First Down Kentucky: Offense Prepares for Disruptive South Carolina Defense

If you haven’t turned the page to South Carolina, the time is now. The Gamecocks did not show a lot of pop offensively in week one, but the defense is going to pose some problems for the Kentucky offense. The Wildcats shared how they’re addressing those ahead of Saturday’s SEC opener.

Ball Security is Job Security

Let’s be candid for a moment. South Carolina would be 0-1 if their defense did not create four turnovers. The Gamecocks narrowly won 23-19 and two scoring drives started in the red zone thanks to those turnovers.

A big reason why South Carolina has won consecutive games against Kentucky is because of the turnover battle. The Gamecocks have an 8-2 advantage in turnover margin over the last three games in this series. Ball security is always a priority, but even a bigger point of emphasis this week.

“I think there’s a correlation to playing clean and being fundamentally sound with your technique and it how it correlates to taking care of the football,” Bush Hamdan said Tuesday evening.

“For us, it’s all on the tape from a week ago in situations where those two defensive edge rushers have one-on-ones and were able to get takeaways. I think it’s a mixture. It’s fundamentally, but it’s also schematically, putting our guys in a position where we’re not forced to hold onto the ball too long and have one-on-ones on the perimeter.”

Communication is Key for the Kentucky Offensive Line

Speaking of those edge rushers, Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart combined to force four fumbles. Kentucky QB Brock Vandagriff faced a little pressure in the season opener. It’s up to the Big Blue Wall to make sure those talented defensive linemen do not go unaccounted for this Saturday.

“They do a lot of shifts and movements,” said offensive tackle Marques Cox. “Just communicating up front is huge for us, and also communicating through our back is huge, making sure we’re on the same page. Once we’re on the same page, just executing at a high level.”

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Kentucky Preparing for Experienced South Carolina Secondary

It’s not just the edge rushers that will stress the Kentucky offense. The Gamecocks have a deep, experienced group of defensive backs who picked off a pair of passes against Old Dominion. They’ve been there so long, Hamdan remembers scouting some of them during his time at Missouri three years ago.

“I feel like some of these guys have been here for seven years now,” said Hamdan. “That whole DB is similar. They got great length. They got long speed, can turn and run. So I think there’s a ton of experience.”

Learning to Operate with the Helmet Radio Technology

Before the 2023 season ended, Mark Stoops called on his offense to improve its operation. In short — they had to get much more efficient at calling plays, getting lined up, and executing. A new offensive coordinator with shorter play-calls played a part in helping that, as well as implementing new technology that allows Hamdan to speak directly into the quarterback’s helmet. There is still a learning curve with the new helmet tech.

“Sometimes you come out here in practice and you feel like you got three minutes to talk to the quarterback and it’s not really cutting off. Then all of a sudden, you get in the game and you’re talking to him and it’s like somebody hung up on the other line. I think that just hit me. There’s something to be said about getting calls in fast and having some time to talk to him, but I can’t tell you how many times I asked, Are you hearing me? And it’s already past that 15 seconds,” Hamdan laughed.

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