South Carolina will be without two defensive starters Saturday against No. 1 Georgia after outside linebacker/edge rusher Jordan Strachan and middle linebacker Mo Kaba suffered season-ending ACL injuries last week in the 44-30 loss at Arkansas.
"I'm extremely disappointed and heartbroken for both of these young men," South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said in a statement. "They both worked really hard to prepare for this season and were off to great starts for us. Their best football is still in front of them."
This is the second ACL injury for Strachan, whose three tackles for loss led the Gamecocks (1-1) through the first two games. He started his career at Georgia State and suffered an injury in the first game of the 2019 season and was unable to return that year.
South Carolina lost multiple players to injury in the Arkansas game, including All-SEC cornerback Cam Smith, who left the game in the second quarter with an upper body injury. The Gamecocks are hopeful of getting Smith back for the Georgia game as well as senior safety R.J. Roderick, who missed the entire Arkansas game after injuring his arm in the season-opening win over Georgia State.
South Carolina hasn't been able to stop run on defense or run the ball on offense in the first two games. The Gamecocks are ranked 129th out of 131 FBS teams in rushing defense. They're allowing 247.5 yards per game on the ground and averaging just 59.5 rushing yards themselves, which ranks 125th nationally.
Georgia (2-0) has won six of the past seven meetings in the series.