South Carolina’s sack specialists ‘definitely came to break records’ in 2021
Call them what you want: Bucks, Edges, pass rushers. All Kingsley Enagbare knows is this — his position group for South Carolina football has some dogs.
For a defensive unit undergoing major changes at linebacker and defensive back, the Gamecocks return a lot of talent along the defensive line. And on the ends in particular, they have a plethora of playmakers.
Enagbare, who finished last year tops on the team and tied for fifth in the SEC in sacks, is back for his senior season. Fifth-year senior Aaron Sterling returns after struggling with injury last season, looking to regain the form that made him the team’s co-sack leader in 2019 with Javon Kinlaw. And behind them are the Jordans — sophomore and former five-star recruit Jordan Burch is hoping to build off a freshman season in which he flashed major potential, and transfer Jordan Strachan is coming in from Georgia State, where he was nation’s co-leader in sacks last season.
“We definitely see ourselves as the strength of this team. ... We have several dogs in our room,” Enagbare said. “And, yeah, we definitely came to break records and do all that and just shock the world and show what we’re about.”
Enagbare and Sterling have combined for 20 career sacks at South Carolina, while Strachan had 10.5 in last season alone. Burch has yet to get his first collegiate sack, but with his enormous ability, it’s only a matter of time. So will there be a little friendly competition in the edge room to see who can take down the QB the most this spring or fall?
“I’m always inviting competition, but it’s really not competition,” Enagbare said. “We’re all just going at it, trying to make plays and produce. ... I’m expecting a lot of production from all of us.”
Indeed, Enagbare said he’s taken on more of a mentor role with Burch, who came in as one of the most highly-hyped recruits in recent USC history and still evokes a lot of excitement among Gamecock coaches and fans with his high ceiling.
“It’s fantastic (playing with Burch),” Enagbare said. “Burch, he’s my dog, my youngin’, he comes in every day ready to work, smiling, never hear a bad thing out his mouth. He’s something special, he’s gonna be something special.”
From Burch’s side of things, he hasn’t felt any rivalry either.
“The older guys, the mentors like (Enagbare) and Aaron, all them, they’re going to be with us the whole time and correcting our past rush moves and different things like that,” Burch said earlier this spring.
Unlike Burch, Strachan is older — he’s listed as a redshirt senior — so he doesn’t exactly need a mentor to show him how the college game works. Instead, he’s pretty seamlessly integrated into the team and position group, Enagbare said.
“He’s one of the guys, he’s just like all of us — cool, calm and collected,” Enagbare said. “Always smiling and ready to work. And he led the nation in sacks, so definitely gonna be a factor this year in the success of this defense, to have a good player like him come in and join us.”
Yet even with his impressive output last season, Strachan said earlier this spring that he felt like last year’s sack total wasn’t even the best he could do.
“I put in a lot of work. I didn’t expect anything less. I actually felt like I should’ve got a whole lot more sacks. I left a lot out on the field,” Strachan said. “But I put in a lot of work, countless hours, a lot of film. And I honestly feel like that my work was going to show off. And eventually, towards the end the season, seeing your name up there is something to be proud of because of the work that it took to get you there and actually going out there and making it happen.”
By all accounts, he’ll have every opportunity to get even more at South Carolina. Burch, Strachan and Enagbare all said new defensive coordinator Clayton White and his system encourage aggressiveness. For the defensive line in particular, that means winning one-on-one matchups and getting after the quarterback.
“We’re going to have a lot of opportunities to, as an individual player, to do what we’re best at, and collectively that’s going to make us a great defense,” Strachan said. “A lot of guys talking about it’s aggressive — it is aggressive. They’re going to let us ... pin our ears back and let us go.”
