Gamecocks shift depth chart after injuries to Mo Kaba, Jordan Strachan

South Carolina football coach confirmed Monday the news that many had feared in the wake of the Gamecocks’ loss to Arkansas on Saturday: Mo Kaba and Jordan Strachan are out for the season.

Kaba and Strachan both exited the game with knee injuries and the school sent out a release confirming the season-ending ACL injuries.

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Later in the day, the school sent out its regularly scheduled game notes with an updated depth chart.

As Beamer had said would be the case, Gilber Edmond is now listed as the starter at Strachan’s EDGE spot opposite of Jordan Burch. Edmond has played as a reserve in each of the first two games. The 6-foot-5, 250-pounder has eight tackles including 2.0 tackles-for-loss.

“I can remember each week last year, Mike Peterson, when he was here, talking about Gilber, is going to be a really good player when he continues to get older,” Beamer said Sunday on his teleconference. “Gilber can certainly rush the passer. The thing with Gilber, is he’s got to continue to be better at playing the run as well.”

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Tyreek Johnson and Terrell Dawkins are listed as the two backups with Dawkins moving up from third string.

“Super senior” Sherrod Greene is now listed as the starter at middle linebacker in place of Mo Kaba who won the battle with Greene to start this preseason. Freshman Stone Blanton now moves up into Greene’s old backup role.

Greene did not play in Week 1 but played 57 snaps (according to PFF) and collected eight tackles against Arkansas.

Brad Johnson and Debo Williams are still listed, in that order, at the WILL linebacker spot.

There are a couple of other minor tweaks to the depth chart.

Freshman sensation Nick Emmanwori is now listed as a co-starter with R.J. Roderick, who is scheduled to return from injury this Saturday.

Emmanwori started out the season as Roderick’s backup but replaced the senior when Roderick was injured on the seventh play of the season.

Emmanwori, a freshman from Irmo, is second on the team in tackles with 14.

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Hunter Rogers and Matthew Bailey are now listed as co-starters at short snapper (it was Rogers then Bailey on last week’s depth chart).

And Kai Kroeger is now listed as the holder with William Joyce behind him.

Kaba, a 6-foot-2, 239-pound junior from Clinton, N.C., started each of the first two games at the Mike linebacker position. He recorded eight tackles, including a half-tackle for loss and was credited with one pass breakup. He appeared in 24 games with five starts over the past three seasons. A member of the 2020 SEC Coaches’ All-Freshman team, Kaba was recognized as the 2022 Most Improved Player of the Spring for the defense and the Jim Carlen Special Teams Player of the Spring.

Strachan, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound sixth-year senior from Kingsland, Ga., was in his second season with the Gamecocks after transferring from Georgia State. He recorded 10 tackles through the season’s first two games, and was the team’s leader with 3.0 tackles for loss, including one sack. He led the country with a Georgia State record 10.5 sacks during the 2020 season and logged 14.5 career sacks.

“I’m extremely disappointed and heart-broken for both of these young men,” Beamer said in a release. “They both worked really hard to prepare for this season and were off to great starts for us. Their best football is still in front of them.”

The Gamecocks (1-1, 0-1 SEC) will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 17, when they host the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs (2-0, 0-0 SEC) in a noon kick at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. The contest will be televised nationally on ESPN.

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