The Final Cockdown: #8 Darius English

Darius English
Redshirt Freshman Defensive End
6'6", 226 lbs.
Powder Springs, GA (McEachern)

Recruitment:
4 stars, #18 weakside defensive end in the 2012 class
Other offers: Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan State, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Ole Miss, South Florida, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest

College Career:
English played sparingly in blowout wins over ECU and UAB but injured his right wrist and ended up taking a redshirt during his first year in Columbia. Former defensive line coach Brad Lawing believed that English might have started as a true freshman were he on the roster toward the beginning of Spurrier's tenure in Columbia, but the Gamecocks' depth in the trenches gave the coaching staff the luxury of having English come down with a [wink, wink] season-ending wrist injury and a successful application for a medical hardship redshirt.

2013 Outlook:
"Spindly" is an adjective that is used frequently on this site to describe Darius English, for whom adding and maintaining weight has been a struggle from day one. Though it may seem strange to regular human beings like you and me, 226 lbs. is not very many lbs. for a young man who is 6 feet, 6 inches tall and tasked with disrupting offensive linemen who are frequently 100 lbs. heavier than that.

Of course, this isn't to say that English is without his virtues. He's a skilled pass rusher with 4 star prospect bona fides, is listed second on the depth chart behind a young man who is, among other things, COMIN', and has the inside track to return in 2014 as South Carolina's most experienced defensive end.

In the near term, expect to see English on the field to give Clowney and Chaz Sutton breathers and on third and long in Lorenzo Ward's rabbits package.

Trivia:
English was high school teammates with current Gamecocks Busta Anderson (starter at TE), Marcquis Roberts (projected starter at WLB), and Nick St. Germain, so McEachern High School was probably pretty damn good at football in 2010.

Possible Todd Ellis play-by-play call:
"Third and long, four defensive ends on the field for the Gamecocks. Murray takes the snap from the gun, and BOOM! Darius English delivers a MONSTER hit to force fourth down. I'll tell you what, folks, Darius just blasted from a disconnected light switch through the condo that they'll never finish, bounced across a Saudi satellite dish, and through Aaron Murray's brain to Carolina English."

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