Gamecocks Land a DB for 2010

A 3 Star DB named Cadarious Sanders of LaGrange, Ga., committed to be a gamecock on Saturday during a visit to the school's Showcase Camp.

He chose USC over LSU, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Louisville, Central Florida, Middle Tennessee and Appalachian State.

He becomes the 15th commitment for USC's 2010 class.

Sanders is the first commitment from LaGrange, Ga., for the Gamecocks since quarterback Blake Mitchell in the 2002 class.

Welcome Mr. Sanders to "DB U" as you got to love this quote--

"He (former gamecock Carlos Thomas) also told me about all the DBs they put in the league. When an NFL team needs corners, South Carolina is one of the first schools they look at."

More HERE.

Gamecock Quote of the Day

The Gamecock Quote of the Day comes from USC Coach Steve Spurrier during the SEC Media Days yesterday and pulled from this article --

“We’re getting national recruit type players that maybe we used to not get,” Spurrier said. “We believe we’re heading in the right direction now.”

Let's all hope...

Gamecock Related News from Today's SEC Media Day

Here are the high points from today's SEC Media that had Spurrier interviewed and some gamecock players discussing issues ---

1. South Carolina picked to finish 3rd and Norwood a All-SEC Preseason Pick.
2. Spurrier said DT Ladi Ajiboye and OL Kyle Nunn would be suspended for multiple games, although their suspensions have not been finalized. More to come later...
3. Norwood grateful for his chance and proud to be a gamecock as it has helped to get him focused on academics plus allowed him to step up his game.
4. Moe Brown a preseason All-Nice Guy
5. Spurrier Jr. was the principal play-caller last year, but Spurrier has not finalized his plan for this season. Spurrier will remain the offensive coordinator in addition to his head-coaching duties, but said the play calling could be a group effort.
6. Spurrier is sticking with his plan to use a pair of defensive starters -- cornerback Stephon Gilmore and end Cliff Matthews -- on offense. Please do not get hurt!
7. Coaching at USC has humbled Spurrier compared to his days at UF. Duh...
8. And more on Tebow-gate HERE and HERE as Spurrier is the guilty one

Spurrier has a change of heart for Tebow? More Tebow-gate...

As reported by many sources and LOHD, it was Spurrier that snubbed Tebow to go with Snead. (Not this Snead but this one.) Stop the press....there is more drama to this....

According to Chris Low of ESPN -
"According to SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom, Spurrier called Thursday night and asked that his ballot be changed to include Tebow as the first-team quarterback. Spurrier said the original ballot he submitted, which had Ole Miss' Jevan Snead as the first-team quarterback, was a mistake."

The Spurrier portion of SEC Media Days should be fun like normal.

Perhaps Spurrier had a change of heart after Tebow announced he is saving himself for marriage?

Spurrier did not vote for Tebow

ESPN and other Sources are saying that it was Univ of South Carolina Football Coach Steve Spurrier that snubbed Florida's Tim Tebow in the coaches' voting on the preseason All-SEC team and casted the vote for Florida's Tim Tebow in the coaches' voting on the preseason All-SEC team.

Leave it to Spurrier to make the SEC Media days interesting....and now makes the USC v UF game even more interesting.

ESPN Chris Low's report HERE

SC native saves the perfect game

Last night Mark Buehrle threw the 18th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. It would have all been for just a win, if DeWayne Wise hadn't made a spectacular catch in the 9th inning to save the perfect game and robbing Gabe Kapler of a homerun. DeWayne is a local baseball star from the Chapin, SC area. So you know we have to give him some love on the blog as well.

This is Buehrle’s 2^nd no hitter of his career with the first coming back in April 2007 against the Texas Rangers. The Tampa Ray’s are no slouches at the plate either, ranked 3^rd in runs scored in the MLB. In the dog days of summer this is a highlight that you will see on ESPN for a couple of weeks and maybe even longer.

Do you consider DeWayne Wise’s 9^th inning catch one of the best catches of all time, due to the circumstances of saving a perfect game?

Media goes to far with Tebow

Today at SEC Media days in Hoover Alabama, a member of the blog media asked Tim Tebow if he was a Virgin. I am not sure how this has anything to do with football, the Florida Gators or anything a sports blogger should be writing about. However Tebow did answer the questions, saying he is saving himself for marriage, if anybody out there really wanted to know. What is the world coming too...

A new Gamecock Tradition with good intentions yet a bad idea

Not sure if you read the article LOHD had in its' "clips" yesterday from the Spartanburg paper but as we read through it again today and visited another blog we noticed something.

This something, which I will get to in a second, has good intentions but poor judgement. Let's be clear...we love the gamecocks and cocky. LOHD is all about some new traditions and getting new energy in the program but as we saw last year with the "cock rag" sometimes the mascot and the nickname makes it difficult.

I do like what I hear about the upgrades at Willy B with the locker rooms, lobby and recruiting room. Having a "showy" space with cool features does help lure kids in to the program. So that makes sense but what does not makes sense is what is being called the centerpiece....

In this article, it states that -

Coming this fall: A cast-bronze sculpture of a fighting gamecock that will stand guard in the middle of the lobby. Architects envision a tradition where players rub the sculpture before games or practices.

Before you insert joke....think about this one....rubbing a 'cock or a 'cock standing guard?

I am sure fans from opposing programs are going to have a hay day with this one. Again a nice attempt at something unique and catchy but at the end of the day not a wise PR move.

Thoughts or jokes you want to post???
{h/t: 850 am The Blog}

Gamecocks Mid-Week News Clips

Here is your MidWeek Gamecock news synopsis...

LOHD Blog Posts

• LOHD's 5 Questions for Spurrier at SEC Media Days

Gamecock Football

• The State of the Spurrier Address
• South Carolina Football: What's the Good News?
• SEC Media Days means the start of college football season
• Head football trainer named for Gamecocks
• Upgrades at Williams-Brice near completion
• USC makeover makes things more appealing for athletes
• Ellis Johnson, who's headed up defenses in the SEC at Alabama, Mississippi State and now South Carolina - talks to ESPN's Chris Low about Defending the Spread in the SEC
• 3 of USC’s first 4 games will be shown on prime time national TV. That is tremendous. One thing to note about the FAU game being on pay-per-view is the fact that the S.C. State game will likely end up being televised by one of the ESPN channels or one its TV partners such as Fox Sports South or CSS.

Garnet & Black Attack Blog Post

• Post-Spring Previews: Vanderbilt Commodores

Other related news

• Not a lawyer but seems this case makes sense from the college athlete perspective...College Stars Sue Over Likenesses in Video Games

The "are you serious?" news portion of the day

• Moo U’s official CJ Spiller for Heisman campaign, which on Wednesday dumped 4,000 life-sized Spiller posters on supermarkets and quick stops all over the Upstate has officially kicked off. WTF? The CJ Spiller for Heisman campaign, means that they will give him the damn ball 20-25 times per game. If not, Klempson wasted time and $ but worst of all us USC fans have to hear about this at least until the GT game when Spiller gets shut down and is then a after thought about the Heisman.

LOHD's 5 Questions for Spurrier at SEC Media Days

With the SEC Media days upon us now and it filling that gap in the college sports world as we eagerly await the start of two-a-days around the country; LOHD has 5 questions for USC Coach Steve Spurrier when he sits down on Friday to discuss the SEC and the USC.

Here we go -

Q: Contrast where you’re at now with where you were when you took over the program.

Q: What impact has bringing in a new crop of coaches this past offseason had on the team and the game strategy/philosophy?

Q: What’s your offense going to look like with renewed emphasis on the running game?

Q: With losing Jasper, Succop, E Cook, Captain and McKinley. Are their areas of personnel concern going into the fall?

Q: How good can this team be after 2 top 15 recruiting classes in 3 yrs combined with losing kids to the NFL?

Gamecocks Football Home Opener vs. FAU time set

Game time set for USC's 2009 home football opener Sept. 19 against Florida Atlantic will kick of at 7 p.m.

USC's 2009 Schedule
Sept. 3: at N.C. State, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Sept. 12: at Georgia, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sept. 19: vs. Fla. Atl., 7 p.m. (PPV)
Sept. 24: vs. Mississippi, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Oct. 3: vs. S.C. State
Oct. 10. vs. Kentucky
Oct. 17: at Alabama
Oct. 24: vs. Vanderbilt
Oct. 31: at Tennessee
Nov. 7: at Arkansas
Nov. 14: vs. Florida
Nov. 21: BYE WEEK
Nov. 28: vs. Clemson

Gamecocks News Round Up & Clips

Let's take a look at what was in the news this past week and over the weekend for gamecocks sports and other related stuff ---

LOHD Blog Posts

• 3 Gamecocks you may not know now but will in '09
• Gamecock Fans - Who will you miss most in '09?
• 4 USC players have been named to the SEC coaches preseason all-league football teams
• Horn building a fence around South Carolina
• Gamecocks land OL Eric Mack
• Let's welcome Whitlock back to the team
• Make sure to check out the Sidney Rice blog

Garnet & Black Blog Posts

• The Great Debate: Which SEC Division Will Be Better in 2009?
• Keys to Success in 2009: Number 2, Establishing a Running Game

Other Gamecocks Football news of interest

• Guesspert: For the last time, Steve Spurrier is not Dobby the Elf
• Fulton talks the latest ... it would be nice to reel this kid in.

Gamecocks Baseball

• Mack sees his goal just across the bay

Gamecocks Basketball

• Gamecocks basketball coach Darrin Horn enjoys the personal side of recruiting.

Other related stuffs to be read

• According to The Gainesville Sun, Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead is the fourth best player in the SEC.
• Tony Barnhart of the AJC sees the SEC East finishing up as follows: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
• Pat Dooley of The Gainesville Sun ranks the SEC’s coaches from 1 to 12.
• Former NFL coaches have become the “in” thing in the SEC.
• Former Carolina and Arkansas coach Lou Holtz will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.
• USC set to induct class of 6
• Mike Slive reigns in the SEC
• Bowden says he was forced out at Clemson