How two Gamecocks defenders fought through mental side of season-ending injuries

Terrell Dawkins doesn’t give off the vibe of a man who sheds too many tears.

He’s a hulking 6-foot-4, 260-pound defensive lineman who looks the part. He’s forceful in punching bags in practice and opposing offensive linemen in games. Just ask those who played against him during his four combined years at N.C. State and South Carolina. But such is why preconceived notions ought to stop.

When Dawkins begins to talk, one needs to listen.

“The injuries I had at N.C. State, I come here and I was like, ‘OK, I finally feel good,’ and then right when I really felt like myself again, I got hurt,” he said Wednesday. “It kind of put me into tears a little bit, because I was like, ‘Why am I going through this again.’ It’s just really annoying just having to deal with that.

“Trying to play through injuries — it’s not like, ‘Oh, I banged my knee yesterday,’ or something like that. ... But when you go through surgery, it definitely leaves a mark on you and you have to work through it and deal with it. You have to go through all these battles and all these mental challenges.”

Dawkins and linebacker Mo Kaba spent the bulk of last season recovering from differing knee injuries. The two were hurt a week apart from one another in losses to Georgia and Arkansas, respectively, last year.

Both faced varying hurdles in returning to the field — and still have goals to hit before they’re ready for game action — but Kaba and Dawkins offered a refreshing and honest look into the mental difficulties that come from season-ending injuries.

“It just hurt me,” Kaba said. “I knew exactly what it was as soon as I felt the pop. As soon as I fell on the ground, I was just like, ‘Why? How could this be happening right now?’ ”

Kaba came into the 2022 season as an expected starter at linebacker alongside sixth-year senior Brad Johnson. He’d evolved into a vocal leader over the offseason and, assuming all went to plan, he projected to be among the more impactful pieces on defensive coordinator Clayton White’s unit.

That was until a trip to Fayetteville.

Rushing quarterback K.J. Jefferson, Kaba attempted to make a play on the Razorbacks’ signal-caller and tweaked his knee in the process. He was helped to the locker room and was eventually diagnosed with a torn ACL — the second time he’d suffered the injury after doing so his senior year of high school.

Kaba conceded the first two weeks immediately after the injury carried the most emotion. There’s no easy way to see a season end prematurely, particularly one with such high expectations. There were “down days.” He’s steadily climbed out of those moments, though, looking toward his rehab, the spring and his eventual return to full participation with a positive mindset.

“If you look at it in my eyes — how I went to spring camp, summer camp, fall camp by just doing all that work to get to where I was at — everything just snapped for me that fast,” he said.

Dawkins was sidelined the week after Kaba in a loss to Georgia. He underwent surgery and promptly began rehab.

That’s been the general gist of Dawkins’ career over the last two years.

The Concord, North Carolina product led all Atlantic Coast Conference rookies with 4.5 sacks over 12 appearances during the 2020 season at N.C. State. Dawkins’ encore was then limited by an offseason surgery that forced him to miss spring practices, summer workouts and lingered into the regular season. He’d appear in 10 games in 2021, but saw his total tackles number dip from 36 to six.

The hope in Columbia was a fresh start. Dawkins noted on Wednesday that the spring and summer programs ahead of the 2022 season helped his confidence get back to where he was pre-injury. Then came the knee injury against Georgia, a fight to get back before the end of the year, but one that fell ultimately short. Dawkins finished his first year at South Carolina playing in three games and recording a pair of tackles.

How’d he stay motivated? Let him explain.

“I’ve gotta live every day,” Dawkins said. “I don’t have the option to say, ‘Oh, I can’t do this today. I can’t do that any other day.’ Regardless of how I physically feel, mentally feel, I still have to come to facility. I still have to go to rehab. I still have to do practice stuff. I still have to do everything. ... Even when you’re not feeling it, you still have to push through stuff to do what you need to do.”

Dawkins and Kaba are both in varying stages of their recovery as spring ball nears its midpoint. Kaba said he’s running at 80% of his body weight on an anti-gravity treadmill right now. He’s not expected to be full-go until mid- or late summer, he said. Dawkins is further along, working through individual drills and more during practice.

Both players should be key cogs on a defense that will need to replace seven starters from last year’s team. The scars of their respective injuries have healed, but haven’t disappeared. Still, Kaba and Dawkins are moving forward.

“Right now I have a couple of down days, because everything’s repetitive,” Kaba said. “But I know (how) to deal with what’s going to come with the rehab and everything. Just stay on course.”