Clayton White Drawing Eyes

Throw the Georgia recreation out. I promise that will not be the final time Georgia hangs forty factors on an opponent this yr. Excluding that efficiency, the South Carolina protection has quietly compiled some high quality play this yr.

Defensive coordinator Clayton White is on the forefront of those efforts. Granted, tackling has been poor by means of three weeks, however that may be attributed to accidents and a youthful lineup.

These issues will even out, however the protection has nonetheless performed properly. White has freshman starters enjoying at a excessive stage, a uncommon improvement for somebody of their second yr as a coordinator.

The primary three video games may not mirror the end result some followers need defensively. Nonetheless, the method appears promising. They need to steamroll Charlotte and South Carolina State, giving them possibilities to offer these younger defenders dwell reps in stress-free conditions.

South Carolina then enters their SEC schedule with some battle-tested defensive gamers, and their protection may win some video games for them. They do not make essential errors like protection busts or pointless penalties; they could not match the collective expertise of Georgia or Arkansas.

Gamecocks Digest spoke to a number of defensive recruits in Columbia over the weekend. Every talked about White’s imaginative and prescient and the way he plans to implement new expertise into this unit.

He might not have the personnel essential to run his protection totally, however he has this group enjoying arduous. They rally to the ball and do not make massive errors; there are some tackling considerations, however once more, younger gamers will make simple errors.

The offensive considerations far outweigh the defensive ones. This group’s most vital want is reps collectively, which is able to are available time. They improved weekly and challenged Georgia on a number of essential downs early on.

White ought to have them enjoying higher yearly, as they’re recruiting at an especially excessive stage. They discovered a number of gems on the recruiting path in 2022 which are already making an affect and are actually after the massive fish.

Once more, box-score watching tells us they’ve been a legal responsibility this yr. Even superior analytics do not paint a reasonably image, however the eye check tells us they’ve one thing right here. Gamers come to the microphone with confidence and poise as a result of they imagine in one another and White’s recreation plan.

These subsequent two contests will inform us a lot about this protection transferring ahead. It appears they’ll preserve issues aggressive in opposition to high-scoring offenses, however solely time will inform.

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