Stone, Debo, Pup and Bam! South Carolina’s linebackers look (and sound) the part

Brad Johnson and Sherrod Greene were different types of linebackers.

Johnson “spoiled” South Carolina’s linebacker corps with his vocal leadership and commanding physical presence in-game, defensive coordinator Clayton White said. Green was a savvy veteran, a run-and-hit linebacker. Both were staples of the Gamecocks defense for several years.

Now, both are gone.

But USC’s current linebackers were born to play the position, White told The State, speaking last week at the annual Birdies With Beamer media golf event. They’re downhill and aggressive.

Debo Williams, Stone Blanton, Bam Martin-Scott, Mohamed Kaba and Grayson “Pup” Howard ought to surprise outsiders in the way they seize the upcoming season, said White, who directly coaches the inside linebackers.

Williams and Blanton have assumed Johnson’s leadership role, White said. Williams, a redshirt junior, played in all 13 games last season, starting in two of them. He had 43 tackles, including 4.5 for loss and 1.5 sacks. Blanton played in 12 games as a true freshman, tallying seven tackles — five solo and 1.5 for loss — and a pass breakup.

Howard, a freshman out of Jacksonville, Florida, and redshirt freshman transfer Jaron Willis from Ole Miss are the new faces at the position. By virtue of their age and lack of experience, White described both players as “green.”

The transition from high school to college football is “the biggest jump in all of sports,” White said, “even a bigger jump from college to pros.”

“Instead of learning six defenses, you’ve got to learn 86 defenses,” he said. “It’s unlimited, and it’s infinity, and it can never stop because there are always pieces that can get added to it.”

Howard totaled 188 tackles, including 18 tackles for loss and 5 sacks, during his senior season of high school, according to News4Jax.com. He also recovered three fumbles, forced another one and had a rushing touchdown. He enrolled at USC for the spring, which gave him a head start on learning South Carolina’s system.

Shane Beamer has been vocal about true freshmen playing at every position this year. That includes Howard, White said. The number of snaps is still to be determined, but Howard is expected to play impactful downs.

Where the whole group can improve is in its ability to diagnose plays and take control of a defense — as Johnson did.

“Brad was a voice and he was the muscle of the defense,” White said. “Our names are better (this season). We have Stone, Debo, Pup and Bam. They sound like linebackers. But they’re natural-born linebackers.”

Will Mohamed Kaba be 100% when the season starts?

White described Kaba as a “work in progress.” He tore an ACL against Arkansas last season and missed the rest of the year. Beamer told reporters at SEC Media Days that Kaba would be somewhat limited at practice, but “everybody should be 100% by Game 1.”

The goal is to ease Kaba back into football, White said. This was Kaba’s second ACL injury — the first came during his senior season of high school.

“The worst thing that we want to do is rush Kaba back and miss him in the month of October, November,” White said.

Scholarship players at linebacker

• Bam Martin-Scott (R-Sr.)

• Mohamed Kaba (R-Jr.)

• Debo Williams (R-Jr.)

• Stone Blanton (So.)

• Grayson “Pup” Howard (Fr.)

• Jaron Willis (R-Fr.)