South Carolina recruiting, in a nutshell:
That hasn’t stopped the hype from engulfing South Carolina fans. Rattler is the first five-star prospect on the roster since defensive end Jadeveon Clowney’s three-season run ended in 2013. [Emphasis added.]
That’s like Vanderbilt recruiting without the academics excuse.
Filed under 'Cock Envy
Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the Gamecock fan with outsized expectations is back, baby.
The day after Georgia wins the championship Carolina “fans” are out in force writing off our chances vs them for the next century. It’s bad enough so many have retreated to the hen house to lay eggs instead of strutting around the barnyard crowing. Did they stop teaching South Carolina history in school here? Has the entire next generation descended from Northeast transplants? (that’s as kind as I can put it).
When have we not been outnumbered? When have we not been the underdog? When did everyone believe in us and no-one doubt us? Where are the descendants of those that stood tall at Fort Moultrie? Does Marion’s sacrifice not continue today? Where are the men of Cowpens and King’s Mountain and don’t give me any crap about Camden as Gates was a British Yankee. Where are men with the courage of Pickens and Moultrie? Do we no longer posses the spirit of Travis or Bonham? Would the Alamo have even been an event and Texas a Republic without Travis and his stand against overwhelming odds? Did the men under Hampton, Kershaw, Gregg and Longstreet surrender before the fight? Hell no!
Alright! Who’s with him?
Filed under 'Cock Envy
Apparently Dennis Dodd woke up yesterday and decided he wasn’t going to let Danny Kanell have all the show your ass hot takes on Twitter.
Shane Beamer wasn’t having any of that shit.
Woof. All that’s missing is a “bless your heart”.
Dodd deleted his tweet in response, which proves one thing. He’s got more of a sense of shame than Kanell does. (Low bar, I know.)
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Media Punditry/Foibles
Give Shane Beamer credit. He’s already got PFF buying in.
Dude who was benched in favor of a true freshman quarterback leads gritty underdog to unexpected greatness? I’m starting to get the feeling we’re heading into a long offseason, y’all.
Filed under 'Cock Envy
Shane Beamer shoots and scores.
No, this doesn’t turn South Carolina into a SEC championship contender overnight. But this…
As a redshirt sophomore, Rattler completed 74.9% of his pass attempts for 1,483 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions in nine games. He was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Caleb Williams, who was a second-team All-Big 12 selection.
As a freshman in 2020, Rattler threw for 3,031 yards and 28 touchdowns with seven interceptions in 11 games, leading the Sooners to their sixth consecutive conference title and a win over Florida in the Cotton Bowl.
… is certainly a significant upgrade over what they were dragging off the bench to play quarterback this season. One might even call it a cannon shot.
As a bonus, there’s another Oklahoma player heading to Columbia who looks like a keeper.
Stogner caught just 14 passes in 2021 for Oklahoma, following a bout with staph infection in his leg as he worked his way back to full health this year.
Before his injury, the then sophomore tight end was a Second Team All-Big 12 selection with 26 receptions for 422 yards and three scores.
All in all, were I a ‘Cock fan, I’d be a little jazzed up about this. Say what you will, a little free agency can be a good thing for a program.
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Transfers Are For Coaches.
Damn, this is how you troll.
Nothin’ like kicking a Gator when he’s down. Way to get your licks in, fellas.
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Gators, Gators...
Say what you will about Boom, his former guys clearly like him. And vice versa.
That exchange with Josh Vann is classic: “They finally give me the ball!”
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Agent Muschamp Goes Boom
This is amusing.
It’s funny, ’cause it’s true.
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Georgia Football
Damn, that never gets old.
On paper, the ‘Cocks are off to a respectable 2-0 start: middle of the conference pack in net ypp; ditto for scoring; first in defensive third-down conversions.
But then you realize that was compiled against the likes of Eastern Illinois and East Carolina — literally, directional schools, for the win. It should come as no surprise, then, that Sagarin ranks South Carolina’s strength of schedule at an anemic 196. (The only conference team with a weaker slate is Auburn.)
So what’s Georgia looking at with this season’s version of the team that handed it its last home conference loss? Well, the freshest thing you can point to is that it struggled in its win against East Carolina, needing a field goal with time expiring to put the game away. And by struggled, I mean here’s the way the series in the second half went for both teams: punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, touchdown, field goal, field goal, punt, field goal. Still, it does show a certain amount of resiliency to come back from a 14-point deficit on the road.
According to 247Sports, there’s a pretty significant talent gap between Georgia (1001.75 aggregate; 93.5 average) and South Carolina (748.26 aggregate; 87.14 average). (Before you ask, there was a significant gap in 2019, though not as large.)
So how does that shake out in practical terms? Well, here’s Jake Rowe’s take on two matchups:
Georgia’s front seven against South Carolina’s offensive line and run game: The Bulldog front seven is off to an excellent start in 2021. It’s a huge reason why the Bulldogs have given up an average of 177 yards in its first two contests. The Bulldogs have tallied 14 tackles for loss in two games while South Carolina’s offensive line has given up 13. The Gamecocks are still trying to get things figured out up front and the glaring stat from their 20-17 win over East Carolina last week is the run game’s average of just 2.81 yards per carry.
Dawgs247’s Take: This is a battle that Georgia should win and win decisively, but the Bulldogs aren’t coming off their best showing. They didn’t tackle well against UAB last week and the Blazers were able to open up a few holes. South Carolina can stay in this one if it can get the run game going and it has the running backs to make that happen. It’s going to be tough sledding against this UGA front, though. That’ll definitely be the case if Devonte Wyatt, who sat out last week due to undisclosed, non-injury-related reasons. If Georgia is as successful as ECU, the Gamecocks will have a really tough time keeping pace.
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Georgia’s quarterback vs. South Carolina’s defensive backs: We don’t know who’ll start for Georgia at quarterback. It’s going to be JT Daniels or Stetson Bennett IV and we lean toward the latter right now. Bennett had a huge game last week and Todd Monken had a tremendous plan going into it. It almost certainly won’t be that easy against the Gamecocks. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s secondary has a pair of interceptions in its first two games and it has done a great job of helping the defense get off the field on third down. Whoever plays quarterback for Georgia is going to have to stop that trend and keep the chains moving.
Dawgs247’s Take: It’s not a reach to suggest that the Bulldogs won’t be able to lean so heavily on the big play this week. South Carolina will likely do a better job of keeping the receivers in front and making UGA earn it. The Gamecocks are big and physical in the secondary and the Bulldog behind center will have to make good decisions and take care of the football. South Carolina got an upset win the last time it was in Athens due in large part to turnovers. Whether it’s Bennett or Daniels pulling the trigger, they’ll have to play with patience.
The latter of those two leads to my big question: how does SC choose to defend? Do the ‘Cocks take the Mississippi State path and sell out to stop the run while taking their chances with Georgia’s deep passing game, or do they follow Clemson’s strategy? No, they’re not Clemson, but the strength of SC’s defense is their line, as Seth Emerson notes ($$).
South Carolina poses an interesting test, because its defensive line may be its strength: Former five-stars Jordan Burch and Zacch Pickens are back there, and the Gamecocks limited their first two opponents to a combined 2.37 yards per rush.
Playing soft in the secondary seems like the wiser course of action to me, as it may limit Georgia’s explosive plays and force the Dawgs to get more out of their running game than they’ve shown in the first two games.
Barring turnover diarrhea, though, it’s hard to see how much strategy will matter, given the sizeable talent gap between the two. One thing I’ll be curious to see is whether Luke Doty, who’s recovering from an injury, gets any playing time this week, or whether they let Zeb Noland, who is pretty much a statue at quarterback, take the heat from Georgia’s defensive front seven.
And your thoughts?
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Georgia Football
I don’t know if this is an SEC first, but dayum.
What a start, indeed. I wonder if he’ll be the starter when the ‘Cocks come to Athens for game three.
Filed under 'Cock Envy
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