South Carolina football defender brings home yet another award for ODU performance

As sloppy as some of Saturday's game against Old Dominion was for South Carolina football fans to watch, the defensive end position was a huge positive that seems ready to provide the Gamecocks with the pass rush juice that the team hasn't had in quite some time.

Redshirt senior transfer portal addition Kyle Kennard and true freshman 5-star Dylan Stewart were dominant off the edge, and the duo both earned multiple weekly awards for their combined 8 tackles, 4 sacks, 6 tackles for loss, and 4 forced fumbles.

The latest honor to come through came from the East-West Shrine Bowl as the postseason all-star game named Kyle Kennard their Defensive Breakout Player of the Week.

Kennard's debut was better than anyone realistically could have predicted. With 2.5 sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 2 forced fumbles (including one that set the Carolina offense up for their first touchdown of the game), the former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket proved himself to be an impact transfer addition just as Shane Beamer and his coaching staff hoped he would be.

Even though he has played just one game in garnet and black, Kennard has enough sacks to match the second-most on the 2023 team from the defensive end position as only Jordan Strachan (4 sacks) brought down the quarterback more as an EDGE in 2023. That also would have been the third-highest total on the team as defensive tackle TJ Sanders (4.5) led the squad.

As a team, the Gamecocks' 5 total sacks matched the 2023 season's out-of-conference total (5 sacks in 4 games), and the results don't feel like fool's gold. The combination of Kennard and Stewart (and expected solid contributions from players like Gilber Edmond and JT Geer) should mean that the low sack totals from a year ago will not be repeated this season.

The Gamecocks will need Kennard, Stewart, and the rest of the USC defense to keep up their strong play this weekend as they travel to Lexington, Kentucky for an SEC matchup with the Wildcats. The game will kick off at 3:30 PM ET and will be broadcast on ABC and streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.