Shane Beamer provides latest on Jordan Strachan, Mo Kaba injury recoveries
Five South Carolina football players did not participate in spring practice while recovering from previously suffered injuries but head coach Shane Beamer said Thursday at SEC Media Days that he expects the entire group to be 100 percent by the season opener.
“I knew you guys would ask me, so I called (head athletic trainer) Clint Haggard last night about 8:00, just make sure that nothing had happened, so unless something has changed since this morning when I got on the plane, everybody should be good,” Beamer said. “Now, we may have a couple of the guys coming off surgeries from last year — Jordan Strachan and Mo Kaba — they may be a little bit limited at the beginning of preseason practice but they’ll still be able they’ll be able to practice and everybody should be 100 percent by Game 1.”
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Defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway, right tackle Cason Henry, and defensive back David Spaulding, as well as Kaba and Strachan are the five players who missed the entirety of the spring.
Beamer did not give specific updates on the other three but Hemingway is in Nashville as one of three players representing the program at SEC Media Days.
Left tackle Jaylen Nichols will miss at least part, if not all, of the season after suffering an injury in the spring game.
Kaba and Strachan suffered the most serious injuries among the bunch, both tearing their ACLs during Week 2 last year at Arkansas.
On the verge of a breakout season for the Gamecocks, Kaba went shooting into the backfield to tackle Arkansas QB K.J. Jefferson. But as Jefferson dodged his pursuit and another Carolina defender also engaged with the QB, Kaba came down awkwardly and felt the familiar twinge in his knee.
Strachan entered the 2022 season as a “Super Senior,” hoping to put together a strong final year of production. But suffered the same fate as Kaba.
Not only did both players suffer their injuries in the same game but it was the second ACL injury for both players.
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Strachan, who was granted an additional year of eligibility in order to play in 2023, is a key returnee to a South Carolina defense that lost both Jordan Burch and Gilber Edmond to the portal.
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During his career, the former three-star prospect who entered college as a safety, has 111 total tackles, 63 solo tackles, 24.5 tackles for loss, 13.5 sacks, one interception, four pass deflections, three fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles.
Last season, Strachan totaled 10 tackles including 3.0 tackles for loss and a sack and tied his career high with six tackles at Arkansas before leaving the game.
In his first season at Carolina in 2021, he played in all 13 games collecting 22 tackles, including 6.0 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks as well as two pass breakups and five quarterback hurries.
In the year before he arrived in Columbia, Strachan tied for the FBS lead with a Georgia State school record 10.5 sacks.
Kaba, now a redshirt junior, had collected eight tackles last season before the injury. He should slot right back into a starting linebacker spot if he can return to form this year.
