Roster additions could elevate South Carolina’s D-tackles among SEC’s best this season

One of the issues for the South Carolina defense last year was the lack of depth on the defensive line, especially at tackle.

Tonka Hemingway, Alex “Boogie” Huntley and TJ Sanders shouldered the majority of the reps at the position last season. While they combined for more than 100 tackles including 18 for loss, they were worn out by the end of the game.

This season, defensive line coach Travarian Robertson hopes that won’t be the case after the Gamecocks beefed up the position by bringing in Alabama transfer Monkell Goodwine and Pittsburgh transfer Deandre Jules.

“We made the best of what we had last year. Last year, our best three guys were Tonka, Boogie and TJ and they played a lot. This year, we don’t have that problem,” Robertson said at last week’s Birdies with Beamer event. “Those guys played a lot of ball last year and sacrificed a lot. Our job, me, coach Beamer and coach (Clayton) White was to get those guys some help so they can rest and take some of those reps off of their bodies so they can play faster this year.

“Last year if you watched the Georgia game and they were able to rotate four guys in and not skip a beat. We were rotating guys one for one so this year, I think we can keep guys playing faster.”

The Georgia game Robertson talked about was a good example of USC’s lack of depth last season. The Bulldogs had six players with 20 or more snaps on the defensive line while the Gamecocks only had three — Sanders (61), Hemingway (49) and Huntley (48).

Bringing in experienced guys like the 6-foot-4, 315-pound Jules and Goodwine (6-3, 311) should help. Jules played in all 12 games last season, starting six for the Panthers and had 24 tackles, 7.5 for loss and two sacks. Goodwine doesn’t have much experience, playing in just five games in three seasons with the Crimson Tide.

“Jules flashed in the spring and Monkell Goodwine is someone I am excited about. He is twitchy and fast,” Robertson said. “I am excited about our new guys, just the work we did to go out and find these guys. We handpicked them but they got to be ready to come into work.”

Robertson also likes what he has seen from veteran Nick Barrett, including his body transformation in the offseason.

And Robertson isn’t the only one who likes the potential of the defensive line. SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic sang the praises of USC’s defensive line, ranking the unit as the fifth best in the conference going into the season behind Tennessee, Texas A&M Georgia and Ole Miss.

“They got three and four defensive linemen that have played a ton of college football. I think they might be able to build that defense around that group,” Cubelic said on the Paul Finebaum Show.