South Carolina football defensive end Kyle Kennard has made himself a lot of money over the past two months. The first-year Gamecock entered the 2024 campaign with fringe NFL dreams, but now, he’s firmly on the NFL Draft radar. His strong first half of the season also has seen his NIL valuation skyrocket.

This offseason, the No. 1 EDGE target on the South Carolina football coaching staff’s transfer portal board was Kennard. The former Georgia Tech pass rusher had a good career with the Yellow Jackets, but defensive coordinator Clayton White and defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Sterling Lucas saw untapped potential. Now, the entire college football world sees it.

Making the move to the Gamecocks proved to be a great decision for Kennard. The 6’5″ defensive end has taken full advantage of his fifth season of college football, already surpassing his previous career-high numbers for sacks and tackles for loss. As things stand today, Kennard is fourth nationally in sacks and also sits tied for second in tackles for loss.

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Recent NFL Draft projections have seen the athletic EDGE move into the top-100 picks of next April’s festivities. CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson even went so far as to put Kennard on his top-50 midseason big board. If the projections seeing him move from as low as the 6th or 7th rounds all the way up to the 2nd are correct, Kennard’s future bank account will be much fuller. 6th round NFL Draft selections make about $1 Million per season. In contrast, 2nd rounders bring home between $2 Million and $3 Million annually.

According to On3’s NIL Valuation, Kyle Kennard’s approximate NIL value is $624,000, up $101,000 from the start of the season. That increase is the 10th-highest in college football, and only one other EDGE made a bigger jump.

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Kennard’s new partnership with true freshman Dylan Stewart has been transformational for the Gamecock defense. South Carolina has a really good defense, and the biggest change from last season that has made that possible is Carolina’s newfound ability to get after the quarterback. However, Kennard is not only a pass rush artist. No. 5 had the best run stop of the game against Alabama, and he has shown the ability to set the edge well.

Kennard is set to challenge Jadeveon Clowney’s all-time single-season sack record. He is on pace for 14 quarterback takedowns (though, that’s just in the regular season); Clowney had 13 sacks back in 2012.

Saturday will be Kennard’s next opportunity to terrorize an opposing offensive line. The South Carolina Gamecocks and Oklahoma Sooners will meet for the first time ever at 12:45 p.m. on SEC Network.