PFF Grades: South Carolina's win over Vanderbilt

After missing out on postseason play last year, South Carolina is going bowling in 2024.

The Gamecocks clinched their sixth win of the season on Saturday with a strong all-around display against Vanderbilt. Broken down further, that quality in all three phases of the game can be tied to players excelling at their respective positions, which was reflected in their Pro Football Focus grades.

Each week, PFF quantifies individual players’ performances into a numerical score on a scale from 0 to 100. These numerical scores can then be divided into different groups that roughly describe the tier of quality the player performed at. The categories, broken down by DFSHub, are as follows (and reflect characteristics of professional football players):

• 100-90: Elite
• 89-85: Pro Bowler
• 84-70: Starter
• 69-60: Backup
• 59-0: Replaceable

Here are the grades each South Carolina player received this week.

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Offense

While the Gamecocks’ offense was not as flashy as it was the week before – from a purely point-scoring standpoint – multiple players shined on this side of the football.

Among them is Rocket Sanders, who earned an 80.8 overall grade, South Carolina’s highest on offense. Sanders generated 178 yards of total offense against the Commodores – 126 on the ground and 52 through the air. In addition to scoring three touchdowns, he was an explosive playmaker, logging three touches that resulted in gains of 30 yards or more.

Joshua Simon was one of the Gamecocks’ leading pass-catchers, gaining 40 yards and scoring one touchdown on three receptions. Simon received an overall grade of 75.2, the second-highest on South Carolina’s offense, for his efforts.

The two next highest-rated Gamecocks were both true freshmen last season. Tree Babalade, who picked up a 73.6 overall grade, played 28 snaps and received the highest pass-blocking grade of any South Carolina offensive lineman (80.1). Nyck Harbor, the team’s third-leading receiver, caught three passes for 43 yards on his way to earning a 70.2 overall grade.

Robby Ashford (69.7) and Juju McDowell (68.5) received the Gamecocks’ fifth- and sixth-highest grades, despite seeing limited action. Ashford totaled seven yards on one carry across six snaps, while McDowell gained 12 yards on three carries across five snaps.

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Had there been a 10-snap limit on PFF’s “top five” grades, Oscar Adaway would have slid into the last of those spots with a 68.4 overall grade. Adaway was South Carolina’s third-leading rusher with 34 rushing yards on eight attempts, in addition to 12 receiving yards on one catch.

Here are the rest of the offensive players’ grades:

• Vershon Lee (66.2)
• Gage Larvadain (65.1)
• Torricelli Simpkins (63.0)
• Jared Brown (62.7)
• Eriq Rice (60.1)
• Maurice Brown II (60.0)
• Nick Elksnis (59.5)
• LaNorris Sellers (58.1)
• Dalevon Campbell (57.7)
• Vandrevius Jacobs (56.7)
• Mazeo Bennett (56.4)
• Kamaar Bell (55.9)
• Michael Smith (55.7)
• Josiah Thompson (48.4)
• Brady Hunt (47.8)
• Cason Henry (46.1)

Defense

The Gamecocks’ defense has been searching for shutouts, or “donuts,” since the beginning of the season. South Carolina came up just short of that mark by allowing seven points to Vanderbilt, but that did not stop some of the Gamecocks’ top defensive players from delivering strong performances.

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South Carolina’s elite edge-rushing duo of Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart saw the team’s two highest overall grades on defense – 90.4 and 84.9, respectively.

Kennard made just one tackle against the Commodores, but he led the Gamecocks in quarterback hurries (four) and both forced and recovered a fumble when he strip-sacked Diego Pavia in the first quarter. Stewart, meanwhile, logged two total tackles and one tackle for loss.

Demetrius Knight (82.9) and Peyton Williams (80.9) recorded South Carolina’s third- and fourth-highest defensive grades. Knight tied for second on the Gamecocks in tackles (seven), three of which were solo stops, and broke up one pass. Williams replaced DQ Smith, who was injured during warmups, and had a career game, logging seven tackles and breaking up two passes, one of which resulted in a key stop on fourth down.

Bryan Thomas Jr. rounded out the top five with an overall defensive grade of 80.2. Thomas Jr. was credited with 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one quarterback hurry and three tackles.

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Here are the rest of the defensive players’ grades:

• Judge Collier (70.7)
• Jalon Kilgore (69.0)
• Vicari Swain (68.6)
• Tonka Hemingway (68.0)
• Bam Martin-Scott (66.7)
• O’Donnell Fortune (65.0)
• T.J. Sanders (63.9)
• Jatius Geer (63.8)
• Nick Emmanwori (62.7)
• Rondarius Porter (59.9)
• Monkell Goodwine (58.9)
• Debo Williams (54.9)
• Alex Huntley (53.7)

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