There were a myriad of problems with South Carolina’s run defense a year ago.
“Run defense is a composition of everybody,” defensive line coach Lance Thompson said. “Defense is 11 guys doing their job, fitting their gaps and then having overlap with guys being able to get off blocks and go make plays maybe they are not supposed to make.”
Those are the things that were obvious to the coaching staff, but there was one thing that was obvious to anyone with working eyes in 2016. The Gamecocks simply lacked the size up front to put together an effective SEC run defense.