The Gamecock football team is gearing up for its fourth season under head coach Shane Beamer, and expectations are already starting to be set over a month before the start of the season.

On the defensive side of the ball in particular, players and coaches plan to hold each other to a high bar every week as they look to be one of the most dominant units in the conference.

“As a defensive leader, I want straight donuts. I don’t want teams scoring and that’s just how I feel about it,” senior linebacker Debo Williams said at last week’s SEC media day. “The offense is gonna do their thing but it’s up to us to really have it to a point where the offense doesn’t have to work that hard.”

The Gamecocks are returning eight of 11 starters from last year’s team, including leaders like Williams, defensive tackle Alex Huntley and defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway. This is the most experienced group Beamer has had in his four years at the helm.

“To be able to bring back so many key contributors at all three levels of the defense, we finished the last couple of games last season playing really good defense down the stretch and we’ve got to continue to build on that,” Beamer said. “These guys being in year four in this system allows us one, to continue to build on that, two, allows us to be even more diverse.”

Williams said the group’s experience together makes them stronger and gives him confidence heading into the year.

“We have a bunch of veterans playing with guys three to four years,” Williams said. “The connection’s there. I know I can count on my D-linemen with my life depending on it, my defensive backs. We’re family-oriented, so I know we’re all going to give it our all when we’re out there, for sure.”

Other key returning defensive players include Nick Emmanwori, DQ Smith, T.J. Sanders, Kyle Kennard and Jalon Kilgore. With expectations set so high, the Gamecocks need to have made improvements after ranking in the bottom half of the league in most major defensive statistics.

Huntley said the team is motivated to improve on their 5-7 performance from last season and was a big reason for many guys returning, including himself.

“We all came back from that with a real big chip on our shoulder, ready to work, ready to just do what we gotta do to win,” Huntley said. “That’s the only thing on our minds right now is win.”

While South Carolina is bringing back a bunch of players, it is also adding new players it hopes will fill the gaps from last year. The team added edge Gilber Edmond, linebacker Kamaar Bell and defensive back Buddy Mack III from the transfer portal. The Gamecocks also added freshman edge rusher Dylan Stewart, whom Beamer said has a place on the team in year one.

“He’s as advertised. He’s a guy that’s come in, he’s freakishly talented,” Beamer said. “He’s a guy that we have high hopes for and eager to see him continue to develop and evolve in his first year at Carolina.”

Stewart is a five-star recruit from Washington, D.C.’s Friendship Collegiate Academy. His decision to attend USC made him the sixth-highest-ranking recruit to commit to the Gamecocks in school history, according to 247sports.

This kind of depth gives South Carolina the confidence it has the talent up and down the roster to succeed at a much higher level this season. Beamer, Williams and Huntley all said so.

“I think it’s going to be really cool to see how many guys are playing, and it’s going to be a lot,” Huntley said. “What we’re going to do this year is going to be very big. Just about every position has a guy who you might not have heard of, but you’ll see this year.”