South Carolina football fans had a rare comfortable Saturday this past weekend when their Gamecocks blew out the Vanderbilt Commodores 47-6 in the most lopsided game in the history of the SEC East series.
USC played pretty well in every phase of the game, and several players stood out for their big-time performances.
One of these standouts, defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway, achieved an extremely rare feat for a defensive tackle, and the unique effort earned him some national praise.
Against the ‘Dores, Hemingway knocked down three passes at the line of scrimmage, including one where he read quarterback Ken Seals’ eyes and stepped in front of the pass, nearly picking it off. He also added 5 tackles to lead all defensive linemen in the game.
Pro Football Focus chooses a Team of the Week each week of the college football season, and Tonka Hemingway made the PFF Week 11 Defensive Team of the Week.
Though Hemingway played a lot of his snaps as a pseudo-defensive end in the Gamecocks’ 3-3-5 defense on Saturday (a deviation from their usual 4-2-5), he was selected as a defensive tackle for PFF’s weekly team.
This honor is not the first one that a South Carolina football defensive lineman has earned so far in 2023. Earlier this season, defensive tackles TJ Sanders (against Georgia) and Boogie Huntley (against Mississippi State) were both selected as the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week by the conference.
Hemingway, Sanders, and Huntley all play defensive tackle, but Hemingway and Sanders have gotten a handful of snaps outside at defensive end, as well. All three players are eligible for the NFL Draft (and Sanders has generated some mild draft buzz), but all three are also eligible to return for another year in garnet and black. Sanders has two more years available to him.
Hemingway and the South Carolina football team will take on the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday at 7:30. The game will be on the SECNetwork and ESPN app.