“We’re going to really come out there and shock the country because everyone has us pinned to come back and have the same type of season, but that’s not going to happen.”
Those were the confident words of South Carolina junior linebacker Skai Moore on Thursday morning. The Gamecocks have had a major overhaul on defense, adding a crop of talent on the defensive line and some key pieces in the defensive backfield.
The outlook so far is that the new personnel along with the addition of Jon Hoke will make USC fans forget about last year’s SEC bottom-dwelling defense and 7-6 record.
While Moore took more of the confident approach on Thursday, Hoke took more of the “do our job” perspective when previewing the chances of a successful defense in 2015.
“It’s always going to be about us and how we play,” Hoke said last week at the media golf outing. “It’s never going to be about what the offense does. If we do our job and we play harder than them and take the ball away, we’re going to have a chance to be an improved defense.”
In 2014, South Carolina’s defense was second to last in the SEC in total team defense (434 yds/g), second to last in rushing defense (214 yds/g), and ninth in passing defense (219 yds/g).
“Obviously we can’t play much worse,” head coach Steve Spurrier said. “We gave up more yards than any team in school history. We’ve got nowhere to go but up, which is going to be a positive.”
On a mission to not have another dreadful defensive season, Moore said that entering his junior season he has taken on a bigger responsibility of leading the defense.
After finishing both his freshman and sophomore seasons as the team’s leading tackler, Moore has bigger expectations for himself this season.
“Always improving so definitely bigger numbers than last year. I’m always trying to step it up, so definitely improvement from last year,” Moore said. “I feel great. Just got to get back into football shape. Nothing can really prepare you for that. You’ve just got to be out here and get the reps down and get acclimated.”
Moore mentioned that the team has yet to watch film on North Carolina’s offense and the defense has focused on internal matters learning scheme and technique before preparing for its September 3 opponent.
“We should be ready for that. I’m not really worried about all of that,” Moore said of North Carolina’s high-scoring offense that returns 10 starters this season. “Just the tempo we’ve had out there working, the personnel out here, I see a lot of improvement from last year. Y’all will see on September 3.”
A faster tempo during preseason camp, a noticeable improvement of pass rush, and another year of experience for a defense that returns a good amount of starters are some of the reasons why the Gamecocks’ starting middle linebacker has a confident outlook for the defense in 2015.
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