Insider Report September 17th
With the start of a new football season, GamecockCentral.com is happy to announce a new feature: The Insider Report. Check back each weekday during the season for a new edition.
For continuity reasons, if you have question regarding this report, please use today’s “Ask Tony" thread on The Insiders Forum.
Recruiting tidbits
Carolina will play host to at least four official visitors this weekend. Georgia Military linebackers Josh Dickerson and Tony Straughter will be both on campus. Chesapeake (Va.) Oscar Smith teammates Jerod Askew and Tim Smith will also be making Gamecock officials.
Straughter and Dickerson have been on campus previously for unofficial visits, while Askew and Smith will be making their first trips to Columbia. Askew is the nation’s No. 77 player overall and would be a perfect fit at the middle linebacker spot for Carolina.
Carolina commitment Matt Coffee injured his knee in his game Friday night and as of yesterday was waiting on the results of an MRI. The fear is he tore his ACL, which would end his senior season. Assuming it is a torn ACL, he would have time to make a full recovery by the time he reports to Columbia.
Team Information
As Steve Spurrier announced yesterday, Jarriel King will get the start this weekend at left tackle, and Jamon Meredith has been moved to left guard. I fully expect Meredith to get the start over Lemuel Jeanpierre, and they will give Carolina a very athletic left side of the line. The downside to King is he’s still making the transition to offense and doesn’t know all of the plays yet, but he arguably has the most upside of all the linemen on the team.
Ellis Johnson’s experience as the head coach at The Citadel and the number of times he has prepared a defense to face the option will be invaluable this week. As long as Carolina’s players stick to their assignments and do what Johnson coaches them to do, they should be in good shape against Wofford. That’s not to say they’ll just shut the Terriers down, but I don’t expect a repeat of 2006.
Linebacker Jasper Brinkley came on against Georgia and had by far his best game of 2008, and he will get a chance to rack up a ton of tackles this week against Wofford. How he plays will be key to the Gamecocks playing well on that side of the ball.
Offensively, Carolina really needs to play well the next two weeks in out of conference play to ensure they head into Oxford, Miss., in the right frame of mind.
If you have any news or tips you'd like to share, please send an email to recruiting@gamecockcentral.com
This post was edited on 9/19 7:20 AM by Brian Shoemaker
With the start of a new football season, GamecockCentral.com is happy to announce a new feature: The Insider Report. Check back each weekday during the season for a new edition.
For continuity reasons, if you have question regarding this report, please use today’s “Ask Tony" thread on The Insiders Forum.
Recruiting tidbits
Carolina will play host to at least four official visitors this weekend. Georgia Military linebackers Josh Dickerson and Tony Straughter will be both on campus. Chesapeake (Va.) Oscar Smith teammates Jerod Askew and Tim Smith will also be making Gamecock officials.
Straughter and Dickerson have been on campus previously for unofficial visits, while Askew and Smith will be making their first trips to Columbia. Askew is the nation’s No. 77 player overall and would be a perfect fit at the middle linebacker spot for Carolina.
Carolina commitment Matt Coffee injured his knee in his game Friday night and as of yesterday was waiting on the results of an MRI. The fear is he tore his ACL, which would end his senior season. Assuming it is a torn ACL, he would have time to make a full recovery by the time he reports to Columbia.
Team Information
As Steve Spurrier announced yesterday, Jarriel King will get the start this weekend at left tackle, and Jamon Meredith has been moved to left guard. I fully expect Meredith to get the start over Lemuel Jeanpierre, and they will give Carolina a very athletic left side of the line. The downside to King is he’s still making the transition to offense and doesn’t know all of the plays yet, but he arguably has the most upside of all the linemen on the team.
Ellis Johnson’s experience as the head coach at The Citadel and the number of times he has prepared a defense to face the option will be invaluable this week. As long as Carolina’s players stick to their assignments and do what Johnson coaches them to do, they should be in good shape against Wofford. That’s not to say they’ll just shut the Terriers down, but I don’t expect a repeat of 2006.
Linebacker Jasper Brinkley came on against Georgia and had by far his best game of 2008, and he will get a chance to rack up a ton of tackles this week against Wofford. How he plays will be key to the Gamecocks playing well on that side of the ball.
Offensively, Carolina really needs to play well the next two weeks in out of conference play to ensure they head into Oxford, Miss., in the right frame of mind.
If you have any news or tips you'd like to share, please send an email to recruiting@gamecockcentral.com
This post was edited on 9/19 7:20 AM by Brian Shoemaker
