South Carolina Football: Report card vs. Georgia
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Football vs. Georgia:
Grades for the Gamecock Defense
C-. TJ Sanders’ personal grade would have sat around an A-. The versatile defensive lineman was very good against Georgia, but his colleagues in the defensive line room weren’t great. Players like Jordan Strachan, Drew Tuazama, and Elijah Davis were virtual non-factors, and most of the other contributors weren’t a whole lot better. Georgia had their way up front, especially in the second half. The Gamecock linebackers were never allowed to run free to make tackles because the defensive line was getting beaten too often.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. DEFENSIVE LINE
LINEBACKERS . B-. The Gamecock linebackers were a mixed bag. Debo Williams continued his quest to be considered the most improved South Carolina football player as he added 11 tackles and a pass breakup to his stat line. Stone Blanton had a sack but missed a few tackles, as well. Bam Martin-Scott and Grayson “Pup” Howard didn’t play much, but Howard was beaten badly on one of Georgia’s touchdowns.. . South Carolina Gamecocks
B. The South Carolina secondary had some good moments on Saturday. O’Donnell Fortune had a really nice pass breakup on a Carson Beck deep ball, and he and Marcellas Dial had good coverage for most of the afternoon. The Carolina safeties had a lot of tackles as Nick Emmanwori, DQ Smith, and Jalon Kilgore combined for 25 tackles. The biggest knocks on the secondary were that they were beaten underneath for big catch-and-runs several times, and the unit struggled to get off of blocks to help with tackling in the run game and the short passing game.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. DEFENSIVE BACKS
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