16 November 2021
Clayton White has been nominated for the 2021 Broyles Award, which honors college football’s top assistant coaches, the Frank & Barbara Broyles Foundation announced today.
This marks the fourth time that 43-year-old White, South Carolina’s first-year defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach, has been nominated for the Broyles Award. He has the Gamecocks ranked fifth in the nation in turnovers gained, 14th in pass defense, 41st in pass efficiency defense, 44th in total defense and 58th in scoring defense.
The Carolina defense is allowing 24.4 points per game, with five of its 10 opponents scoring 17 points or less, including a shutout of Eastern Illinois. Last season, Carolina gave up 36.0 points per game and held just two of their 10 opponents to 17 points or less. They ranked 105th in the country in scoring defense when they had three starters (Jaycee Horn, Ernest Jones and Israel Mukuamu) who are now playing in the NFL.
White’s defense is led by a pair of standouts in safety Jaylan Foster, who is tied for second in the nation in interceptions and a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top defensive back, and EDGE rusher Kingsley Enagbare, a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player. Both are All-America candidates.
The 59 nominees in this year’s class were selected from approximately 1,270 assistant coaches representing 127 Division I programs across the country. The Broyles Award selection process includes the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), broadcasters, a college football hall of fame selection committee and current college head coaches.
A 43-member selection committee of distinguished former head coaches, broadcasters, and a committee representing the FWAA will select 15 semifinalists and five finalists from the list of nominees and an overall winner.