The Top Five Questions Facing USC
posted by Scott Hood, Saturday, August 04, 2007
Every fall camp is saturated with a number of interesting topics for discussion. In my opinion, here are the top five questions fans will ask over the next 28 days until the season opener on Sept. 1 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
1. How Good Is Stephen Garcia??: For many USC fans, this Topic A, B and C over the next four weeks, and the major reason for attending the limited number of workouts they’ll be allowed to observe.
Right now Garcia is sort of a mystery, both to Steve Spurrier and Gamecock Nation. In fact, Spurrier joked – I think – earlier this week that Saturday night will mark the first occasion he’ll actually see Garcia throw a football live with a helmet on.
You can blame the NCAA for that. But that’s another blog for another day.
At this point, all we know about Garcia is he was a highly recruited quarterback out of Tampa, Fla. that established all sort of school and county records.
Unfortunately, we also know he has a propensity for finding trouble, or trouble has a way of finding him. I’m not sure which one is correct right now.
Undoubtedly, some fans are wishing Garcia will outplay Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher and earn the backup job behind Blake Mitchell by the close of fall camp.
If Garcia is able to do that, congratulations. But I don’t think he will. Smelley, in particular, is too talented and has too much pride to allow a true freshman to stroll onto campus and steal his job away.
If Garcia succeeds, shame on Smelley. And to a smaller extent, Tommy Beecher.
2. Who Will Be The Next Sidney Rice??: The rapid-fire response is Kenny McKinley but he’s a completely different receiver than Rice was. Rice thrived on fades and balls thrown up for grabs.
McKinley catches most of his passes on patterns over the middle or down the field. His two TD receptions in the fourth quarter of the Liberty Bowl showcase his skills.
Chris Culliver is more like McKinley than Rice.
In my opinion, the top two candidates to become the “Next Sidney Rice,” if that’s how you want to label them, are freshmen Jason Barnes of Charlotte, N.C. and Joseph Hills of Palmetto, Fla. Both receivers are about 6-foot-3 and weigh 200 pounds. Both are good leapers.
While both Barnes and Hills possess similar physical characteristics to Rice, they have a long ways to go to match his career accomplishments. Remember, Rice sat through a redshirt season in 2004 before exploding onto the scene two years ago with a playing style rarely seen around these parts.
Barnes and Hills are certainly talented. But for fans to expect one or both to replace Rice at this point is unfair. In time, they might. But not right now.
3. Will The Offensive Line Be Improved??: This may be the key question for the Gamecocks in 2007. The offensive line will certainly enjoy more depth. A number of lineman that redshirted last season are ready for duty. The question, though, is whether they’re ready to play.
The decision by Matt Raysor on the eve of fall camp to transfer to S.C. State and the ongoing suspension of freshman Quintin Richardson means offensive line coach John Hunt will have 16 lineman at his disposal when camp opens Saturday. Eight, exactly one-half, have never appeared in a game for USC.
There’s no question the offensive line has to get out of the gates quicker. Their performance in the first two games last season was dreadful. Spurrier, though, has graciously pinned part of the blame on himself and the coaching staff for taking too long to recognize the five best O-lineman.
If they’re successful in that endeavor, USC has an excellent chance to win a lot of games.
4. How Good Is The USC Defense??: With 14 of the top 15 tacklers returning, some people believe this could be the best USC defensive unit since the 1987 unit allowed just 111 points in 11 regular season games. Of course, a lot of things will have to fall into place to match that miniscule point total. The play of the defensive line must match its depth, Jasper Brinkley must play as well as he did last season at middle linebacker and the secondary must refuse to give up big plays in key situations as it did last season.
Spurrier has been bragging about the depth of the defensive line since the spring. In addition to the talented newcomers like Ladi Ajiboye and Travian Robertson, DE Eric Norwood must avoid a sophomore slump and DT Marque Hall must make a successful return from knee surgery that ended his 2006 season after two games.
Spurrier has also mentioned the secondary is finally grasping how to play zone defense. If they master that technique, its possible third-and-long will, mercifully, become a situation the Gamecock defense doesn’t dread.
5. Will USC’s Special Teams Show Signs of Life??: Actually, USC’s special teams are better than you think. USC has one of the best kickers in the country in Ryan Succop. I’m fairly certain he’ll continue to perform quite effectively in the three major kicking categories: field goals, kickoffs and punts.
It’s been USC’s return game that’s been hard to watch the last few years. Hopefully, newcomers like Chris Culliver and Jason Barnes will inject some much-needed energy into USC’s moribund kickoff return game.
Whatever scheme USC utilized last year to return kickoffs should be unceremoniously blown up. Better blocking up front wouldn’t hurt, either.
Either way, something has to change or USC risks another abomination in the kickoff return game.
Moreover, Kenny McKinley would gladly hand over the punt return duties to Culliver or anyone else if he had the opportunity to in order to focus on staying USC’s top receiver threat.
Five Questions. Five Responses.
We’re ready to go.
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If you’re a faithful reader of this board, you know I posted an article earlier today talking about the “10 Things” we know about the Gamecocks heading into the start of fall camp on Saturday night.
Every fall camp is saturated with a number of interesting topics for discussion. In my opinion, here are the top five questions fans will ask over the next 28 days until the season opener on Sept. 1 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
1. How Good Is Stephen Garcia??: For many USC fans, this Topic A, B and C over the next four weeks, and the major reason for attending the limited number of workouts they’ll be allowed to observe.
Right now Garcia is sort of a mystery, both to Steve Spurrier and Gamecock Nation. In fact, Spurrier joked – I think – earlier this week that Saturday night will mark the first occasion he’ll actually see Garcia throw a football live with a helmet on.
You can blame the NCAA for that. But that’s another blog for another day.
At this point, all we know about Garcia is he was a highly recruited quarterback out of Tampa, Fla. that established all sort of school and county records.
Unfortunately, we also know he has a propensity for finding trouble, or trouble has a way of finding him. I’m not sure which one is correct right now.
Undoubtedly, some fans are wishing Garcia will outplay Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher and earn the backup job behind Blake Mitchell by the close of fall camp.
If Garcia is able to do that, congratulations. But I don’t think he will. Smelley, in particular, is too talented and has too much pride to allow a true freshman to stroll onto campus and steal his job away.
If Garcia succeeds, shame on Smelley. And to a smaller extent, Tommy Beecher.
2. Who Will Be The Next Sidney Rice??: The rapid-fire response is Kenny McKinley but he’s a completely different receiver than Rice was. Rice thrived on fades and balls thrown up for grabs.
McKinley catches most of his passes on patterns over the middle or down the field. His two TD receptions in the fourth quarter of the Liberty Bowl showcase his skills.
Chris Culliver is more like McKinley than Rice.
In my opinion, the top two candidates to become the “Next Sidney Rice,” if that’s how you want to label them, are freshmen Jason Barnes of Charlotte, N.C. and Joseph Hills of Palmetto, Fla. Both receivers are about 6-foot-3 and weigh 200 pounds. Both are good leapers.
While both Barnes and Hills possess similar physical characteristics to Rice, they have a long ways to go to match his career accomplishments. Remember, Rice sat through a redshirt season in 2004 before exploding onto the scene two years ago with a playing style rarely seen around these parts.
Barnes and Hills are certainly talented. But for fans to expect one or both to replace Rice at this point is unfair. In time, they might. But not right now.
3. Will The Offensive Line Be Improved??: This may be the key question for the Gamecocks in 2007. The offensive line will certainly enjoy more depth. A number of lineman that redshirted last season are ready for duty. The question, though, is whether they’re ready to play.
The decision by Matt Raysor on the eve of fall camp to transfer to S.C. State and the ongoing suspension of freshman Quintin Richardson means offensive line coach John Hunt will have 16 lineman at his disposal when camp opens Saturday. Eight, exactly one-half, have never appeared in a game for USC.
There’s no question the offensive line has to get out of the gates quicker. Their performance in the first two games last season was dreadful. Spurrier, though, has graciously pinned part of the blame on himself and the coaching staff for taking too long to recognize the five best O-lineman.
If they’re successful in that endeavor, USC has an excellent chance to win a lot of games.
4. How Good Is The USC Defense??: With 14 of the top 15 tacklers returning, some people believe this could be the best USC defensive unit since the 1987 unit allowed just 111 points in 11 regular season games. Of course, a lot of things will have to fall into place to match that miniscule point total. The play of the defensive line must match its depth, Jasper Brinkley must play as well as he did last season at middle linebacker and the secondary must refuse to give up big plays in key situations as it did last season.
Spurrier has been bragging about the depth of the defensive line since the spring. In addition to the talented newcomers like Ladi Ajiboye and Travian Robertson, DE Eric Norwood must avoid a sophomore slump and DT Marque Hall must make a successful return from knee surgery that ended his 2006 season after two games.
Spurrier has also mentioned the secondary is finally grasping how to play zone defense. If they master that technique, its possible third-and-long will, mercifully, become a situation the Gamecock defense doesn’t dread.
5. Will USC’s Special Teams Show Signs of Life??: Actually, USC’s special teams are better than you think. USC has one of the best kickers in the country in Ryan Succop. I’m fairly certain he’ll continue to perform quite effectively in the three major kicking categories: field goals, kickoffs and punts.
It’s been USC’s return game that’s been hard to watch the last few years. Hopefully, newcomers like Chris Culliver and Jason Barnes will inject some much-needed energy into USC’s moribund kickoff return game.
Whatever scheme USC utilized last year to return kickoffs should be unceremoniously blown up. Better blocking up front wouldn’t hurt, either.
Either way, something has to change or USC risks another abomination in the kickoff return game.
Moreover, Kenny McKinley would gladly hand over the punt return duties to Culliver or anyone else if he had the opportunity to in order to focus on staying USC’s top receiver threat.
Five Questions. Five Responses.
We’re ready to go.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.