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Gamecock Nation Today
Helping You Be The Ultimate Gamecock Fan
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Good morning (or early afternoon)! Thank you for reading our newsletter. If you enjoy it, please let your friends and family know they can sign up here. Happy Wednesday! - The Gamecock Central Crew
Credit: Rivals
1. The lead: With 2019 in the books, 2020 class off to strong start
With the way the recruiting calendar is set up nowadays, college coaches are recruiting prospects two and three classes in advance. If not, you are falling behind. The Gamecocks’ staff, even in the midst of securing a quality 2019 haul, was already at work on the 2020 class in earnest and is off to a nice start.
Chris Silva. Photo credit: Katie Dugan
2. Facing No. 1 Tennessee
The Gamecocks hit the road to face the top-ranked Volunteers. Tennessee won the first meeting between the teams 92-70, but the score is somewhat misleading. South Carolina held its own for three-quarters of the game, and trailed just 60-58 midway through the second half. But Tennessee’s relentless offensive pressure got the best of South Carolina in the final 10 minutes. South Carolina wore down and Tennessee pulled away for a comfortable win.
Tennessee shot 56 percent in the win, and was far more efficient turning rebounds and turnovers into points. Tennessee was +12 in both points off turnovers and second-chance points, despite only forcing four more turnovers than South Carolina and having one less offensive rebound. The loss dropped South Carolina to 1-13 all-time against No. 1 teams. (continue reading ... Five Things to Watch: USC-Tennessee)
– Chris Wellbaum
Donell Stanley. Photo credit: Chris Gillespie
3. The Last of the Spurrier Recruits
As Will Muschamp gets ready for his fourth spring at South Carolina and the rebuild of the Gamecocks' roster continues, only a select few players signed under Steve Spurrier - six to be exact - remain in the program.
OL Donell Stanley (sixth-year senior) - Has played in 38 career games including 26 starts. Stanley was granted a sixth year of eligibility to return for the 2019 season.
RB A.J. Turner (fifth-year senior) - Has rushed for 1,322 yards and eight touchdowns in 37 career games played, including 11 starts. Turner also played defensive back in the final two games of 2018 and could potentially play there this season.
RB Mon Denson (fifth-year senior) - Has rushed for 584 yards and four touchdowns in 22 career games including two starts.
TE Kyle Markway (fifth-year junior) - Has six catches for 110 yards and a touchdown in 27 career games, including two starts. Markway has already been granted a sixth year of eligibility and will be a junior in 2019.
LB Daniel Fennell (fifth-year senior) - Has 58 career tackles and 4.0 sacks in 30 career games, including seven starts.
P Joseph Charlton (fifth-year senior) - Has started every game for the last two seasons and is currently averaging a school record 44.1 yards per punt in his career.
** Stanley, as a sixth-year player, is the lone remaining signee from South Carolina's 2014 class. Turner, Denson, Markway, Fennell and Charlton were all in the 2015 class and have redshirted at some point in their careers.
Redshirt junior offensive lineman Will Putnam committed to South Carolina while Spurrier was still head coach, but signed as part of Muschamp's first class in 2016. Senior Bryan Edwards, also a member of the 2016 class, committed to Spurrier's staff, but decommitted, before recommitting to Muschamp.
– Wes Mitchell
4. Signee of the Day - Keveon Mullins
With South Carolina's 2019 recruiting class completely signed and locked up, Gamecock Central will spotlight one prospect each of the next 23 business days.
Today's signee of the day is Memphis (Tenn.) Whitehaven four-star wide receiver Keveon Mullins, who committed to the Gamecocks last summer at the Rivals Five-star Challenge
Other offers: Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, Memphis, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri and Cincinnati.
Former Gamecock weighs in: Great size and extremely athletic. He is an explosive player who is liable to punch the ball in for six any time he touches it. He has a quick burst and refuses to get tackled by one defender. He also adjusts to the deep ball extremely well. Not afraid of contact as he plays both sides of the ball and looks for contact. - Former USC WR Matrick Belton
Coach's corner: "He's an extremely powerfully built young man. His frame, people see him and think he can grow into a linebacker or safety but some love him at wide receiver. He can be a big tall wide receiver like an Alshon Jeffery or a guy like that. The upside he has with physicality and speed and overall talent make him a great prospect. Great hands, and steadily improving his route running. The physicality, he's hard to tackle. He has ball skills and strength." - Whitehaven head coach Rodney Saulsberry
Click here for more on Mullins
– Wes Mitchell
5. From Tuesday
Harris, Cooper Named to Dawn Staley Award Midseason Watch List.Te'a Cooper and Tyasha Harris were named to the Dawn Staley Award Midseason Watch List. They are among the 15 players across the country in the running for the award, which recognizes the player who exemplifies the skills that Staley possessed throughout her career - ball handling, scoring, ability to distribute the basketball and will to win.
Disclaimer: The following three items require a subscription to read.
South Carolina set to host more underclassman talent. Notes on several prospects from the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes who will visit the South Carolina campus this month and next. (link)
Inside the position: Infielders. With Opening Day this Friday, the Gamecocks are in the final stages of tweaking and fine tuning the starting lineup for the season opener. They'll focus highly on the starting infield where the Gamecocks are losing all five starters that played on dirt last season and are breaking in eight newcomers. GamecockCentral takes a look at the infield heading into this year with an in-depth breakdown. (link)
Carolina Confidential - Latest on Christian Brown. The most interesting recruiting development of the weekend came, not on the football side, but from the men's basketball program with the visit of class of 2019 four-star wing Christian Brown, who was in Columbia for Saturday's win over Arkansas. Collyn Taylor caught up with Brown following that visit and I've reached out to several people for the latest on Brown's situation the last couple of days. Here's what I've gathered. (link)
6. Plan your schedule accordingly
7. This Date in Gamecock History
February 13, 1967 - The 11-4 Gamecocks started slow, but behind the play of guard Jack Thompson (14 points, 9 assists) USC would roll over Wake Forest 83-66. The Gamecocks opened an 18-point lead by halftime and coasted to a win that coach Frank McGuire called 'the best game we've played all season.' Skip Harlicka scored 21 points, Gary Gregor 18 and Frank Standard 15, while Lyn Burkholder, Harlicka and Thompson had standout defensive performances.
February 13, 1996 - Carolina defeated Charlotte 17-13 in a classic 1990s college baseball slugfest. First baseman Eric Stanton (5-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) and left fielder Mark Mapes (4-4, 3 RBI) led the Gamecock offense as every player either had a hit or scored a run at a minimum. Oliver Harwas got the win with three innings of relief in which he gave up just one earned run and struck out four but some sloppy defense saw him get tagged with five total runs.
– John Parker, gamecockarchives.com
Each day, Gamecock Central member LegionofBoom posts an "on this date" message on The Insiders Forum.
8. Around Gamecock Nation
9. Gamecock Nation Celebrations
Gamecock Central member birthdays:
Birthday. Willie Scott (TE, 1977-80): The son of a former football and basketball player at Claflin, Scott was named all-state and played in the Shrine Bowl before joining the Gamecocks. As a senior in 1980, Scott was in his third year as a starter and caught 34 passes for 469 yards and two touchdowns, good enough to earn him honorable mention All-America honors from the Associated Press. Scott played in the East-West Shrine Bowl and was drafted in the first round by Kansas City, and would play eight years in the NFL with the Chiefs and Patriots. Scott was named to the modern era All-Time USC team in 1993, the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004 and the USC Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
More Feb. 13 Birthdays:
Tim Frisby, wide receiver, 2004-05
Darion Hutcherson, linebacker, 1997-98
– John Parker, gamecockarchives.com
10. Key Dates
Feb. 15: Baseball season begins
Feb. 27: Spring football practice begins
March 6-10: SEC Women's Basketball Tournament
March 13-17: SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
March 22-23: Will Muschamp Coaches Clinic
April 6: Spring football game
April 25-27: NFL Draft
Sept. 1: Football season begins
Did we miss something? Email shoe@gamecockcentral.com
We have breaking news alerts and more newsletters: customize preferences
Spread the word about the Gamecocks and this newsletter! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend or two. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up here to start receiving your own copy.
Gamecock Central emails a new Gamecock Nation Today newsletter each weekday morning. To get your free copy, sign up for our email list.
========
Gamecock Nation Today
Helping You Be The Ultimate Gamecock Fan
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Good morning (or early afternoon)! Thank you for reading our newsletter. If you enjoy it, please let your friends and family know they can sign up here. Happy Wednesday! - The Gamecock Central Crew
Credit: Rivals
1. The lead: With 2019 in the books, 2020 class off to strong start
With the way the recruiting calendar is set up nowadays, college coaches are recruiting prospects two and three classes in advance. If not, you are falling behind. The Gamecocks’ staff, even in the midst of securing a quality 2019 haul, was already at work on the 2020 class in earnest and is off to a nice start.
- The headliner of the group is Myrtle Beach four-star quarterback Luke Doty, who was offered by South Carolina in August of 2017 immediately after starting his first varsity game. Only Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, and North Carolina had offered him to that point. Auburn, Baylor, Florida State, Mississippi State, N.C. State, Ole Miss, TCU, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest all joined in since then, but Doty, a Clemson fan growing up, made an early pledge to the Gamecocks last July.
Doty had a huge junior season in leading Myrtle Beach to a state championship inside Williams-Brice Stadium, passing for 3,037 yards, a 72 percent completion percentage, 36 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. The dual-threat passer also rushed for 701 yards and 7 scores.
- USC also nabbed a pair of quality offensive line commitments early. Florida four-star Issiah Walker was an early evaluation that had an offer from South Florida when USC pulled the trigger. A host of other schools, including the in-state Florida Gators, have jumped in since and Walker’s stock has seemed to rise in recruiting circles.
Offensive line coach Eric Wolford will have to continue recruiting Walker hard, as other programs remain in pursuit and it appears Walker will continue to take up some of those schools on those offers to visit. Despite that, Walker recently told GamecockCentral.com that he was remaining firm to the Gamecocks and had no plans to flip his pledge.
Wolford also made an early evaluation on in-state offensive lineman Tyshawn Wannamaker. Other schools have inquired since, but it’s been made clear that Wannamaker is completely solid to the Gamecocks. He’s a big offensive guard (or even potential tackle) type with good footwork and movement abilities.
- USC landed a pledge earlier this year from Charlotte’s Da’Qon Stewart, who was summarily bumped to a high three-star prospect by Rivals.com afterward. The 6-foot-2 pass-catcher sports speed and plus ball skills, with all the makings of a quality early get for the staff at a need position.
Chris Silva. Photo credit: Katie Dugan
2. Facing No. 1 Tennessee
The Gamecocks hit the road to face the top-ranked Volunteers. Tennessee won the first meeting between the teams 92-70, but the score is somewhat misleading. South Carolina held its own for three-quarters of the game, and trailed just 60-58 midway through the second half. But Tennessee’s relentless offensive pressure got the best of South Carolina in the final 10 minutes. South Carolina wore down and Tennessee pulled away for a comfortable win.
Tennessee shot 56 percent in the win, and was far more efficient turning rebounds and turnovers into points. Tennessee was +12 in both points off turnovers and second-chance points, despite only forcing four more turnovers than South Carolina and having one less offensive rebound. The loss dropped South Carolina to 1-13 all-time against No. 1 teams. (continue reading ... Five Things to Watch: USC-Tennessee)
- The matchup taking centerstage against No. 1 Tennessee
- Podcast with Joe Rhett: USC seeks signature win
– Chris Wellbaum
Donell Stanley. Photo credit: Chris Gillespie
3. The Last of the Spurrier Recruits
As Will Muschamp gets ready for his fourth spring at South Carolina and the rebuild of the Gamecocks' roster continues, only a select few players signed under Steve Spurrier - six to be exact - remain in the program.
OL Donell Stanley (sixth-year senior) - Has played in 38 career games including 26 starts. Stanley was granted a sixth year of eligibility to return for the 2019 season.
RB A.J. Turner (fifth-year senior) - Has rushed for 1,322 yards and eight touchdowns in 37 career games played, including 11 starts. Turner also played defensive back in the final two games of 2018 and could potentially play there this season.
RB Mon Denson (fifth-year senior) - Has rushed for 584 yards and four touchdowns in 22 career games including two starts.
TE Kyle Markway (fifth-year junior) - Has six catches for 110 yards and a touchdown in 27 career games, including two starts. Markway has already been granted a sixth year of eligibility and will be a junior in 2019.
LB Daniel Fennell (fifth-year senior) - Has 58 career tackles and 4.0 sacks in 30 career games, including seven starts.
P Joseph Charlton (fifth-year senior) - Has started every game for the last two seasons and is currently averaging a school record 44.1 yards per punt in his career.
** Stanley, as a sixth-year player, is the lone remaining signee from South Carolina's 2014 class. Turner, Denson, Markway, Fennell and Charlton were all in the 2015 class and have redshirted at some point in their careers.
Redshirt junior offensive lineman Will Putnam committed to South Carolina while Spurrier was still head coach, but signed as part of Muschamp's first class in 2016. Senior Bryan Edwards, also a member of the 2016 class, committed to Spurrier's staff, but decommitted, before recommitting to Muschamp.
– Wes Mitchell
4. Signee of the Day - Keveon Mullins
With South Carolina's 2019 recruiting class completely signed and locked up, Gamecock Central will spotlight one prospect each of the next 23 business days.
Today's signee of the day is Memphis (Tenn.) Whitehaven four-star wide receiver Keveon Mullins, who committed to the Gamecocks last summer at the Rivals Five-star Challenge
Other offers: Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, Memphis, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri and Cincinnati.
Former Gamecock weighs in: Great size and extremely athletic. He is an explosive player who is liable to punch the ball in for six any time he touches it. He has a quick burst and refuses to get tackled by one defender. He also adjusts to the deep ball extremely well. Not afraid of contact as he plays both sides of the ball and looks for contact. - Former USC WR Matrick Belton
Coach's corner: "He's an extremely powerfully built young man. His frame, people see him and think he can grow into a linebacker or safety but some love him at wide receiver. He can be a big tall wide receiver like an Alshon Jeffery or a guy like that. The upside he has with physicality and speed and overall talent make him a great prospect. Great hands, and steadily improving his route running. The physicality, he's hard to tackle. He has ball skills and strength." - Whitehaven head coach Rodney Saulsberry
Click here for more on Mullins
– Wes Mitchell
5. From Tuesday
Harris, Cooper Named to Dawn Staley Award Midseason Watch List.Te'a Cooper and Tyasha Harris were named to the Dawn Staley Award Midseason Watch List. They are among the 15 players across the country in the running for the award, which recognizes the player who exemplifies the skills that Staley possessed throughout her career - ball handling, scoring, ability to distribute the basketball and will to win.
Disclaimer: The following three items require a subscription to read.
South Carolina set to host more underclassman talent. Notes on several prospects from the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes who will visit the South Carolina campus this month and next. (link)
Inside the position: Infielders. With Opening Day this Friday, the Gamecocks are in the final stages of tweaking and fine tuning the starting lineup for the season opener. They'll focus highly on the starting infield where the Gamecocks are losing all five starters that played on dirt last season and are breaking in eight newcomers. GamecockCentral takes a look at the infield heading into this year with an in-depth breakdown. (link)
Carolina Confidential - Latest on Christian Brown. The most interesting recruiting development of the weekend came, not on the football side, but from the men's basketball program with the visit of class of 2019 four-star wing Christian Brown, who was in Columbia for Saturday's win over Arkansas. Collyn Taylor caught up with Brown following that visit and I've reached out to several people for the latest on Brown's situation the last couple of days. Here's what I've gathered. (link)
6. Plan your schedule accordingly
- Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. Men's Basketball, at Tennessee, SEC Network
- Thursday, 7 p.m. Women's Basketball, hosts Georgia, SEC Network
- Thursday, 7 p.m. Carolina Calls featuring Frank Martin
- Friday, 2:30 p.m. Softball, hosts UNC Greensboro
- Friday, 3 p.m. Men's Tennis, hosts Clemson, YouTube
- Friday, 4 p.m. Baseball, hosts Liberty, SEC Network+
- Friday, 5 p.m. Softball, hosts Ohio University
7. This Date in Gamecock History
February 13, 1967 - The 11-4 Gamecocks started slow, but behind the play of guard Jack Thompson (14 points, 9 assists) USC would roll over Wake Forest 83-66. The Gamecocks opened an 18-point lead by halftime and coasted to a win that coach Frank McGuire called 'the best game we've played all season.' Skip Harlicka scored 21 points, Gary Gregor 18 and Frank Standard 15, while Lyn Burkholder, Harlicka and Thompson had standout defensive performances.
February 13, 1996 - Carolina defeated Charlotte 17-13 in a classic 1990s college baseball slugfest. First baseman Eric Stanton (5-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) and left fielder Mark Mapes (4-4, 3 RBI) led the Gamecock offense as every player either had a hit or scored a run at a minimum. Oliver Harwas got the win with three innings of relief in which he gave up just one earned run and struck out four but some sloppy defense saw him get tagged with five total runs.
– John Parker, gamecockarchives.com
Each day, Gamecock Central member LegionofBoom posts an "on this date" message on The Insiders Forum.
8. Around Gamecock Nation
- Feb. 14 - "Date Night" at the women's basketball game (link)
- Feb. 23 - Gamecocks at Mardi Gras Party, New Orleans (link)
- Feb. 24 - Charleston Gamecock Club Oyster Roast (link)
- Feb. 25 - Atlanta, Alumni Association President's Reception (link)
- Feb. 27 - Greenville, Alumni Association President's Reception
- March 9 - Charlotte Gamecock Club, Gamecock Yoga & Mimosas (link)
9. Gamecock Nation Celebrations
Gamecock Central member birthdays:
- @cockflock (member since 2001)
- @TShane13 (2005)
- @DavidUSC95 (2007)
- @Alan C Carver (2011)
- @Lexgamecock213 (2018)
Birthday. Willie Scott (TE, 1977-80): The son of a former football and basketball player at Claflin, Scott was named all-state and played in the Shrine Bowl before joining the Gamecocks. As a senior in 1980, Scott was in his third year as a starter and caught 34 passes for 469 yards and two touchdowns, good enough to earn him honorable mention All-America honors from the Associated Press. Scott played in the East-West Shrine Bowl and was drafted in the first round by Kansas City, and would play eight years in the NFL with the Chiefs and Patriots. Scott was named to the modern era All-Time USC team in 1993, the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004 and the USC Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
More Feb. 13 Birthdays:
Tim Frisby, wide receiver, 2004-05
Darion Hutcherson, linebacker, 1997-98
– John Parker, gamecockarchives.com
10. Key Dates
Feb. 15: Baseball season begins
Feb. 27: Spring football practice begins
March 6-10: SEC Women's Basketball Tournament
March 13-17: SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
March 22-23: Will Muschamp Coaches Clinic
April 6: Spring football game
April 25-27: NFL Draft
Sept. 1: Football season begins
Did we miss something? Email shoe@gamecockcentral.com
We have breaking news alerts and more newsletters: customize preferences
Spread the word about the Gamecocks and this newsletter! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend or two. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up here to start receiving your own copy.
