Dondrial Pinkins, the Thrilla from Camilla, came to South Carolina in 2000.  Many thought he would be the perfect Lou Holtz-style quarterback for the Gamecocks – a strong runner with the ability to make throws when the situation called for it.

Pinkins waited his turn behind Phil Petty and Cory Jenkins before getting his shot as the full-time starter in 2003.  He played well in spurts, but never developed the consistency he needed to be really successful.  He was fun to watch at times, like when he hooked up with Troy Williamson for the longest play in Gamecock history.  Later in that game he powered a Virginia defender into the end zone to put the game away, and he paired with Matthew Thomas on the second longest play in Gamecock history (98 yards) in a loss at Ole Miss.

Pinkins’ career ended with a whimper as he battled a shoulder injury for the second half of 2004, and he didn’t suit up for the final two games that year against Florida and Clemson.

I heard some disturbing stuff on the way home this afternoon, and need to know exactly how out of touch I am.  I live in the Atlanta area, and we have two AM sports talk stations that I listen to fairly regularly.  Naturally, the hot topic of the day was the arrest of Georgia’s Washaun Ealey for a hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license.  The following quotes are paraphrased, from the best of my memory.

First, I heard this from Beau Bock on 790 The Zone:

“Whatever happened to the days when people took care of players.  Ealey is a nice young man, and that rent-a-cop should’ve let Ealey go, then found a way to get in touch with Coach (Mark) Richt personally and let him know what happened…in private.  Handle all of this behind the scenes.  This wasn’t even a hit-and-run, it was more like a ‘scrape and run’.  It’s outrageous he could miss time because of this.”

Then, I turned to 680 The Fan, and heard this from Buck Belue, speaking of Richt:

“Richt has to consider the long-term impact on the program when he hands out the punishment.  I mean, this is big buiness, 90,000 fans filling the stands every week.  Suspending Ealey for multiple games could really hurt the program in what could potentially be a big year.  He has to think of the program when he’s making this decision.”

Now, just to be clear for those of you who don’t live in the area – Bock has been covering Atlanta sports since the early 70’s.  He’s an old man, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but he’s also a first-class boob that routinely spouts off contrarian views just for the heck of it.  But I truly think he meant what he was saying this time, and it’s idiocy.  To claim this should’ve been swept under the rug and “handled internally” is a throwback to the early 80’s when institutional control was just a gleam in the NCAA’s eye.

Over on 680, Buck Belue is the worst radio personality EVER.  I kid you not, he is beyond painful to listen to, and most UGA grads I know will tell you the same.  Never has one guy gotten so far on the strength of one play.  I wish Lindsay would’ve tripped.  But I digress…

That said, for Belue to imply that the long-term health of Georgia’s program should be considered when doling out Ealey’s punishment is outrageous.  Ealey should be judged and punished based on the crime and the crime only, and his status as Georgia’s starting tailback or the future of the program should have zero bearing.

Beau Bock and Buck Belue have a right to their opinions, don’t get me wrong.  But I also have a right to come on TRC and say they’re wrong and they’re blathering idiots that should retire and go work at a golf course, respectively.  Their on-air partners and the callers I heard who gave no push back whatsoever can take a leap too.  I felt like I was in a time warp.

I was fired up, obviously, but had no intention of blogging on the topic, until I reflected on the past week, and this thought crossed my mind:

What if this had happened in Columbia to a Gamecock player?  What would the radio and television shows in and around Columbia have sounded like then?

NOTE:  Mark Richt’s announced late in the day that Ealey is suspended for at least UGA’s opener against ULaLa.  That sounds about right to me.  I fully expect him to be back for our game.

In light of The State newspaper’s decision to “move to a membership model” (aka charge you for what you are currently getting for free) at gogamecocks.com, The Rubber Chickens thought it would be a good time to reassure our readers we have no immediate plans to charge membership fees for our web content.  As always, when you visit TRC you will get , absolutely free of charge:

– NO inside information

– NO breaking news

– NO recruiting gurus

- A bevvy of smarta** comments

– Television, movie, and music reviews during the off season.

- A contributor with a superfluous nipple (actually TWO superfluous nipples)

- Free candy (we’re still working on this)

Plus many, many other non-member benefits.  All we ask for is your continued patronage.  Or not, we’re really only doing this for our own nacissistic pleasure. 

Thank you!

The Rubber Chickens Staff

With due respect to two guys that were more from “my era”, Norman Greene and Mike Dingle, our starting quarterback entering the 2008 season came to mind first.

Tommy Beecher came out of high school with basically no star rating and exactly two scholarship offers, South Carolina and Richmond.  We were told Steve Spurrier liked his skills, and to Beecher’s credit he did have quite a  remarkable high school career.  But Richmond?  Something seemed amiss.

Beecher redshirted in ’05, then threw it around a little in some mop-up duty in ’06 and ’07.  Then, against seemingly long odds, in ’08 he was named the starter heading into the NC State game after a close battle with Chris Smelley.

The NC State game was a nightmare for Beecher.  He was pounded by the State defense from the get-go, and his confidence melted away before our eyes.  Even watching on television, you could see in his body language he wanted to be somewhere else.  Somewhere safe, away from the screaming fans and national television audience.

Before coming out in the third quarter, he had thrown for a little over 100 yards, but had thrown four interceptions.  You don’t throw four interceptions in a little over two quarters and remain Steve Spurrier’s quarterback.  You just don’t.

Chris Smelley strolled in and promptly took the starter’s job that night.  By the end of the season, Beecher, the former starting quarterback at the University of South Carolina, was running the scout team.  After the team’s bowl game he was “encouraged” to continue his career elsewhere.

Beecher transferred to Liberty for his senior season and won the starting job there.  He started the first game in a big time environment against West Virginia in Morgantown and played well.  In looking at Liberty stats from last year, it appears Beecher had a very nice final season with the Flames.

Like all of you, prior to every football season I check our schedule to make my own determination of wins, losses and toss-ups.  And every year we’ve been in the SEC, I have come to the name Kentucky and thought “win”.  For ten straight years, I’ve been right, which is more than I can say about Vanderbilt.

But if not for #7 on the Number Association Countdown, that streak would’ve come to an end in 2004.

The ‘Cocks were 4-2 heading into Commonwealth Stadium that year, facing off against a 1-4 UK squad.  Starting QB Dondrial Pinkins was out with a bum shoulder, and mid-way though the second quarter, backup Syvelle Newton sprained his ankle.  Redshirt freshman Blake Mitchell was mildly terrible in Newton’s stead, and Kentucky took a 7-6 lead late into the fourth quarter.

With a little over six minutes left, Lou Holtz inserted seldom used JUCO transfer Mike Rathe.  Rathe marched the Gamecocks into field goal range with a little over a minute left.  On 3rd and 10 from the Kentucky 19, Rathe rolled to his right, and doing his best Joe Montana lofted a pass to the back of the end zone just before stepping out of bounds.  Troy Williamson snatched the ball out of the air and came down in bounds with the go-ahead TD.  The defense held Kentucky on four straight plays, and we escaped with an ugly, ugly win.

Rathe applied for a sixth year of eligibility in 2005, and many thought he would be a strong contender for the starting job in Steve Spurrier’s first year.  But alas, in their infinite wisdom the NCAA felt it was time for Mike Rathe to move on, and he did.  Rathe played a little Arena League II, but currently his whereabouts are unknown.  At least by me.

Head’s up!  On Monday TRC will be starting our Game Week features for Week 1.  We won’t be doing lame predictions (yet) or position by position breakdowns telling you why our running backs get the proverbial check mark over USM’s linebackers.  We’ll leave that to the half million other blogs you visit during the work day from your cozy office, cube or Wi-Fi hot spot.

Instead we’ll be continuing in TRC’s grand tradition of unique features  like the Number Association Countdown and the Sunday Night Snark by presenting a feature we like to call the Best Case/Worst Case Breakdown.  We’ll be going over the best and worst case scenarios for each of USC’s positions for the upcoming season.  We’ll make you feel really good about our team, and then immediately turn around and make you feel anxious and miserable.  You’re gonna love it.

On Monday I’ll cover offense, Tuesday T-bone will take defense, and on Wednesday G-man will cover by far the least important and therefore last of the three phases of game, special teams.  (Bah, kickers, who needs ’em.)

Only one week to go until football season, can you dig it?

In case you missed the origin of the Number Association Countdown, you can find it here.  The reason I bring it up is to defend myself for #8.  Here is what I wrote back then:

There’s no rhyme of reason to the selection, it’s basically the first person that pops in my head when I think of the number.

So former Gamecock DB Teddy Crawford pops in my head.  Not Fred Bennett or Colin Mackie or even someone more recent like Larry Freeman.  And my single specific memory of Mr. Crawford is not a good one.  It was a Thursday night game at Arkansas a few years ago.  We got spanked, Demetris Summers got carried off on a stretcher, and Teddy gave us this gem:

Arkansas has a slim lead and the ball in Gamecock territory with the game still very much in doubt.  The Hog QB drops back, looks left and fires a pass towards his WR about 20 yards downfield.  The pass has absolutely no zip on it, and Crawford breaks on it perfectly.  He has nothing, and I mean nothing, but green grass in front of him.  But the ball goes right…through…his…hands.  As if that’s not bad enough, the tipped ball floats through the air and is snatched by the intended target.  The Arkansas WR strolls into the end zone, and we never recover.

I’m not sure who I feel sorrier for that I remember that so well, me or Teddy.

Ah, yes, The Todd.  For you youngsters that only know him as the South Carolina football play-by-play man, don’t judge him on that.  He was once a pretty good football player.

(This is all from memory, so feel free to correct me on details, but…)

Ellis came to USC out of Page High School in Greensboro, NC, as the #1 high school quarterback prospect in the country.  Legend has it that on his recruiting trip to USC, Joe Morrison and some other coaches took Ellis to the USC press box and played a  mock radio broadcast of him orchestrating a final touchdown drive as the Gamecocks beat #1 ranked Nebraska.  As Bob Fulton called the game-winning touchdown pass, Ellis, in his excitement, stood up a high-fived everyone in the room.  He committed on the spot.

He had a rough first year as a starter, mainly because of a brutal schedule.  The 1986 Gamecocks finished 3-6-2.  But the next year, my freshman year at USC, they went 8-4, riding a rabid Joe Lee Dunn defense and offensive weapons Ellis, Harold Green, and Sterling Sharpe.  I’ve always contended that was the best Gamecock team ever, with narrow losses at Georgia, Nebraska and Miami (FL), before a blowout loss to LSU in the Gator Bowl.  The crown jewel of the season was a 20-7 spanking of a nationally ranked Clemson team on ESPN.

In 1988 Ellis led USC to a blistering 6-0 start, only to fall flat on their faces against what appeared to be a vastly inferior Georgia Tech squad 34-0.  A humiliating 59-0 loss to Florida State on ESPN was followed by losses to Clemson and then Indiana in the Liberty Bowl.

Joe Morrison passed away that winter of a heart attack, and Sparky Woods was hired.

Ellis never seemed that comfortable outside the run and shoot offense, but still played relatively well in 1989.  In the season’s eighth game, an NC State defender crashed into Ellis’ knee, and that was the end of his South Carolina career.

Ellis never quite lived up to expectations, mainly due to his penchant for throwing interceptions.  But nonetheless, he held most Carolina passing records until Steve Taneyhill came along, and still holds quite a few.

Personally, my memories of Ellis as a football player are good ones.  In those days under Morrison we were the renegades, not afraid to take on anyone, and Todd was our leader.  No, we didn’t play by the rules, and it wound up hurting our program.  But with 20+ years gone by, I can say in retrospect, we sure had some fun.

Now, about that broadcasting thing…

Blake Williamson came into his redshirt freshman season in 1992 season as a backup to senior Wright Mitchell.  Mitchell started the first four games, all losses, then gave way to Williamson, who then gave way to some long-haired Yankee that re-wrote half the Carolina record book.

Williamson still saw a considerable amount of action even after Taneyhill took over, mostly in red zone situations.  He scored a critical late TD against Vanderbilt in 1992, but will mostly be remembered for a little piece of razzle dazzle on a soggy night in Baton Rouge in 1994 when he took a throwback pass for a touchdown in that victory.  (See “Trickery against LSU” clip; hat tip to Cockytalk.)

Rashad Faison is a guy who gets a lot of “one of my favorite Gamecocks ever” mentions.  A little too slow to play corner, a lot too small to play linebacker, Faison helped define the Spur position in Charlie Strong’s defense.  He was small (5′-9″) and in uniform looked like he should be playing for a JV team, but had a knack for finding ball carriers.  He was second on the team in tackles in 2000, and led the team in tackles and TFL’s in 2001.  And that was accomplished on a couple of pretty stout defensive units.

He’s another player who had to live through 0-11 to get to the great turnaround of 2000-2001.  He was one of several who had a shining moment in the 2000 Georgia game.  Early in the video below he gives a forearm shiver to Quincy Carter, then later makes a nice diving pick of a Carter pass (the fourth of five overall, in case you need a reminder…and I know you don’t).