| Herald-Journal
South Carolina announced Clayton White as the program’s new defensive coordinator on Sunday.
White, 43, has spent the past four seasons as a defensive coordinator and cornerback coach for Western Kentucky, during which time he was nominated for the Frank Broyles Prize, awarded annually to the country’s best assistant coach in 2017, 2019 and this year. season.
The USC also officially confirmed Carolina Panthers offensive line assistant coach Marcus Satterfield as the program’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, and Luke Day was announced as the new strength and conditioning director, a role he held last season in Marshall. .
White and Satterfield spent the 2005 season on the Western Carolina team, which also included current Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule.
“I have been watching Clayton for a long time,” USC coach Shane Beamer said in a statement. “He was a great player in college and spent some time in the NFL. He was part of good programs and has a high level of success. He is from North Carolina and has many ties to the region. He had some opportunities to go elsewhere, but he wants to be in South Carolina and we are happy to have him. “
Western Kentucky was 28th nationally in total defense this season, including eighth place in the country in defense of passes, allowing only 177.3 yards per game. Hilltoppers was third with 68 defending passes and scored three defensive touchdowns.
Last season, Western Kentucky awarded 20.1 points per game, the lowest mark on the program since 2004 and ranked 22nd on FBS. Junior defensive side DeAngelo Malone was named Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year after registering 99 tackles, including 21 by defeat with 11.5 sacks and 16 hurried quarterbacks.
Western Kentucky kept opponents at a rate of 29.7 percent (51 out of 172) in 3rd down attempts, which ranked sixth on FBS and was the lowest mark on the program since 1987. The Hilltoppers ranked third on FBS with only 82 tackles lost in the entire season, behind only Michigan (74) and the Air Force (81) nationally.
In his debut season in 2017 in Western Kentucky, his defense allowed only 11 touchdown passes, which came in fifth in the country and the Hilltoppers improved 79 positions in defense of passes to 40th in the country.
White, born in Dunn, North Carolina, trained for a season at Sanderson (NC) High School before making his college debut as a coach, with two seasons at Western Carolina (2004-05), where he trained defense and was coordinator of recruitment. He spent the 2006 season in Western Michigan before training defensive backs at Stanford (2007-09), where his players included future NFL Pro-Bowler Richard Sherman.
He spent the 2010 season at Bowling Green under Willie Taggart before becoming a running back coach and coordinator of special teams in Connecticut in 2011-12. He returned to his alma mater – the state of North Carolina – in 2013 to train security guards, as well as co-coordinating special teams for four seasons, before heading to Western Kentucky.
White played a linebacker at NC State (1997-2000), where his 16 tackles for defeat in 1998 are tied for the 11th highest total in the program’s history and he is 14th with 33 tackles for defeat. His 23 tackles against Ohio in 1998 are the sixth most in a single game for Wolfpack.
He played all 16 games in 2001 with the NY Giants before losing the following season to a knee injury. He was cut by Tampa Bay during the 2003 training camp.