Kyle Kennard and South Carolina defense looking to 'put their foot on the gas' ahead of Kentucky
After a stellar performance against Old Dominion, veteran Kyle Kennard looks ahead at carrying positive momentum into SEC play. As a result of his contributions, Kennard found himself as SEC co-defensive lineman of the week.
In his first appearance as a Gamecock, Kennard recorded five total tackles and 2.5 sacks. In addition, he forced two fumbles against the Old Dominion offense.
“It was just very cool seeing the work I put in throughout the whole entire offseason manifest onto the field. I knew before the game that I would have a big game just because of the work I put in,” Kennard said. “And then work doesn’t always guarantee you anything, so for those things to fall into my hands, it was a pretty good feeling.”
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Before South Carolina, Kennard spent four seasons with Georgia Tech and gained valuable experience. The fifth-year EDGE has learned to adjust his sideline experience based on what his teammates need.
“I feel like during the game I’m kind of approaching it based off what I see that we need,” Kennard said. “So if we need a guy to talk and pull us along there were times I needed to talk and pull us along as a defense this past weekend and I did that. And there was times I needed to just let us do what we’re going to do and take a step back and I did those things as well.”
Despite the win, Kennard and the entire defense will have things to improve upon. Building off of a strong week one will be crucial for a growing defense. The name of the game for a fresh defense is being comfortable with being uncomfortable.
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“We feel like we played a good game this past weekend,” Kennard said. “There’s things for us to clean up scheme wise and individually. But as far as the way we played, I feel like we played a good game. We were just willing to build on that and not be comfortable with plays we made. Just trying to put our foot on the gas even more.”
Defensive coordinator Clayton White has made it a priority to focus on rotating players more often during games. Kennard spoke first hand on how this new plan helped him feel fresher by the fourth quarter.
“I definitely did feel fresh,” Kennard said. “Just a good testament to our coaches rotating us and keeping us fresh for when times get crucial.”
South Carolina’s defense will have a tough challenge ahead of them in Kentucky’s quarterback Brock Vandagriff. The former Georgia Bulldog helped shut out Kentucky’s week one opponent, Southern Miss, 31-0.
The Gamecocks will travel to Lexington on Saturday to face the Wildcats. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.
