Game Balls: South Carolina Vs. Vanderbilt
I get it. Winning 47-6 over not just a team that's only won two out of their eleven games this season but a team South Carolina's won fifteen straight against isn't going to change your tune on the Gamecocks' 2023 season entirely, but this was an impressive showing by Shane Beamer's team. They did exactly what they should've done coming into this game: take care of business against an inferior opponent. When looking back at this blowout victory, which players stood out the most to the point where they would get a game ball from GamecocksDigest?
The Entire O-Line
The sexy answers for the offensive side of the ball will be Spencer Rattler and Xavier Legette, and when you look at the final box score, it's hard to argue against doing so, but I don't want to go with the easy answer here. So, I'm wanna give a massive shoutout to South Carolina's entire offensive line for their efforts in pass protection yesterday afternoon. This position group didn't give up a single sack against the Commodores, despite Vandy's best efforts in bringing extra pressure and giving them different looks. Combined with the weather conditions and the ever-revolving carousel of linemen who are missing games due to injury, what the Gamecocks did in week eleven, albeit against a below-average team, was quite impressive.
Bam Martin-Scott
It's taken a couple of years for the fifth-year senior to find his footing in Columbia, but it appears that the Indiana native has carved out a nice role for himself as the third linebacker in South Carolina's 3-3-5 defensive formation during the second half of the 2023 season. Bam's hard work culminated in a career performance on Saturday, which saw him record 13 total tackles against the Commodores, including a tackle for loss and a sack. Martin-Scotts active movement in the box gave Vanderbilt fits all day and could provide the Gamecocks another defensive weapon to use in this upcoming two-game stretch against Kentucky and Clemson.
Bam Martin-Scott tackles Vanderbilt QB Walter Taylor to the ground (11th Nov., 2023)
Jeff Blake | USA Today Network
Tonka Hemingway
The last game ball will go to a South Carolina native who hasn't probably had quite the season he envisioned to this point but made life difficult on Commodore quarterback Ken Seals on Saturday. You might be thinking that means Tonka wreaked havoc in pass rush, and while you would be correct, it wasn't through the conventional ways we used to use when talking about defensive linemen. Hemingway batted down three passes from Ken, and most came on obvious second-down or third-down passing situations. The entire defense did an excellent job in this aspect, but Tonka led the charge.
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