Healthy Mo Kaba ready to make impact in year three

Mo Kaba can laugh about it now, but in the moment it probably felt like coming out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Despite coming off an ACL injury during his freshman year at South Carolina, Mo Kaba still found a way to play in nine games and land on the SEC Coaches’ All-Freshman team. 

During the 2020 season Kaba said he wasn’t as prepared as he thought he was. Though now, he knows he’s better because of it.

“That first year, it was real tough for me,” Kaba said. “It was a learning experience to show me that, ‘Hey, this is the SEC.’ That was a real fast learning experience for me to show me when I got down the road. But it was a good learning experience because it showed me that I got to put in way more work and what I am doing right now and I just keep building up year after year.”

Lucky for Kaba, he’s been surrounded by plenty of veterans in his short time in Columbia. Whether it be NFL guys like Ernest Jones or sixth years Sherrod Greene and Brad Johnson, he’s seen what it takes to be an impactful linebacker in this league. 

Kaba said the openness of those guys specifically helped him progress early in his career, and it’s since translated to great chemistry with Greene and Johnson now. 

“They’re some down to earth guys and they let me come over there and talk to them and give me some notes, give me some tips and everything that I could go down the road with,” Kaba said. “They helped me get this confidence that I have now and our compatibility right now is through the roof.”

Last year Kaba continued to make strides, playing in all 13 games for the Gamecocks and becoming a key piece to the linebacker room after Sherrod Greene’s injury. He also finished top 10 on the team in Pro Football Focus grades for tackling, run defense and pass rush. 

Even though last year wasn’t technically his first year back from the ACL injury, he said it felt like his first because he didn’t have a knee brace on and felt more confident in his knee.

“When you have the brace on it’s like you’re relearning how to use your leg again, use your knee again pretty much,” Kaba said. “You still have some kinks here and there, but this year I feel way better. I don’t have no issues with my knees at all, I feel 100% just ready to go.”

Going into 2022 Kaba has already stuck out amongst a talented and deep linebacker room, earning reps with the first team early in camp. 

Though it’s somewhat early in fall camp to determine the depth chart for the linebacker position, Mo Kaba and Sherrod Greene made it clear Thursday that everyone seems to be getting reps with the ones and twos in practice. 

Kaba’s in-game experience is on his side going into 2022, and it’s something that could aid him in earning a starting spot. The junior believes his experience in Clayton White’s defensive system can help the linebackers and entire defense be successful.

“I got a lot of experience in his defense now and I feel like I know the ins and outs of everything and what everybody’s doing,” Kaba said. “I took the time to actually study not only what the front seven is doing but the back seven… I feel real confident with this scheme that we have and I’m just ready to go now.”

Throughout the off season several Gamecocks, including coaches, have praised the ease of being in year two under White’s defense. Kaba himself said White’s 4-2-5 scheme is “fun” and easy to learn.

“We can have input in some of the things that we do, that’s one thing I love about Coach White,” Kaba said. “We have a lot of things, like blitzes, that we can tweak up a little bit and just coverages that you won’t see in normal defenses. We just have fun with those things.”

Kaba added that redshirt sophomore Debo Williams and himself have started diving deeper into the playbook and they expect it to pay dividends when the season officially arrives in September. 

“We’re taking this to a new level now, like when it comes to getting everything down, making sure we know everything about this playbook,” Kaba said.

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