South Carolina Football Era Debate: Best Defensive Lines

In the history of South Carolina football, every good team was tough and had a defense that changed games for them. Some of these defenses forced turnovers, some stuffed the run, and others had secondaries that operated no-fly zones on the back end. But which era had the best defensive talent up front?

First, let’s define the eras.

The Rex Enright Era: Anything before 1956

While Coach Enright did not literally coach all of these seasons, he was by far the longest-tenured coach during this time period, having coached twice as many games as any other coach who came before him. This is, by far, the longest of the eras but also has the fewest amount of games per season and the lowest overall amount of talent to choose from.

The ACC Era: 1956-1974

The Gamecocks joined the ACC in 1953 and left in 1971. In an effort to not split coaching tenures between two eras, 1953-1955 will be included in the Rex Enright Era, and 1971-1974 will be included in the ACC Era. 1956 was the school’s first season post-Rex Enright, and 1974 was Coach Paul Dietzel’s final year in Columbia. South Carolina did not win a ton during this era but did capture its only conference championship, claiming the ACC crown in 1969.

The Independent Era: 1975-1988

Jim Carlen, Richard Bell, and Joe Morrison led the Gamecocks through life as an Independent program. Schedules were difficult, but South Carolina managed to win at a decent clip through these years. The Gamecocks actually became Independent in 1971, but Paul Dietzel’s final years are included in the ACC Era. The program would not officially join a conference again until 1992, but after Joe Morrison passed away and Sparky Woods became coach in 1989, the move to a conference (ultimately, the SEC) was inevitable.

The Early SEC Era: 1989-2004

The years leading up to South Carolina football’s move into the best conference in college football and its first 13 years in the conference were up and down. Sparky Woods and Brad Scott struggled but had brief periods of success including the team’s first-ever bowl victory in a win over West Virginia in the Car Quest Bowl. The Lou Holtz tenure in Columbia started horribly (0-11), soared to heights Gamecock fans hadn’t seen in almost 20 years (17-7 from 2000-2001), then fizzled (three straight non-bowl seasons and a brawl that put a black eye on one of football’s best rivalries).

The Steve Spurrier Era: 2005-2015

The Steve Spurrier Era in Columbia was the brightest time in South Carolina football history. Sure, individual seasons like 1969, 1984, 1987, 2000, and 2001 happened during earlier time periods, but no time in Carolina history produced more sustained success for the garnet and black. Even with a poor ending in 2015 that saw Shawn Elliott finish the season after the Head Ball Coach resigned, Spurrier’s overall success at Carolina is unrivaled, so giving him his own era just makes sense.

The Modern Era: 2016-Present

In an era that is still building, the Gamecocks have been on a wild ride. Will Muschamp came in and fixed some of the structural issues in the program from the Spurrier era and seemed to be on the road to glory after a good second season. However, he showed he was incapable of getting things done on the field and was replaced by former Spurrier assistant Shane Beamer. Beamer and his staff have since dug the program out of a bad culture that was present at the end of the previous regime, and the South Carolina football program is on the rise once again.

Best Defensive Line Era of South Carolina Football

Each era of Gamecock football will have its positional group analyzed, and the top-three eras will be given a “starting lineup” that will be ranked against each other. Talent and positional fit will be the biggest factors, and depth will serve as a tie-breaker if the groups are just too close to point out any real distinction. For the defensive line position group, EDGE players will be included, even if they played both outside linebacker and defensive end.

The Rex Enright Era: Ed Pitts and Don Early highlight this group. Both players were first-team all-conference selections as defensive tackles during this era. Records are difficult to find for any standout defensive ends from so long ago.

The ACC Era: John Leheup was an All-American defensive tackle in 1972. Another tackle, Don Summa, was a team captain and All-ACC selection in 1967. Playing as a mentor to Leheup in 1970, Jimmy Poston recorded over 100 stops from the defensive tackle position. While there were several stout defensive tackles, it seems as if there were no defensive ends of much consequence during this era.

The Independent Era: Andrew Provence was the man during the early ’80s as the tackle was a captain and All-American in 1982 on his way to rising up the leaderboards to become second in school history in career tackles and sacks in just three seasons of game action as a Gamecock. Roy Hart followed shortly after him as the nose tackle was also an All-American and was a stud for the talented 1987 team. Hal Henderson just played two seasons in Columbia but was a very good end, and combo end/outside linebacker Karey Johnson tallied nine sacks off the edge in 1981.

The Early SEC Era:  The talent on the defensive line picks up in this era as John Abraham, Kalimba Edwards, and Stacy Evans were each two-time all-SEC performers at EDGE (Edwards was an All-American). Big defensive tackles like Cecil Caldwell, Eric Sullivan, Henry Taylor, Langston Moore, Cleveland Pinkney, and George Gause were studs in the middle who made All-SEC teams. Moore made an All-American team, as well. Although multiple defensive fronts were used during this time period, a “starting” group of Abraham, Caldwell, Moore, and Edwards would be tough to beat.

The Steve Spurrier Era: Arguably the best and most consistent position group during the best era of Gamecock football, Coach Spurrier’s defensive lines were absolutely loaded. Jadeveon Clowney is probably the best defensive lineman to ever play at South Carolina, and EDGE player Eric Norwood racked up even more sacks than Clowney did in his career.

Kelcy Quarles joined Clowney as an All-American in 2013, and Cliff Matthews, Devin Taylor, Travian Robertson, and Casper Brinkley were all multi-year starters who made it to the NFL. Melvin Ingram was another All-American player who played all over the front-7 during his career but played a lot of defensive tackle between Clowney and Quarles when the latter were freshmen.

The Modern Era: It might be unfair to compare the modern era to other eras of Carolina football as it is shorter than the other eras and still ongoing. Nonetheless, the Will Muschamp and Shane Beamer-led teams had their fair share of talent.

Javon Kinlaw is one of the best defensive tackles to play at South Carolina and was a first-round pick. Kingsley Enagbare was another all-conference player at defensive end, and Darius English had one of the best pass-rushing seasons in garnet and black in Muschamp’s first year. Another tackle, Zacch Pickens will be selected in this year’s NFL Draft, and players like Keir Thomas, Taylor Stallworth, Dante Sawyer, and Kobe Smith were productive players who made it to the league.

The Verdict

The Modern Era is close behind and might make the top-three eventually, but the best defensive line units seem to be clearly from three consecutive time periods: the Independent Era, the Early SEC Era, and the Steve Spurrier Era.

3rd Place: The Independent Era

Coming in as the third-best defensive line era, the Independent Era was very good. With a potential starting defensive tackle position including Roy Hart plugging the middle at nose tackle and Andrew Provence playing as a 3-technique, offensive lines would have had fits trying to keep the men in the middle from collapsing the pocket. The two All-Americans would be flanked by Hal Henderson and Karey Johnson, who were each really good pass rushers, as well. This unit’s one weakness would have been in attempting to stop the run, especially from EDGE.

2nd Place: The Early SEC Era

One of the best NFL Gamecocks ever, uber-athlete John Abraham belongs at one EDGE spot, and 2000 All-American Kalimba Edwards would play the other. Edwards spent time at both outside linebacker at defensive end but operated primarily as an EDGE player. Cecil Caldwell and Langston Moore would man the defensive tackle spots, helping shore up the line’s run defense. Having an All-American outside in Edwards and inside in Moore is pretty special, especially since Moore was not yet in his prime when they shared time together on the 2000 and 2001 defenses.

1st Place: The Steve Spurrier Era

This group boasts three All-Americans, as Jadeveon Clowney (a two-time honoree) and Kelcy Quarles both were selected in 2013, and Melvin Ingram was honored in 2011. Clowney would play one end spot, Quarles would play tackle, and Eric Norwood would play EDGE on the other side, excelling in one-on-one pass rush opportunities that would be available thanks to the gravity of Clowney on the other side.

Ingram would be the choice as the other defensive tackle as the versatile athlete played all over. Dominant. The 2011 South Carolina defensive line was already very good with a freshman Clowney and a freshman Quarles teaming up with Melvin Ingram. Imagine three All-Americans in their primes AND adding the career sack leader in Norwood. Just dominant.