Kyle Kennard ready to put penalties behind him and focus on what's next

At this point, Kyle Kennard has heard plenty about his performance on Saturday. Not so much for the right reasons with the big plays me made, but more so for the wrong reasons.

In South Carolina’s 36-33 loss to LSU over the weekend, the fifth-year EDGE was penalized three times, with two of those calls taking 14 total points off the board.

As if repeatedly hearing about the mistakes he made wasn’t enough, Kennard faced the music and answered questions from the media on Tuesday about what happened. By the looks of it, he wanted nothing more than to be able to move on.

“Certainly, no one felt worse about Saturday than what Kyle did,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “It’s a shame because he played his rear end off on Saturday and did a heck of a job. He apologized to the team in the locker room after the game and I know he was upset about it. It says a lot about him that he came in here and stood in front of you guys and talked about it today, as well. So yeah, you worry about him.”

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Each of Kennard’s penalties came at critical points in the game. It started with the fifth-year EDGE getting into the backfield and nearly sacking Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. As he went to try and bring him down, he grabbed onto the right shoulder part of his jersey and pulled him backwards, forcing a bad throw and pick six for O’Donnell Fortune.

This would’ve put South Carolina ahead by two touchdowns less than 10 minutes into the game. Instead, the officials called for a horse collar tackle penalty. In years past, it may not have been a foul since it happened inside the tackle box. However, the rule is different this year to where a horse collar can happen anywhere on the field.

Much later in the game, Nussmeier threw an interception in the end zone to Nick Emmanwori, who took it the other way for a 100-yard touchdown. Trying to run after Emmanwori, Nussmeier was shoved with two hands by Kennard, and this led to an unnecessary roughness penalty to wipe another touchdown off the board.

“We’re taught to find the quarterback in that situation,” Kennard said. “I guess I could’ve been less aggressive about it. Use the tools that Joe (DeCamillis) always talks about and maybe wall them off instead of delivering a blow to them.”

Now with just over two minutes to go, LSU faced a 4th and 3 play to keep its drive alive inside Gamecock territory. Get a stop and the game would be that much closer to being over. Kennard, ready to try and make a play, jumped offsides, which gave the Tigers new life with a first down. A couple plays after, they’d score what would be the game-winning touchdown.

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Whether the calls against Kennard were right or wrong, they undoubtedly had the biggest impact on the outcome. Since then, he’s watched through the tape and tried to look ahead to what’s next. Because despite these mistakes, he had a solid game, leading the way with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss.

“Some mistakes that I made, and it was just getting in my own head,” he said. “But it’s out the window and just worried about beating Akron this week.”

So far in practice this week, Kennard has been working through how to correct what went wrong for him. It’s the same for his teammates who made critical penalties and other miscues in the game, as well. It’s been a group effort to learn and improve.

“That’s what today and Wednesday and Thursday is about,” Kennard said. “Just fixing the mental errors and even the technical errors we made on the field. So, throughout this week in practice, we’re looking to do that.”

There’s nothing Kennard or anyone can do to go back and change what happened. It’s over and done with. He’s not going to let it linger. Now, it’s just about focusing on what he can do to be better when he gets another opportunity.

“We’ve got like a 24-hour rule, so after the game, after Sunday, we’re moving onto Akron. Or I’m trying to,” Kennard said.

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