How Do You Measure Progress?

posted by Scott Hood, Monday, May 19, 2008

There are different ways to measure the progress of a football team. The easiest, and most direct, of course, is wins and losses.

You can also gauge work ethic, talent, academics, willingness to listen, chemistry and togetherness. But, since winning is everything, those intangibles fall behind W’s and L’s.

Steve Spurrier created a new category on this spring’s Gamecock Club tour for evaluating how much progress USC was really making during his tenure - the number of players willing to return for their senior seasons rather than declare for the NFL Draft.

Specifically, Spurrier applauded wide receiver Kenny McKinley and middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley for deciding to stay with USC for one final season before taking their shot at professional football.

Spurrier knows that if the Gamecocks want to improve on last season’s mediocre 6-6 record, both those players will be invaluable, if not indispensable, toward their efforts.

Here’s my question: how difficult was the decision for McKinley and Brinkley to come back? In my opinion, not very.

When it comes to McKinley, we need to make one thing abundantly clear: he’s not Sidney Rice. They are two totally different receivers.

Rice was outstanding at catching fade passes towards the sidelines. He expertly used his 6-foot-4 frame and incredible leaping ability to outjump defensive backs for the ball.

McKinley is a different type of receiver. He has the speed to run past defensive backs – a key trait in Spurrier’s vertical offense – but catches the majority of his balls on crossing patterns and other routes that require him to go over the middle.

In that regard, he is fearless. Some receivers won’t do what McKinley does, which is why he’s so prized by Spurrier. He’s become astute at finding holes in zone defenses and sitting down and making medium range catches.

Unfortunately, the supply of 6-foot receivers like McKinley is plentiful. He simply wasn’t in demand as much as Rice was. When it comes to wide receivers, four or five inches in height make all the difference in the world. As great as he’s been for the Gamecocks, McKinley would have been a middle-round draft pick at best.

I shouldn’t have to tell you what happens to prices when the supply is high and demand is low.

As a result, it was clearly in his best interests to stay in school. McKinley will likely leave USC as the most productive receiver in school history in most of the major receiving categories.

If he does, he’ll be beloved by USC fans for generations.

Of course, it’s intriguing to think how productive USC’s passing game could have been last season with Rice. I know Spurrier has thought about it, because he asserted several times on this spring’s Gamecock Club tour that Rice should have stayed at USC another year. In fact, he went so far to discourage fans from clapping at the mention of Rice’s name.

Myself, I don’t hold it against Rice for leaving. The lure of earning millions of dollars as a professional athlete is very strong. Now, is there a chance Rice was convinced by an agent to leave early? Yes. Were there also family concerns? Yes.

Rice is living the dream of playing in the NFL, even if he would have been drafted higher and likely made more money had he stayed with the Gamecocks in 2007.

But that’s all water under the bridge now.

You can say the same thing about defensive backs Ko Simpson and Johnathan Joseph. Imagine how good USC could have been had both Rice and Simpson been with the Gamecocks in 2007. Remember, Simpson departed after the 2005 season with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Yet, while Spurrier is obviously displeased with Rice’s decision to leave early, it’s obvious had he stayed one more year, McKinley wouldn’t have established a school record with 77 receptions last season.

With Rice around, McKinley’s receptions would have likely been reduced by 25 to 50 percent. So, it goes to show that what you might gain from one perspective, you lose in another.

Had Brinkley stayed healthy last season, there’s no doubt in my mind he would have had a monster season and been a high-round draft pick.

But the knee injury he suffered early in the LSU game last September changed everything. Suddenly, his draft prospects dimmed considerably.

Since he was still rehabbing the injury, Brinkley wouldn’t have been able to work out for pro scouts the way he needed to prior to the draft.

Consequently, his chances of picked early were nil, since NFL teams are not going to take the public relations hit from their fans and media by taking a player fairly high who couldn’t work out at 100 percent intensity due to health concerns.

In my opinion, Brinkley had no choice but to return to school. He has to prove to NFL scouts he can play at the same level he showed in 2006 when he made 107 tackles in his first SEC season. If he does, he’ll be a very wealthy young man a year from now.

The USC defense will benefit tremendously this season from Brinkley’s presence in the middle. Do you think Georgia is happy they’ll have to face Brinkley for a third time? Heck, no.

But they will.

Barring a major injury in the first two games, Brinkley’s presence should allow the USC defense to keep the showdown with the Bulldogs close, just like it was last year.

And we all know how that contest came out.

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