The South Carolina Gamecocks have had three spring practices so far, eager to turn the page on a 2025 season that fell well below expectations.
A longtime fixture of the South Carolina football program in recent seasons is defensive coordinator Clayton White. White has been at South Carolina the last five seasons, and is a five-time Frank Broyles Award nominee, given to the best assistant coach every year.
Speaking with the media on Monday afternoon, White was asked what it's been like to work with true freshman EDGE rusher Julian Walker. Walker, who enrolled this past January at Columbia is a former 4-star EDGE rusher from the class of 2026. He was rated as the No. 1 overall prospect out of the state of South Carolina during this past cycle.
White has been impressed with how far ahead Walker seems to be already. It sounds like he is good enough to potentially see the field as early as his true freshman season.
"He’s a great kid," White said via On3Sports. "He’s learning everything with Coach Barnes. That’s a great fit, those two from a development standpoint and just personality matches. I think that’s strong always when you can get that personality match. I love what I’ve seen. He sets the edge, and he understands what a defensive end is supposed to do in regards of setting the edge. He knows when to play the quarterback, when to play the dive, when to rush, and when to contain.
“So, I think that’s good that when some of those steps are already skipped. So, now you can kind of get, as [Gamecock defensive backs coach Torrian Gray] Coach Gray would say, instead of ‘ABC,’ he’ll get the ‘DEF,’ and ‘XYZ.’ So, we can kind of go ‘DEF’ right now with both of those guys, because they have got the ‘ABC’ down. That’s part of recruiting, understanding what you’re getting. If you have to start at ‘A’ at this level, you probably will be behind. So, I feel like those guys are able to start in the middle of the alphabet.”
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Speaking of EDGE rushers, South Carolina playmaker Dylan Stewart played through a serious back injury last season that limited him to just 33 total tackles. White says Stewart is still in the process of trying to get back from the injury, but dismissed the idea of him and his coaching staff moving any defensive tackles over to EDGE this spring.
"We may have to find another body here or there," White added via On3. But for the most part, we have just got to keep our noses down and keep working forward. We understand some things we gotta do, roster-wise. I know our guys can get that done.”
It sounds like even if Stewart is slow to come back, White thinks the defense is in god shape on the edge with Walker. Per MaxPreps, Walker had 29 solo tackles and a forced fumble during his junior season at Dutch Fork, and added 7.5 sacks and two forced fumbles as a senior.