By Hunt Palmer
Through two weeks, three teams in college football have amassed double digit sacks.
South Carolina is one of them.
The Gamecocks have sacked Old Dominion and Kentucky quarterbacks 10 times for a nation-leading 78 yards. Five came against the Monarchs, a Sun Belt foe. But five more came against Kentucky, an SEC opponent.
Defensive ends Dylan Stewart and Kyle Kennard have terrorized quarterbacks early in the season, combining on six total sacks. Stewart, a 6-foot-6 true freshman, was rated a five-star recruit when he signed with the Gamecocks out of Washington, D.C. Kennard transferred to South Carolina after four years at Georgia Tech. He led the Yellow Jackets in tackles for loss and sacks in 2023.
“Our challenge this week is, one, not to listen to all the pats on the back, but to prepare to go play well,” said South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer. “In Dylan and Kyle Kennard’s instance, and our defensive tackles, they’re listening to everyone tell us how dominant we are on defense. That’s wrong, because they’re getting to play arguably the best offensive line in the nation on Saturday, and they better be ready to play.”
While maligned in the running game, LSU’s offensive line has held up against opposing pass rushes. The Tigers rank 20th in the country in pass attempts with 77. Opponents haven’t registered a single sack.
“Protection rules, I feel like we have down pat,” said LSU right tackle Emery Jones. “I feel like we have a whole lot of guys who understand protection and understand what the defense and D-line are trying to do. I feel like our coaches do a great job of emphasizing what they do.”
South Carolina ranked last in the SEC in sacks last season. Beamer and his staff understand that had to change to bounce back from a disappointing 5-7 season.
“When you look back at last year, we didn’t do a good enough job of generating pressure and creating negative plays,” Beamer said. “We looked at things schematically to generate pressure in the backfield on the quarterback, but a lot of it is just new personnel, and they’ve come in and done a great job.
“Dylan and Kyle and the rest of our edge guys aren’t going to sneak up on anybody. That’s for sure.”
Jones teams with Will Campbell to form a tackle duo projected to be taken in the first round of next year’s NFL Draft. LSU has tailored its offense to utilize their strength in pass protection. Beamer expects the Tiger offense to stay true to form even facing one of the SEC’s best pass rushes.
“I’m sure they’re going to feel extremely confident with their two offensive tackles, not giving them any help,” Beamer said. “If I’m not mistaken (Will Campbell) the offensive tackle has played 1700 snaps, and he’s given up three sacks. I’m not great at math. What is that? Every 600 snaps he gives up a sack? So, I’m sure he feels pretty good going into Saturday.”
Campbell’s counterpart, Jones, echoed Beamer’s sentiment.
“They’re good SEC d-linemen,” Jones said. “I feel like when you get into SEC play you get better athletes, better guys on that d-line. I feel like we’re pretty good, too.”
