College Football Preview: No. 11 South Carolina
Comments (7)
(Neon Tommy will be previewing the 2011 College Football Season throughout the summer. You can find links to each of our Top 25 previews here. Today, we preview the team ranked 11th, the South Carolina Gamecocks.)
Head Coach: Steve Spurrier (186-73-2 overall, 44-33 at South Carolina) 
Spurrier looks to improve on his first nine-win season in Columbia. (Pbroks13 via Wikimedia Commons)
South Carolina's 2010 Season: (9-5, 5-3 in SEC), Lost Chick-fil-A Bowl 26-17 to Florida State
Offensive Analysis:
-- Seven returning starters
-- Impact Players: QB Stephen Garcia, RB Marcus Lattimore, WR Alshon Jeffery
To the surprise of many, the South Carolina Gamecocks made it to the 2010 SEC championship Game, where they eventually fell to Auburn. Steve Spurrier's offense returns seven starters from that squad and is in position to make another run in the SEC. QB Stephen Garcia is back at the helm for his senior season. Last year Garcia threw for over 3,000 yards while finding the endzone 20 times. However, Garcia also led the SEC in interceptions with 14.
Defensive Analysis:
-- Six returning starters
-- Impact players: DL Devin Taylor, DL Jadeveon Clowney, DB Stephon Gilmore
In 2010, the Gamecocks played a "Jekyll and Hyde" style of defense. Their pass defense was one of the worst in the nation, ranking 97th. Yet their run defense was elite, coming in at 12th nationally. In their nine wins, the defense gave up an average of only 15 points, but in South Carolina's losses, the total bumped up to 37.8.
At linebacker, only DeVonte Holloman returns, but he is a good one. Holloman was second on the team in both tackles and interceptions in 2010. He will be joined by Shaq Wilson and Rondey Paulk.
The secondary should be much improved this season. What was an inexperienced group in 2010 will now be the veterans of the defense in 2011. D.J. Swearinger, Akeem Aguste and Stephon Gilmore are all returning starters. In 2010, Gilmore led the Gamecocks in tackles and interceptions, and even managed three sacks of opposing quarterbacks.
Strengths:
The schedule is the envy of the SEC, and perhaps the nation. For starters, they only play four games on the road and one at a neutral site (against East Carolina in Charlotte); the other seven are all in Columbia. On top of that, they don't face LSU or Alabama in the SEC rotation, and they get both Florida and Auburn at home. The offense has a veteran QB under center and arguably the best WR/RB combo in the conference. An experienced secondary will have to lead the defense.
Areas of Concern:
QB Stephen Garcia found himself in Spurrier's doghouse yet again this spring, but if he ends up in it once more, will Spurrier sit him out? The talent lost in the front seven is tough to replace, and there are concerns that the new faces won't be able to maintain the level of play last year's group attained.
Final Thoughts:
The SEC East is weak this year, at least by SEC standards. In a "normal" year, this South Carolina team probably finishes somewhere in the middle of the pack. But this year, we predict the Gamecocks will rely on experience at key positions on both sides of the ball to carry the torch and lead them to their second-straight berth in the SEC title game in Atlanta.
Correction: An earlier version of this article speculated that Jadeveon Clowney may not be academically eligible this season. In fact, Clowney has already enrolled in classes at South Carolina and is expected to be available for the football season. Neon Tommy regrets the error.
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Comments
1. How is a team with arguably the best WR and RB in the country going to be considered a "middle of the pack" team?
2. Our schedule is the envy of the nation? LOL this is still the SEC you moron.
Devonte Holloman is our only returning LB? Do your research, guy.
Re: returning starters at LB.... Yes, Shaq Wilson was a starter in 09, but not in 2010, so for the purposes of this preview he was not classified as a returning starter at LB. It was researched thoroughly.
*perhaps* the nation, but certainly most SEC teams would very much enjoy this schedule. Obviously a Mtn West team wouldn't.
Apparently you missed some of the context, my apologies if I didn't make it clear... I said in a NORMAL year they would probably finish in the middle of the pack in the SEC East (a year in which they played Bama and LSU, UF and Auburn on the road, etc.). This year the schedule is favorable. And most SEC teams would trade schedules in a heartbeat. It is in no way a knock on South Carolina, it's just a great schedule that could help pave the way to a special season. We have a lot of respect for the Gamecocks and the SEC.
We greatly appreciate your readership and feedback. Best of luck this season.
I agree before you write something you would figure that you would know what you are talking about. Clowney is already in classes and participating in lifting. Just because USC is good, and has a chance to win the east it automatically makes the east weak ... haters gonna hate....
Editor here. In fairness, there has been plenty of speculation about Clowney's academic eligibility, and few outlets reported on Clowney taking classes this summer. The error has been fixed. What did you think of the rest of the article?
HAve you noticed the the east is always weak when we have an chance to win it. If Florida, Georgia, or Tenn. was going to win it, they would be a powerhouse of a team. The SEC is never weak and the dim wit that wrote this article should have known this.
I completely agree with most of this article. There is a lot of hype about this USC team mainly from Carolina fans but I believe by the end of the season it will be a 2 team battle in this weak division with those 2 teams being UGA and UF.
Do some research before spouting off this garbage. Clowney is already enrolled and taking classes during the second summer session. And everyone agrees that the D-Line will be even better this year than last, with many calling it the best in the SEC.