Jordan Strachan 'looks better' after injury for South Carolina
Jordan Strachan takes offense to the idea the rest of the South Carolina teams calling him Pops. In fairness to him, he’s not even the oldest on the team.
That goes to either Nick Gargiulo or DeAngelo Gibbs, but Strachan is entering his seventh year of college football.
After injury sidelined him for almost an entire season, Strachan is back and ready to make the impact he hoped he could make last season.
“Mentally, I’m back. Physically, I’m back. I’m back,” Strachan said.
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South Carolina was ready for Strachan to be an impactful EDGE rusher during the 2022 season. But an ACL injury ended his season 94 snaps into the year.
That postponed Strachan’s future plans and now he’s back at South Carolina for 2023 as one of the team’s key defenders in year three under Shane Beamer.
He’s been a heavy participant in preseason practice and showcasing exactly what he can be for this iteration of Clayton White’s defense.
“Really, I think he looks better than he did before he got injured last year,” said Sterling Lucas, Strachan’s position coach. “I’m really excited about where he is.”
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When healthy, Strachan can be one of the better EDGE rushers in the conference.
During his 2021 season, PFF credited him with 10 total quarterback pressures and 13 tackles with 12 stops in the run game. Last year before injury, he had two pressures in 30 pass rush snaps to pair with five tackles and five stops.
South Carolina will ask Strachan to do a good bit of heavy lifting for this edge group in his first full season as a starter with the Gamecocks. And he’s not taking that for granted.
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“He’s battled so much adversity it’s crazy. Every time he comes back, especially this time, it’s just another attitude of getting better and urgency,” Boogie Huntley said. “Everything he does is with passion. He goes hard ’cause he’s been through a lot and knows he has to show more.”
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This is nothing new for Strachan, who dealt with the same injury during his time at Georgia State. Now, he feels better equipped to deal with it and overcome some of the mental hurdles that come with getting over a major injury.
“Going through this before and being successful has actually sped up the process,” he said. “I don’t have to sit there and dwell on the mental side when you’ve been through it.”
Strachan will do it now in his second year–first on the field–with position coach Sterling Lucas.
“That’s my guy. I love coach Lucas. He’s taught me my techniques to the next level. It’s a game of inches,” Strachan said. “One step the wrong way, back or doing the wrong thing you can get behind on plays. Just cleaning up my techniques and the fundamentals of the game.”
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South Carolina has questions at the EDGE position after losing guys like Jordan Burch and Gilber Edmond, but Strachan thinks the Gamecocks will be fine.
They bring back guys like Tyreek Johnson and Bryan Thomas. The Gamecocks added pieces like JT Geer from Syracuse and Desmond Umeozulu from the high school ranks.
“I like them a lot,” Strachan said. “We’ll be better than we were last year.”
