Awards continue to roll in as Kyle Kennard and Shane Beamer add another to the shelf

South Carolina continues to have both players and their head coach recognized the their play this season. Senior EDGE rusher Kyle Kennard already won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given to the top defensive player in the country, and head coach Shane Beamer was just named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.

However, both have just added another honor to their name after being named the AP SEC Coach of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Kennard made the most of his one season with the Gamecocks after spending four years at Georgia Tech. The senior EDGE rusher had a career season leading the SEC with 11.5 sacks and 16 tackles for a loss. He also had 28 total tackles, 20 solo tackles, three forced fumbles, and one pass defended.

Kennard was a game-changer on the defense this year, as the Gamecocks had the third-ranked defense in the SEC this season. As a whole, the South Carolina defense had 40 sacks this season, and Kennard accounted for 1/4 of those sacks.

Beamer led this team from a 3-3 record to a 9-3 record with the ability to get into the College Football Playoff. The Gamecocks also ended the season on a six-game win streak and have the ability to push it to seven with a win in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. Beamer led this team to just their fifth nine-win season in program history and set a program record of four ranked wins.

In his fourth year as the Gamecocks head coach, Beamer set a new record for most wins by a head coach in their first four seasons with 29 wins, passing Steve Spurrier, who had 28 wins in his first four years. Beamer had an up-and-down season, and at one point, fans were ready to see him go, but after leading the team to a strong end of the season, he has secured his spot with the Gamecock faithful.