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*** One of the key questions relating to South Carolina’s defensive upside for this season is this: how will the secondary shake out?
For a variety of reasons, South Carolina has not stabilized the safety position, and that’s an area in which the Gamecocks must be better in 2020. The staff has considered playing junior Israel Mukuamu at safety this season, and it’s a spot at which he has some past experience. The potential for that move to take place has really hinged on a couple factors, those being how the staff felt about the safety spot overall as well as the progression of John Dixon and Cam Smith at corner.
While Dixon and Smith are coming along, my money would still be on Mukuamu playing cornerback as of now. He’s had a productive preseason playing corner, and South Carolina feels there are some options at the safety spot.
Jammie Robinson is headed into his sophomore year and should lock down a starting safety role in the “regular” personnel – he can slide into nickel once USC puts that package onto the field. He showed flashes as a true freshman, and the staff is excited about the step he could take this season. There are three other primary guys to watch at safety: returner RJ Roderick, who has starting experience, plus program veteran Jaylin Dickerson and redshirt freshman Shilo Sanders. Dickerson has simply not been healthy long enough to make the impact that was expected when he enrolled early in the class of 2017. We are told he’s been healthy this preseason and has done well. Of course, Mukuamu is an option back there if a need does arise. If the staff could get consistent play out of safety and stay healthy there this year, it would be significant for the defense.
Here would be a reasonable projection for how things could line up in the secondary this season, if things hold:
Regular
CB - Horn
CB - Mukuamu
S - Robinson
S - Roderick (or Dickerson)
Nickel:
CB - Horn
CB - Mukuamu
N - Robinson
S - Roderick
S - Dickerson
Another nickel variation, based on some things T-Rob said recently, would to be slide Mukuamu to safety and put Dixon or Cam Smith at one corner slot.
*** Up front, the key question is how the staff replaces the solo playmaking ability of Javon Kinlaw on the interior. Here’s the short answer: you don’t. Kinlaw would have stood out on any team in the country, and you don’t simply plug in a new guy to replace a first round pick in most instances. Whether it’s up front or at other spots, the staff feels that there’s more depth than at any point in Will Muschamp’s tenure. Applying that to the defensive line, there may not be one guy as dominant as Kinlaw was, but the group as a whole still has a chance to be pretty good.
Travaris Robinson stole our thunder just a bit recently when he began raving about freshman defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway, who’s been working at defensive end.
We have also heard that he was a guy to watch for, who had done really well in the early going of preseason camp. Robinson went as far as to compare his demeanor to DJ Wonnum, which is high praise. Hemingway is a guy that South Carolina felt during the recruiting process had a chance to really turn into a good player once he was focused only on football (he was a three-sport athlete) in high school. So far, so good.
Freshman Jordan Burch has also been as advertised from an athletic standpoint, we hear. We documented during the recruiting process how well-liked he was at Hammond, and it’s been the same inside the building since he arrived at South Carolina. He’s impressed with his attitude as well as his athleticism.
Here's a look - by position - at the personnel available for the Gamecocks' defensive front this season:
DT - Keir Thomas, Jabari Ellis, Zacch Pickens, Rick Sandidge, Devontae Davis, Tyreek Johnson, Alex Huntley, Makius Scott, MJ Webb, Chandler Farrell
End - Aaron Sterling, Joseph Anderson, Tonka Hemingway (JJ Enagbare can also play here and has in the past, as can Keir Thomas)
BUCK - JJ Enagbare, Brad Johnson, Jordan Burch, Rod Fitten, Gilber Edmond
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