B
Brian Shoemaker
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GAMECOCKS TODAY
- Tuesday, June 4 -
Good morning from Gamecock Central.
Today: It's Day 2 of the MLB Draft.
We're 88 days away from the Gamecocks playing North Carolina.
Will Register/Credit: Chris Gillespie
1. 8️⃣8️⃣ Countdown to kickoff: 88 days!
Our countdown to South Carolina's 2019 season opener against North Carolina in Charlotte is now down to just 88 days and today we're featuring a local product in former Chapin standout tight end Will Register.
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound redshirt sophomore saw action in four games last season and made his first career reception against Chattanooga, a 9-yard grab.
After a solid spring, Register should move into the regular rotation as an in-line tight end following the departure of Jacob August and K.C. Crosby.
A former four-star prospect, Rivals.com ranked Register as the No. 14 tight end in the country in the 2017 class.
– Wes Mitchell
2. Five questions with McGee Moody
McGee Moody has served as USC’s Head Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach since 2007. In this feature, GamecockCentral.com spoke with Moody and posed five key questions that he graciously answered for readers of Gamecocks Today.
Q: One thing I’d like to get to the bottom of is just why you got into coaching, some of your background and how you made that transition.
A: I swam in college at East Carolina University. My personality is I’m a super competitive person. When I finished my college career, in my last race, it was a relay and I was the anchor guy. I touched the wall and the first thought in my head is: what now? How am I ever going to replace this hole in my life?
My coach, within hours, said, why don’t you come work with me? From that point forward, I knew this was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a coach. It kept my competitive fires burning, gave me the opportunity to work with athletes. It gave me the opportunity to try to elevate their level of performance through training or different things like that. As I matured as a coach, my entire philosophy went from, I just wanted to win, to the older I get now I see the value into building the relationships and pouring into these young people. The winning will come, but they have to know that I care about them more than just a time or a race. My philosophy in coaching, while it hasn’t changed, has expanded greatly. The competitiveness is still there. It’s just as important to me to build really special people and pick up where their parents leave off at age 18 and try to be that connector, that next step towards being independent and going out into society and being successful.
Q: What led you to South Carolina?
A: I went from East Carolina to the United States Naval Academy. I was the men’s assistant coach there. From there I got the head coaching position at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. I was there for three years and got a phone call about South Carolina. A career goal of mine had always been to coach in the SEC. I grew up in Alabama, around SEC football, around SEC athletics. The SEC is the best swimming conference in the country and that’s what I wanted to be a part of. I saw an opportunity at South Carolina with a program that was not in a good place. It needed to be rebuilt. I felt like I had the tools to do that, had learned the things I needed to learn and put together a good structure to help build this team. It took a long time. I had a five-year plan and I saw really quickly a year into that, OK, I’ve got to re-evaluate this plan. We’ve got to really build this thing from the ground up. We’re still in the process. We are lights years ahead of where we were 12 years ago, but we’re still in the process of building and getting better.
Q: In football, when you talk about building a program, you’re going to think of facilities and a huge recruiting team. What is it in terms of building a swimming program? What is that next step?
A: When I talk about building a program, the first thing I had to do was change the culture. I took over a program here where the athletes couldn't necessarily believe they could compete in the SEC. They didn’t necessarily feel like they were on the same level as Auburn, Florida, or Georgia. Over time, you have to build into these athletes a mentality of: I deserve to be here, I belong here. All of a sudden, you beat them a couple times. We beat Auburn’s men this year and Florida’s women last year. It becomes not only can we compete with them, but we can beat them. We set a plan into place every year that not only makes us better athletes but it strengthens the culture and dynamic we’re trying to build. Obviously the recruiting part comes into it. That’s a piece of it, but there had to be a culture component to come in first because that’s what needed the most work.
Q: What kind of traits are you looking for when you recruit?
A: From a physical perspective, I usually look at three things. The first thing is where their current times are and how they stack up to the “A” finals at the SEC Championship. The second thing is their progression. I look to see if there are nay trends in there. If they are steady with their time progressions and they get faster, I can kind of count on that continuing through age 18 and kind of figure out what I’m going to be getting out of a high school senior. That’s the beauty of having times to look at.
The next thing is what I call intangibles. If I find out a kid has never lifted weights in high school, maybe in their last big meet, they might have been coming down with mono. Those are things that I find out throughout the process, then we really use the official visit to evaluate them as a teammate. Are they going to fit into the culture? Are their priorities the same as our team’s priorities? It’s time consuming but in order to get the right team culture and right physical component to our program you have to put that into each kid across the board.
Q: I know you like to hunt and fish, and you apparently took down a huge wild boar at one point. What’s your greatest hunting or fishing conquest?
A: That was one of them. That was almost a 300-pound boar in Gonzalez, Texas. That was on an Ironman (Outdoors) trip out in Texas. There were about 10 guys on that trip and I am still really close with all those guys. I just had lunch with one of them when we were out in Austin for NCAAs and had lunch with him. He was actually sitting in the stand with me that night when I got that boar.
Lake Wateree has some giant catfish; I’ve caught some nice catfish out of that one. I think my biggest is 35 pounds. Coaches, the world that we live in, this goes from all of us, it’s very a high pressure, anxiety filled career. Your success is driven by the buy-in of 18-22 years old kids. There’s a large amount of self- care that has to go into a coach that’s going to go into a coach that has any longevity nowadays. Finding something that is completely an outlet to take your mind off that a little bit to help you recharge your batteries is essential. It’s different for everybody, but hunting has always been my outlet. I can go out Wednesday mornings during hunting season, my staff knows coach is going to be in the woods. It’s time where I can think about my family or think about swimming. It’s my time, I can use it however I want. It kind of recharges me throughout the rest of my week.
– Chris Clark
3. This, that, and the other
Another Carolina Podcast: Official visit recaps, thoughts on OL commit - South Carolina football and recruiting insiders Chris Clark and Wes Mitchell join host Pearson Fowler on Another Carolina Podcast to discuss the commitment of OL Jazston Turnetine and recap a huge recruiting weekend on campus. (link)
Football Recruiting: Take Two: Will five-star Jordan Burch stay in-state? - Rivals experts break down Jordan Burch's recruitment and his recent bump in the Rivals rankings. (link)
Football Recruiting: Doty enjoys great weekend with future teammates - Quarterback commit Luke Doty has been on South Carolina's campus many times before, but this past weekend was a little different. (link)
Football Recruiting: Four-star DT Alex Huntley updates decision timeline - Defensive tackle Alex Huntley has been a longtime target of Will Muschamp and the Gamecock football program. What's the latest on his summer visit plans? (subscription)
Football Recruiting: Kaba enjoys weekend at future home - After committing to South Carolina last month, Mo Kaba was back in Columbia for his official visit. (subscription)
Football Recruiting: Georgia LB set to visit South Carolina - Georgia athlete Len'Neth Whitehead has the size and athleticism that gives him standout potential at the college level, and an offer list that reflects his talent. (subscription)
Baseball: MLB Draft preview - A look at the MLB Draft, which started Monday. (subscription)
Women's Tennis: USC locks in No. 1 recruiting class - South Carolina has landed the nation's No. 1 recruiting class for the 2019-20 season. (link)
Track & Field: Patience, persistence pay off for Eric Favors - After qualifying for the NCAA East Regional for the third straight year, the junior shot putter will make his first appearance in the NCAA Championships later this week. (link)
Track & Field: Hall named to Bowerman Watch List - Sprinter Quincy Hall has been named to The Bowerman Pre-NCAA Championships Watch List. (link)
Equestrian: Five horses honored - The South Carolina equestrian team had five horses honored by the NCEA as top-10 horses in three separate events. (link)
– Jackson Fields
4. This Date in Gamecock History
June 4, 1981 – Facing elimination, the Gamecocks relied on some timely pitching and a brilliant defensive call by catcher Rob Lowery to send Mississippi State home with a USC 6-5 victory.
5. Birthdays!
Deandre Eiland - Eiland was a standout in both track and football in high school, setting a national record in the 55-yard dash. He signed with the Gamecocks over offers from Marshall, Arkansas and Troy. He didn’t take long to make an impact, starting five games at free safety as a true freshman and intercepting four passes. Eiland picked off two passes in the Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State and was named Freshman All-America by The Sporting News. He moved to cornerback in 2001 and started two games there. Eiland returned to free safety for the majority of the 2002 season and was sixth on the team in tackles. He started seven games at cornerback in 2003 and one at free safety, picking off passes against Louisiana-Lafayette and Clemson. Eiland also lettered in track at USC. He played in the Blue-Gray Game and then played four seasons in pro football with the Minnesota Vikings (2004), Miami Dolphins (2005), San Francisco 49ers (2005), St. Louis Rams (2006) and Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe (2007).
Chavez Donnings (football, 2001-03)
LeLe Grissett (women's basketball, 2017-19)
– John Parker, gamecockarchives.com
6. ⌚ Key Events (Countdown)
• June 4 – MLB Draft, Day 2 (today)
• June 5 – MLB Draft, Day 3 (1 day)
• June 6 – Football: One-day camp (2)
• June 7 – Football: One-day camp (3)
• June 8 – Football: One-day camp (4)
• June 13 – Football: OL/DL camps (9)
• June 13 – Football: 7-on-7 passing tourney (9)
• June 14 – Football: OL/DL camps (10)
• June 14 – Football: 7-on-7 passing tourney (10)
• June 15 – Football: One-day camp (11)
• June 19 – Football: One-day camp (15)
• June 20 – Football: One-day camp (16)
• June 21 – Football: One-day camp (17)
• June 22 – Football: One-day camp (18)
• June 22 – Football: Specialists camp (18)
• June 27 – Baseball: Prospect camp (23)
• July 11 – Baseball: Prospect camp (37)
• July 15 – SEC Media Days, Day 1 (41)
• July 16 – SEC Media Days, Day 2 (42)
• July 17 – SEC Media Days, Day 3 (43)
• July 18 – SEC Media Days, Day 4 (44)
• July 18 – Baseball: Prospect camp (44)
• July 20 – Ladies Football Clinic (46)
• Aug. 17 – Baseball: Elite prospect camp (74)
• Aug. 31 – Football: Gamecocks vs UNC (88)
DID YOU KNOW? You can receive this report (Gamecocks Today) early each morning in your email inbox. Sign up here.
------------------------
GAMECOCKS TODAY
- Tuesday, June 4 -
Good morning from Gamecock Central.
Today: It's Day 2 of the MLB Draft.
We're 88 days away from the Gamecocks playing North Carolina.
Will Register/Credit: Chris Gillespie
1. 8️⃣8️⃣ Countdown to kickoff: 88 days!
Our countdown to South Carolina's 2019 season opener against North Carolina in Charlotte is now down to just 88 days and today we're featuring a local product in former Chapin standout tight end Will Register.
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound redshirt sophomore saw action in four games last season and made his first career reception against Chattanooga, a 9-yard grab.
After a solid spring, Register should move into the regular rotation as an in-line tight end following the departure of Jacob August and K.C. Crosby.
A former four-star prospect, Rivals.com ranked Register as the No. 14 tight end in the country in the 2017 class.
– Wes Mitchell
2. Five questions with McGee Moody
McGee Moody has served as USC’s Head Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach since 2007. In this feature, GamecockCentral.com spoke with Moody and posed five key questions that he graciously answered for readers of Gamecocks Today.
Q: One thing I’d like to get to the bottom of is just why you got into coaching, some of your background and how you made that transition.
A: I swam in college at East Carolina University. My personality is I’m a super competitive person. When I finished my college career, in my last race, it was a relay and I was the anchor guy. I touched the wall and the first thought in my head is: what now? How am I ever going to replace this hole in my life?
My coach, within hours, said, why don’t you come work with me? From that point forward, I knew this was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a coach. It kept my competitive fires burning, gave me the opportunity to work with athletes. It gave me the opportunity to try to elevate their level of performance through training or different things like that. As I matured as a coach, my entire philosophy went from, I just wanted to win, to the older I get now I see the value into building the relationships and pouring into these young people. The winning will come, but they have to know that I care about them more than just a time or a race. My philosophy in coaching, while it hasn’t changed, has expanded greatly. The competitiveness is still there. It’s just as important to me to build really special people and pick up where their parents leave off at age 18 and try to be that connector, that next step towards being independent and going out into society and being successful.
Q: What led you to South Carolina?
A: I went from East Carolina to the United States Naval Academy. I was the men’s assistant coach there. From there I got the head coaching position at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. I was there for three years and got a phone call about South Carolina. A career goal of mine had always been to coach in the SEC. I grew up in Alabama, around SEC football, around SEC athletics. The SEC is the best swimming conference in the country and that’s what I wanted to be a part of. I saw an opportunity at South Carolina with a program that was not in a good place. It needed to be rebuilt. I felt like I had the tools to do that, had learned the things I needed to learn and put together a good structure to help build this team. It took a long time. I had a five-year plan and I saw really quickly a year into that, OK, I’ve got to re-evaluate this plan. We’ve got to really build this thing from the ground up. We’re still in the process. We are lights years ahead of where we were 12 years ago, but we’re still in the process of building and getting better.
Q: In football, when you talk about building a program, you’re going to think of facilities and a huge recruiting team. What is it in terms of building a swimming program? What is that next step?
A: When I talk about building a program, the first thing I had to do was change the culture. I took over a program here where the athletes couldn't necessarily believe they could compete in the SEC. They didn’t necessarily feel like they were on the same level as Auburn, Florida, or Georgia. Over time, you have to build into these athletes a mentality of: I deserve to be here, I belong here. All of a sudden, you beat them a couple times. We beat Auburn’s men this year and Florida’s women last year. It becomes not only can we compete with them, but we can beat them. We set a plan into place every year that not only makes us better athletes but it strengthens the culture and dynamic we’re trying to build. Obviously the recruiting part comes into it. That’s a piece of it, but there had to be a culture component to come in first because that’s what needed the most work.
Q: What kind of traits are you looking for when you recruit?
A: From a physical perspective, I usually look at three things. The first thing is where their current times are and how they stack up to the “A” finals at the SEC Championship. The second thing is their progression. I look to see if there are nay trends in there. If they are steady with their time progressions and they get faster, I can kind of count on that continuing through age 18 and kind of figure out what I’m going to be getting out of a high school senior. That’s the beauty of having times to look at.
The next thing is what I call intangibles. If I find out a kid has never lifted weights in high school, maybe in their last big meet, they might have been coming down with mono. Those are things that I find out throughout the process, then we really use the official visit to evaluate them as a teammate. Are they going to fit into the culture? Are their priorities the same as our team’s priorities? It’s time consuming but in order to get the right team culture and right physical component to our program you have to put that into each kid across the board.
Q: I know you like to hunt and fish, and you apparently took down a huge wild boar at one point. What’s your greatest hunting or fishing conquest?
A: That was one of them. That was almost a 300-pound boar in Gonzalez, Texas. That was on an Ironman (Outdoors) trip out in Texas. There were about 10 guys on that trip and I am still really close with all those guys. I just had lunch with one of them when we were out in Austin for NCAAs and had lunch with him. He was actually sitting in the stand with me that night when I got that boar.
Lake Wateree has some giant catfish; I’ve caught some nice catfish out of that one. I think my biggest is 35 pounds. Coaches, the world that we live in, this goes from all of us, it’s very a high pressure, anxiety filled career. Your success is driven by the buy-in of 18-22 years old kids. There’s a large amount of self- care that has to go into a coach that’s going to go into a coach that has any longevity nowadays. Finding something that is completely an outlet to take your mind off that a little bit to help you recharge your batteries is essential. It’s different for everybody, but hunting has always been my outlet. I can go out Wednesday mornings during hunting season, my staff knows coach is going to be in the woods. It’s time where I can think about my family or think about swimming. It’s my time, I can use it however I want. It kind of recharges me throughout the rest of my week.
– Chris Clark
3. This, that, and the other
Another Carolina Podcast: Official visit recaps, thoughts on OL commit - South Carolina football and recruiting insiders Chris Clark and Wes Mitchell join host Pearson Fowler on Another Carolina Podcast to discuss the commitment of OL Jazston Turnetine and recap a huge recruiting weekend on campus. (link)
Football Recruiting: Take Two: Will five-star Jordan Burch stay in-state? - Rivals experts break down Jordan Burch's recruitment and his recent bump in the Rivals rankings. (link)
Football Recruiting: Doty enjoys great weekend with future teammates - Quarterback commit Luke Doty has been on South Carolina's campus many times before, but this past weekend was a little different. (link)
Football Recruiting: Four-star DT Alex Huntley updates decision timeline - Defensive tackle Alex Huntley has been a longtime target of Will Muschamp and the Gamecock football program. What's the latest on his summer visit plans? (subscription)
Football Recruiting: Kaba enjoys weekend at future home - After committing to South Carolina last month, Mo Kaba was back in Columbia for his official visit. (subscription)
Football Recruiting: Georgia LB set to visit South Carolina - Georgia athlete Len'Neth Whitehead has the size and athleticism that gives him standout potential at the college level, and an offer list that reflects his talent. (subscription)
Baseball: MLB Draft preview - A look at the MLB Draft, which started Monday. (subscription)
Women's Tennis: USC locks in No. 1 recruiting class - South Carolina has landed the nation's No. 1 recruiting class for the 2019-20 season. (link)
Track & Field: Patience, persistence pay off for Eric Favors - After qualifying for the NCAA East Regional for the third straight year, the junior shot putter will make his first appearance in the NCAA Championships later this week. (link)
Track & Field: Hall named to Bowerman Watch List - Sprinter Quincy Hall has been named to The Bowerman Pre-NCAA Championships Watch List. (link)
Equestrian: Five horses honored - The South Carolina equestrian team had five horses honored by the NCEA as top-10 horses in three separate events. (link)
– Jackson Fields
4. This Date in Gamecock History
June 4, 1981 – Facing elimination, the Gamecocks relied on some timely pitching and a brilliant defensive call by catcher Rob Lowery to send Mississippi State home with a USC 6-5 victory.
- Carolina starter Bret Baynham improved his record to 10-1 by cruising through the first six innings.
- He ran into trouble in the seventh and relievers Jeb Babel and Bobby Kish went the rest of the way.
- Kish got out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and then gave up a lead-off triple by MSU DH Tony Gage in the ninth. Lowery, suspecting a squeeze was on, called a pitchout and easily tagged Gage out to end the final threat.
- Offensively the Gamecocks scored on an RBI single by SS Rod Carraway, home runs by Lowery and Chris Boyle and an RBI groundout from Paul Hollins.
5. Birthdays!
Deandre Eiland - Eiland was a standout in both track and football in high school, setting a national record in the 55-yard dash. He signed with the Gamecocks over offers from Marshall, Arkansas and Troy. He didn’t take long to make an impact, starting five games at free safety as a true freshman and intercepting four passes. Eiland picked off two passes in the Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State and was named Freshman All-America by The Sporting News. He moved to cornerback in 2001 and started two games there. Eiland returned to free safety for the majority of the 2002 season and was sixth on the team in tackles. He started seven games at cornerback in 2003 and one at free safety, picking off passes against Louisiana-Lafayette and Clemson. Eiland also lettered in track at USC. He played in the Blue-Gray Game and then played four seasons in pro football with the Minnesota Vikings (2004), Miami Dolphins (2005), San Francisco 49ers (2005), St. Louis Rams (2006) and Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe (2007).
Chavez Donnings (football, 2001-03)
LeLe Grissett (women's basketball, 2017-19)
– John Parker, gamecockarchives.com
6. ⌚ Key Events (Countdown)
• June 4 – MLB Draft, Day 2 (today)
• June 5 – MLB Draft, Day 3 (1 day)
• June 6 – Football: One-day camp (2)
• June 7 – Football: One-day camp (3)
• June 8 – Football: One-day camp (4)
• June 13 – Football: OL/DL camps (9)
• June 13 – Football: 7-on-7 passing tourney (9)
• June 14 – Football: OL/DL camps (10)
• June 14 – Football: 7-on-7 passing tourney (10)
• June 15 – Football: One-day camp (11)
• June 19 – Football: One-day camp (15)
• June 20 – Football: One-day camp (16)
• June 21 – Football: One-day camp (17)
• June 22 – Football: One-day camp (18)
• June 22 – Football: Specialists camp (18)
• June 27 – Baseball: Prospect camp (23)
• July 11 – Baseball: Prospect camp (37)
• July 15 – SEC Media Days, Day 1 (41)
• July 16 – SEC Media Days, Day 2 (42)
• July 17 – SEC Media Days, Day 3 (43)
• July 18 – SEC Media Days, Day 4 (44)
• July 18 – Baseball: Prospect camp (44)
• July 20 – Ladies Football Clinic (46)
• Aug. 17 – Baseball: Elite prospect camp (74)
• Aug. 31 – Football: Gamecocks vs UNC (88)
