Gamecock Digest

Jalon Kilgore's Emergence Offers Good Conundrum On Defense

South Carolina's Football team has seen Jalon Kilgore emerge in their defensive secondary, and his emergence is creating a good problem for Clayton White.

Andrew Lyon

Jalon Kilgore's Emergence Offers Good Conundrum On Defense
Jalon Kilgore's Emergence Offers Good Conundrum On Defense /

One of the toughest things about being a major college football coach is finding a balance between complex and keeping things simple. When it comes to deciding which personnel should be on the field for a particular unit, the simple solution is to just figure out a way to get your 'best 11' on the football field at one time, something many coaches espouse but not all live by. It's clear with what we've seen since South Carolina's week three matchup against Georgia that Clayton White and his staff have a lot of belief in redshirt freshman Jalon Kilgore.

After defensive leader and 2022 freshman All-American safety Nick Emmanwori went down with a hamstring injury in week one against North Carolina, Kilgore was forced to play significant snaps in his first ever college football game, and answered the bell valiantly. In the Georgia and Mississippi State games, to try and get Kilgore, DQ Smith and Emmanwori all on the field at once, with the latter returning from injury. Smith was bumped down to the nickel cornerback spot, but struggled to hold up in any sort of man-press coverage, while Emmanwori struggled in terms of reading play-action concepts.

Against Tennessee, Emmanwori was move to the nickel cornerback slot with Smith being moved to free safety. Outside of a few missed tackles by DQ, the trio played really well in this game considering the unique pressure the Volunteers' offense puts on opposing defenses. I say all of that to say this, the possibility of Nick Emmanwori staying at nickel corner for the rest of the season so that Kilgore, who's been named a true freshman standout on two occasions by On3 Sports, can stay on the field shouldn't be ruled out as a possibility.

Of course, we have to be careful making any sort of long-term projections regarding what the starting lineup could look like. However, considering the injuries that have piled up at the nickel corner spot, and how well Jalon has been playing, it wouldn't surprise me if Nick Emmanwori plays more nickel, and this is the kind of move that sticks this next offseason.

You Might Also Like:

Join the community:

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter at @GamecocksDigest.

Published
Andrew Lyon
ANDREW LYON

Home/Football