Kyle Kennard sees 'historical' potential for defense. But what's holding South Carolina back?
Kyle Kennard is newer than most on South Carolina’s defense. While he hasn’t been around super long, he’s seen what this unit can do this year if things fall into place. And he’s not afraid to let you know.
“I think we have a chance to be very historical,” the fifth-year defensive end said. “I’ve used that word before, I’ll use it again. Not shying away from it.”
The Gamecocks should be much improved on that front in 2024. A lot of familiar faces return with some new names as well. There should be plenty of depth at each position, barring any injuries. The early indications from the team’s first scrimmage showed the defense had a pretty good performance with some room to improve, which is a good sign.
“I just hope we don’t get complacent and just say that we had a bunch of success, a lot of sacks, and we’re good now,” Kennard said. “So we can double that, whatever that number was, we can double that and just keep focusing on improving every week.”
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However, there is one thing that could keep the defense as a whole from reaching that “historical” level that Kennard spoke about. It starts up front at the line of scrimmage with the defensive line being better as pass rushers.
“That was somewhere as a team that we lacked last year, and that’s something that we’re definitely and trying to hone in on this year,” Kennard said. “Basically turn pressures and hits into sacks. … We’re definitely honing in on it and fixing up those details this year.”
Throughout fall camp, this has been something brought up by many of the players in that room and even defensive line coach Travian Robertson. South Carolina finished tied for 101st in college football with 21 sacks last season, good for 1.75 per game. The Gamecocks also struggled in general to blow up plays in the backfield with 54 tackles per loss. It averaged out to just 4.5 TFL a game. If they want to win more games, it starts with making strides in this area.
To do that, Kennard said the main focus has been on the way the EDGE rushers and defensive tackles finish.
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“We all got different moves, different get off, different starts for the finish,” he added. “The move area is probably the most important part of anything. So that’s what we’ve been focused on a lot is the finish.”
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It’s not as easy as it sounds, though. Even for Kennard, who had a career-high six sacks at Georgia Tech last year, he called it “very hard” to finish and make those big plays.
“Not many people realize how hard it is to get a sack,” Kennard said. “Very hard to get a sack, especially with the modernized way of offenses. It’s like, offenses are about to throw the ball, so we got tackles that are just jumping out there, and it’s just harder to get closer to them.”
If things do click and the defensive line can create more pressure and turn some plays into sacks or tackles for loss, there’s no telling how good things could be for South Carolina from Kennard’s perspective.
“We have a lot of talent. We have guys that are willing to work hard with their talent,” he said. “I feel like if you blend all that, we can be unstoppable. The sky is the limit.”
