Clowney to Gamecocks

Submitted by kozmo6011 on

ESPN #1 player in the country jadeveon clowney just announced that he is goin the South Carolina over Clemson and Bama.  kid is a beast

kozmo6011

February 14th, 2011 at 11:45 AM ^

countless times members have said they like people posting info from espn/twitter etc so they dont have to check all the sites, they can just come here.

 

it was a pretty clear topic title so if you already knew that he was going there, you didnt have to bother opening the thread, but thanks for your concern

backusduo

February 14th, 2011 at 10:40 AM ^

First Lattimore and now Clowney.  Both are from South Carolina, but I still don't get it.  USC has never been good, and Steve Spurrier a cautionary tale for 10 years, and now they are back, or have arrived rather.  Good for them, but talk about coming out of nowhere. 

One more closing thought.  I can't help but notice though that, while USC was considered one of the younger teams in the SEC last year, they still amazingly have enough room for 32 recruits.  Wow!

Section 1

February 14th, 2011 at 11:32 AM ^

against a very good Bo Schembechler defense, and the Gamecocks rolled over us.  With a tailback who looked like a 9th grader playing against the 6th graders.

His name was George Rogers, and he won the Heisman Trophy that year.

Don

February 14th, 2011 at 1:57 PM ^

I was at that game as well, and while Rogers had a good day, it's a bit of a stretch to say that the Gamecocks "rolled over us" since the final score was 17-14. We basically handed the game to them, and yet AC still had a potential winning TD pass go off his fingertips in the waning moments of the game.

From wikipedia: Week three: 17-14 loss to South Carolina

Michigan faced South Carolina and 1980 Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers in the third week of the season. The press deemed South Carolina to be a heavy underdog going into the game. One writer noted, "Opponents like South Carolina are expected to be patsies. No trouble to beat." Consistent with expectations, Michigan took a 14-3 lead into halftime on a pair of touchdown passes from John Wangler to Anthony Carter. On the first drive of the second half, Michigan drove the ball to South Carolina's 8-yard line and appeared to be poised to take a 21-3 lead. However, on first and goal, Stan Edwards fumbled the ball into the endzone, and South Carolina recovered. South Carolina drove the ball 80 years for a touchdown to tighten the score to 14-10. On the ensuing drive, Michigan faced a fourth down with one yard to go at its own 29-yard line. Michigan faked the punt, but Stan Edwards was stopped for no gain. South Carolina responded with its second touchdown on the short field and took a 17-14 lead. After the game, Coach Schembechler blamed himself for the loss and the fake punt call. He said, "It was that a coach didn't have confidence in his defense. Hey, I've got to start realizing our defense isn't that bad. We should have punted ..." Late in the fourth quarter, Michigan had a chance to tie the game with a field goal, but opted to go for the touchdown on a pass play that was tipped off the hands of Anthony Carter. On not kicking the field goal, Schembechler said, "My players wouldn't want a tie in a non-conference game." South Carolina's offense was led by its tailback (and Heisman Trophy winner) George Rogers, who gained 142 yards on 36 carries.

Regardless, I'm damn glad Clowney didn't end up with Nick Satan.

Don

February 14th, 2011 at 4:12 PM ^

Not sure who you're referring to, but I'm a big fan of Section 1. His recollection of that game was just a little different than mine. It happens, especially when it concerns games that were played over three decades ago. We're part of the old white bastard clique here, remember?

OK, I know I should speak for myself.

Section 1

February 14th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^

You're right about all of the box-score details of the game.  I'm not sure if you mentioned it, but George Rogers ran for 142 yards. [Edit. -- oops I see that you did mention it.]

My description was more qualitative than quantitative.  South Carolina's offense was bruising.  George Rogers was a beast.  He was by far the best player Michigan faced that year.  And the game really hurt, because we were favored, and lost, to a team that had even less cachet then than it does now.  (The Gamecocks were not even a second-tier SEC team in those days; they were an independent.)

I was there, along with Don, and unlike a lot of other people on this board.  I saw George Rogers.  And, I saw most of Michigan's games that year.  Guys on that team like to refer to themselves as "Bo's Best."  They have reunion parties as the "Bo's Best" group.  They lost that year to Notre Dame, and to South Carolina.  Then they went undefeated in the Big Ten, went to Pasadena, and won the Rose Bowl.  And most of all, that team won with defense.  But they couldn't stop George Rogers even though they lined up to stop the run all day.

George Rogers really did look like a 9th grader playing against 6th graders, which is why I mentioned him in a thread about Clowney.  Rogers was bigger and faster and harder to bring down than any RB in the country that year.  And who knows; he might actually have been a 9th grader when he got out of the 6th grade.

icefins26

February 14th, 2011 at 11:33 AM ^

As someone who knows USC pretty well -- it is a mystery for me too.  I am a fan of South Carolina but as a Michigan fan, USC doesn't even compare.  Columbia is a nice college town and the campus is beautiful but the facilities aren't on par (although they are upgrading).  Clowney and Lattimore both wanted to stay close to home and stay in the SEC -- USC makes perfect sense.  Still a good program even with Spurrier on the decline and it also helps that they won the SEC East last year.

JL

February 14th, 2011 at 5:29 PM ^

I grew up in Michigan and migrated to SC for a job. I've been living in Columbia for the last few years. Here are some observations I've made:

*The state of South Carolina has got a LOT of talent.

* USC has a rabid fanbase, on account of there not being a professional sports team in SC. You either grow up loving USC or Clemson; not the Hurricanes, Panthers or Braves. There are only two choices.

* USC and Clemson epitomize the "big city livin'" that poor kids from the country want, and it's not that far from their family.

You add all of these things up, sprinkle in a few other miscellaneous factors and you have a winning combo.

 

 

TG7782

February 14th, 2011 at 10:40 AM ^

Good pickup for them but they will have a hard time breaking through until they get a legit QB.  A good friend of mine is Gamecock alum and he told me the defense is always pretty strong but the QB spot has been the disappointment and usually their downfall.

TG7782

February 14th, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^

Yeah,  I don't know much about their QB situation but you have think that whoever Garcia's backup was last year must not have been that great otherwise he might have started over him.  I don't follow their recruiting much so maybe they have a hotshot QB coming up.

 

Edit:

 

Apparently Garcia is only a junior, he seems like he's been around forever and I thought he was gone.  Well then I expect a similar season to this year from them.  Flashes of brilliance but ultimately disappointing. 

 

What is it about teams from South Carolina?  Clemson is always the same way.

ish

February 14th, 2011 at 10:46 AM ^

this is south carolina's 32nd signee.  that 28 recruit cap is really working.  the SEC is really coming down hard on oversigning.

BlueFish

February 14th, 2011 at 10:56 AM ^

This probably isn't a newsflash to anyone, considering we're talking about an ESS EEE SEE school, but am I reading this correctly?  SCAR has 31 commits in this class?

http://sports.espn.go.com/college-football/recruiting/classrankings?classyear=2011&classmonth=2&rank=15

I assume "others" are greyshirts, transfers, etc.

EDIT: Beaten to the punch by ish.  My bad.  Here's a kitteh for V-Day.

rpel84

February 14th, 2011 at 11:12 AM ^

Hope they do beat on each other...but then the SEC cronies will just say "The SEC just beats up on eachother and deserves to be in the NC Game".  It makes me sick.

BRCE

February 14th, 2011 at 12:05 PM ^

If he picked Clemson, the NCAA should have started the investigation by lunch today. It makes no sense that they could pull that many big-time recruits (most of them out of state).

 

BigBlue02

February 14th, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^

Where the hell is Snarf? That annoying little bastard is always around Lion-O. I would think Panthro, Wileykit and Wiley Kat wouldn't be the only ones rooting for Clemson. Cheetarah probably doesn't want to be anywhere around the Tigers.

Also....best cartoon in the history of cartoons.

JDVan

February 14th, 2011 at 4:08 PM ^

As long as he’s not playing for Bama I’m one happy guy. I watch Tosh.0 only to hear the Saban insults.

But I read an article that said he pushed his decision back because of Clemson’s late push and he seriously considered committing there. How does Clemson recruit so well??? They walk into your living room and say, "Hello, we've been the best at underachieving for the last 10 years... commit to us." Then some way the recruit says, “Well that just sounds lovely where do I sign.”

Maybe I’m still a little bitter over loosing Watkins but I just don’t understand it.

FrankMurphy

February 14th, 2011 at 5:12 PM ^

This was the lead story on ESPN.com this morning. I really wonder what it does to a 17- or 18-year old kid's psyche to be treated as a celebrity whose decision on which college to attend is so closely followed by major media outlets. That can't be healthy.

george11

February 14th, 2011 at 6:18 PM ^

I have been a Michigan fan since I was a little kid, and will forever be a Michigan fan.  However, I did not have the chance to go to Michigan for college (maybe for my MBA), so I went to USC and cheer for them as an alum.  I am excited that we landed Clowney, but also upset with the oversigning this year.  Hopefully USC is finally turning the corner to becoming respectable.

Gamecocks = an ass kickin' chicken!