Culliver, Chisholm Cases Symbolize Spurrier Era
posted by Scott Hood, Wednesday, November 04, 2009
First the good. Spurrier has always believed in giving deserving players an opportunity. When you prove yourself on the practice field, you’ll get a chance to play in the game.
Chisolm has apparently done that, which is why he’ll start at left guard Saturday afternoon at Arkansas.
We first heard Chisolm’s name in September when Spurrier started raving about how he was blowing people up in practice despite being with the team for only a month or so. At that time, Spurrier vowed to play him in the SC State game, which he did at defensive end in the final moments.
Last weekend, Chisolm finally saw his first true game action when he played in the second half of the Tennessee half. Afterwards, Spurrier lauded his performance, something that has rarely happened to an offensive lineman in five years.
Of course, this is not the first time walk-ons have started for USC on the offensive line. If you recall, the 2006 offensive line, probably the best of the Spurrier Era, featured a pair of blockers who joined the program as walk-ons: Seth Edwards and Thomas Coleman.
Kudos to Chisolm for pulling it off.
But should this be happening in a SEC program? Of course not. It exposes the shortage of quality offensive linemen on the USC roster. Players who have been part of the team for less than three full months should not be beating out players who have been around the program for three or four years. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what has happened.
When you listen to Eric Wolford talk, it’s obvious USC has too many offensive linemen who are simply not big enough, strong enough or talented enough to excel in the SEC.
That deficiency left the door open for Chisolm and he walked through it. We’ll see how he does on Saturday at Arkansas when he gets the chance to play from the opening bell. I have a gut feeling he’ll do pretty well.
Unfortunately, Chris Culliver won’t be there for a combination of reasons ranging from an injury (shoulder) to an internal disciplinary matter.
Culliver arrived at USC as a heavily-hyped five-star wide receiver prospect from North Carolina. For the most part, he’s fulfilled expectations, albeit at a position (free safety) we didn’t think he would play.
He’s now the school’s all-time leader in kickoff yardage and has performed well in the secondary for the most part. Certainly, he’s a major reason USC has had a strong pass defense over the last couple of seasons.
But last Saturday night in Tennessee was possibly his worst performance in a USC uniform. Monday, Lorenzo Ward revealed Culliver had suffered an injury in pre-game warm-ups but had neglected to tell the coaching staff.
While I applaud Culliver for “toughening it out” and attempting to play, he clearly damaged the team by being out there when he knew he couldn't be effective. In short, he put his personal agenda ahead of what was best for the team, and that’s never a good thing.
But USC has seen too many players like that in Spurrier’s tenure, and that needs to end.
In a way, the coaching staff deserves some blame as well. When it became apparent Culliver wasn’t giving full effort for whatever reason – injury or otherwise – he should have been yanked from the game. The fact he wasn’t might speak volumes of where the secondary depth stands right now.
Based on what Spurrier said Tuesday, though, Culliver won’t play Saturday for multiple reasons - the shoulder injury and disciplinary reasons. The genesis of the latter might be the Alabama game when Culliver criticized USC’s defensive alignments on Alabama’s fourth quarter TD drive.
Minutes later, Ellis Johnson responded by saying Culliver needed to keep quiet, play football and improve his tackling. I’m sure it was an interesting plane ride home.
Has there been a falling out between Culliver and the USC coaching staff? Possible. Obviously, it’s nearly impossible to tell from the outside because we’re not there in the meeting rooms, locker room and practice fields when the coaches and players have a lot of 1-on-1 interaction.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
In both a good and bad way, the saga of free safety Chris Culliver and the meteoric rise of offensive lineman Garrett Chisolm symbolize the Steve Spurrier Era at South Carolina.
First the good. Spurrier has always believed in giving deserving players an opportunity. When you prove yourself on the practice field, you’ll get a chance to play in the game.
Chisolm has apparently done that, which is why he’ll start at left guard Saturday afternoon at Arkansas.
We first heard Chisolm’s name in September when Spurrier started raving about how he was blowing people up in practice despite being with the team for only a month or so. At that time, Spurrier vowed to play him in the SC State game, which he did at defensive end in the final moments.
Last weekend, Chisolm finally saw his first true game action when he played in the second half of the Tennessee half. Afterwards, Spurrier lauded his performance, something that has rarely happened to an offensive lineman in five years.
Of course, this is not the first time walk-ons have started for USC on the offensive line. If you recall, the 2006 offensive line, probably the best of the Spurrier Era, featured a pair of blockers who joined the program as walk-ons: Seth Edwards and Thomas Coleman.
Kudos to Chisolm for pulling it off.
But should this be happening in a SEC program? Of course not. It exposes the shortage of quality offensive linemen on the USC roster. Players who have been part of the team for less than three full months should not be beating out players who have been around the program for three or four years. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what has happened.
When you listen to Eric Wolford talk, it’s obvious USC has too many offensive linemen who are simply not big enough, strong enough or talented enough to excel in the SEC.
That deficiency left the door open for Chisolm and he walked through it. We’ll see how he does on Saturday at Arkansas when he gets the chance to play from the opening bell. I have a gut feeling he’ll do pretty well.
Unfortunately, Chris Culliver won’t be there for a combination of reasons ranging from an injury (shoulder) to an internal disciplinary matter.
Culliver arrived at USC as a heavily-hyped five-star wide receiver prospect from North Carolina. For the most part, he’s fulfilled expectations, albeit at a position (free safety) we didn’t think he would play.
He’s now the school’s all-time leader in kickoff yardage and has performed well in the secondary for the most part. Certainly, he’s a major reason USC has had a strong pass defense over the last couple of seasons.
But last Saturday night in Tennessee was possibly his worst performance in a USC uniform. Monday, Lorenzo Ward revealed Culliver had suffered an injury in pre-game warm-ups but had neglected to tell the coaching staff.
While I applaud Culliver for “toughening it out” and attempting to play, he clearly damaged the team by being out there when he knew he couldn't be effective. In short, he put his personal agenda ahead of what was best for the team, and that’s never a good thing.
But USC has seen too many players like that in Spurrier’s tenure, and that needs to end.
In a way, the coaching staff deserves some blame as well. When it became apparent Culliver wasn’t giving full effort for whatever reason – injury or otherwise – he should have been yanked from the game. The fact he wasn’t might speak volumes of where the secondary depth stands right now.
Based on what Spurrier said Tuesday, though, Culliver won’t play Saturday for multiple reasons - the shoulder injury and disciplinary reasons. The genesis of the latter might be the Alabama game when Culliver criticized USC’s defensive alignments on Alabama’s fourth quarter TD drive.
Minutes later, Ellis Johnson responded by saying Culliver needed to keep quiet, play football and improve his tackling. I’m sure it was an interesting plane ride home.
Has there been a falling out between Culliver and the USC coaching staff? Possible. Obviously, it’s nearly impossible to tell from the outside because we’re not there in the meeting rooms, locker room and practice fields when the coaches and players have a lot of 1-on-1 interaction.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Previous Blog Entries
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 @.