Jordan Burch, Alex Huntley ready to take next step up front
Alex “Boogie” Huntley and Jordan Burch are no strangers to playing together. The two were teammates at Hammond and came together to South Carolina.
And now both will play a key role in anchoring the defensive line for the Gamecocks.
Shane Beamer remembers both having fantastic bowl games to end the year, and each has continued to progress since then.
“You look at two guys that stepped up in the bowl game and made a lot of plays,” Beamer said. Burch had 5 tackles, one of which was for a loss while Huntley had two tackles of his own.
Huntley and Burch both had productive seasons last year. Burch had 26 solo tackles to Huntley’s 11.
The SEC named Huntley to the all-freshman team as voted on by the league’s 14 coaches in 2021 after an injury-marred 2020.
The former four-star prospect will be expected to contribute on the interior and compete for a starting job.
“Boogie’s a guy that I think had a really, really good summer,” Beamer said, “just talking to coach (Luke) Day in the weight room and the way that he’s worked and the confidence that he has and the way that he’s changed his body.”
Huntley is no stranger to size, standing 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds. At tackle, he uses every inch of it. Huntley has clearly been doing things good enough to impress his head coach as the summer period comes to a close.
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Meanwhile Burch is an athletic freak and a former five-star player. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, Burch runs a 4.5-second 40-yard dash. He showed out all of that during the 2021 season opener with a pick-six at Williams Brice Stadium.
Actions speak louder than words, and position coach Sterling Lucas says that Burch lives up to that.
Meanwhile, the vocal Huntley won the defensive spirit award for the 2022 spring. Burch and Boogie has a nice ring to it, almost sounds like something out of a buddy cop flick.
“I would say that, but in terms of him just leading by example, and, you know, his practice habits and his work habits, you know, in the weight room for example,” Lucas said on Burch.
Clayton White’s defense has shown it thrives on the play of its defensive line. That’s why this duo with Zacch Pickens has potential to do a lot of damage later down the road.
South Carolina’s media day is Thursday before the start of preseason practice Friday morning.
