South Carolina Football: Another Gamecock wins SEC award

During Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team’s victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, a couple of Gamecock narratives got flipped on their heads.

The biggest criticism of the Gridiron Gamecocks this season has been the play of the offensive line. Through three games of the 2023 season, South Carolina led the SEC in total sacks allowed and was last in the league in rushing yards per game.

On Saturday, the Gamecock offensive line was much better. Spencer Rattler was sacked four times, but at least two of those sacks were not on the big uglies. They also got enough push up front to log a season-high rushing total of 144 yards, 88 of them coming from Newberry transfer Mario Anderson in his first extensive action.

The defensive line, though, has also been a much-maligned group for most of this year. The Gamecocks were one of the worst teams in the country at stopping the run last year, and that same trend had continued in 2023. The pass rush has also been fairly non-existent, as well, as Carolina was 12th in the league in sacks.

Defensive tackles coach Travian Robertson and defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Sterling Lucas saw their unit ball out against the Bulldogs. USC held MSU to 32 yards rushing and picked up 4 sacks and 3 passes knocked down at the line of scrimmage.

The best performer up front was Alex “Boogie” Huntley who was named the SEC’s Defensive Lineman of the Week. Huntley had his best game as a Gamecock, tallying three tackles, two sacks, two passes knocked down at the line of scrimmage, and eight quarterback pressures.

Huntley’s big-time performance included some strong play in the run game, as well. #95 plugged the middle for most of the snaps he was in the game, playing the best overall nose tackle game since Javon Kinlaw wore garnet and black.

He is the second-straight South Carolina football player to win the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week honor as TJ Sanders won the award in week 3.

Spencer Rattler also won the SEC’s Co-Offensive Player of the Week award for his game against Mississippi State, his second time landing the honor this season.