Travian Robertson's Coaching Ability Showing Up Early
When Travian Robertson talked at his introductory press conference back in May, he made no bones about his coaching style regarding how he tries to get the best out of his players.
"My mentality is [a] dominate mentality. I coach hard. I demand excellence in practice. You're gonna play how you practice - I don't expect nothing less than that."
In the months that followed, as Robertson got to know his players on a more personal level and began to work with them on the practice fields outside of the Long Family Football Operations Center, multiple tidbits trickled out publicly about the impact the former Gamecock defensive standout was having on South Carolina's interior defensive linemen. Four weeks into the 2023 season, the T-Rob effect seems to be in full force.
The player that's emerged the most of the group so far has been TJ Sanders, who won SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors for his career performance in week three against the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs. Having become essentially a 'third starter' in this group per head coach Shane Beamer, Sanders is on pace to record 15 tackles for loss and 9 sacks by the end of the season. That would be the most TFLs by a Gamecock defender since Jadeveon Clowney accumulated 23 in 2013 and tied for the most sacks since Darius English racked up 9 in 2016.
This week, it was fourth-year defensive tackle Alex "Boogie" Huntley who was named the SEC's Defensive Lineman of the Week after recording a stat line of 3 total tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in week four, with the latter two stats being single-game career highs for the Palmetto State native. Huntley was one of several defensive starters who dealt with injuries throughout the 2022 season, which didn't allow him to reach his full potential in his first season as a starter.
Now being fully healthy, with Robertson's intense coaching tactics, Huntley is finding himself making plays and affecting the pocket at a much higher rate than he did over the past couple of seasons. While these players deserve a ton of credit for their performance on the field so far this season, Travian Robertson has clearly played a role, being the only defensive line coach in the conference who's had any of his linemen be named the defensive lineman of the week by the conference. We'll see what this unit continues to do as the season progresses.
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