ground, Beamer is challenging his offensive line to play with more physicality against Kentucky.

“They’re a good team. We’re also a good team. We’re going to go in and compete, show how physical we can be with them. Their guys up front, they got a couple big guys up front, but we got big guys too,” said offensive guard Torricelli Simpkins III.

“(Walker) is a good player. He’s a big player, 6-foot-6, 340-something. He’s a big player. We’re gonna get hands on him. We’re gonna drive him. Finish.“

They did not do that a year ago. Deone Walker had nine tackles, 2.0 for loss, and a sack last season at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Trench life with Deone… No-holds barred. pic.twitter.com/lwYZrp7A5o

— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) September 2, 2024

Getting Hands on Walker isn’t Easy

Simpkins’ statement doesn’t totally jive with what his head coach said during today’s SEC teleconference.

“There’s a reason people say he’s gonna be a top 10 pick in the NFL Draft. He’s so big, but most big guys are big, and they’re just big. This guy is big and twitchy, and big and athletic. He has quickness, and that’s what’s really hard,” said Beamer.

“A lot of big guys, you can get your hands on them and they’re done. It’s just you gotta deal with the sheer size. He’s got the sheer size, but then he’s got twitch, wiggle, whatever you want to call it, to be able to defeat double teams and make himself small, if that’s possible, and split double teams. So he’s good in pass rush, there’s no question about it. But where he really scares people and scares us is just in the run game, because you got to essentially get four hands on him, meaning two players, and it frees up other players for opportunities.”

South Carolina will try to run the ball into the teeth of the Kentucky defense. The Gamecocks know Walker will make his fair share of plays. The key for the Cocks is ensuring he does not completely blow up their offensive gameplan.

“He’s got our respect and we had a challenge against him last year. He’s going to make his plays. I mean, we’re not going to completely eliminate this guy from the game. It would be nice if we do, but he’s a heck of a player. It’s why he’s gonna be a top 10 pick and draft, probably. We’ve got to just make sure that we don’t allow him to just completely take over the game,” said Beamer.