South Carolina football: will the defense be better or worse in 2021?

Can South Carolina football stop its opponents from scoring?

South Carolina football fielded one of the worst defenses in program history in terms of points allowed last season, surrendering 36 points a contest to its opposition. The Gamecocks allowed 30 or more points in seven of 10 games, and saw five opponents top the 40-point mark over the team’s final six matchups.

It wasn’t all on the defense, as the South Carolina offense had a knack for throwing pick-sixes, but everyone will tell you that the unit was a major letdown considering it had three players selected in this past NFL Draft. One of those players was a top 10 pick, but even Jaycee Horn couldn’t alleviate the Gamecocks’ struggles.

Here’s a breakdown of the unit’s output at the end of last season.

• Rush defense: 195.4 ypg (13th in SEC)
• Pass defense: 256.1 ypg (8th in SEC)
• Total defense: 451.5 ypg (10th in SEC)

New defensive coordinator Clayton White is going to do his best to improve upon those numbers in year one, but will the unit show progress or will they fall back into the same struggles that haunted them last season?

Here’s our best prediction.

RUSH DEFENSE – Better

The Gamecocks couldn’t stop anyone on the ground last year, allowing nearly 200 yards per game to opposing backfields. The team allowed six of its final seven opponents to eclipse 195 yards on the ground for an average of 237 yards per contest over that time. Four of those final seven foes tallied more than 250 yards on the ground, with Georgia breaking the 300-yard mark.

There’s just absolutely no way that the Gamecocks can be that bad again in 2021.

There were a few things that led to that abysmal number. One was the opt outs of a number of defenders during the team’s final three games. Without those defensive contributors in the lineup, the Gamecocks allowed 332 and 291 rushing yards in its final two contests.

Second was a string of injuries along the defensive front seven. Aaron Sterling, Kier Thomas, Jahmar Brown, Sherrod Greene, and Brad Johnson all experienced season ending setbacks. Take into account JJ Enagbare and Ernest Jones also missing time throughout the year and the Gamecocks were playing with a shell of a defense for a majority of the season.

That won’t be the case next year. The defensive line should be improved, with the possibility of being one of the more dominant groups in the SEC. Zacch Pickens, Jordan Burch, Rick Sandidge, Enagbare, Sterling, and a host of others return, while incoming transfer Jordan Strachan comes in to bolster the defensive front.

If the Gamecocks can find some production at linebacker, the rush defense should improve drastically.