With the season less than two weeks away, just wanted to send a reminder of the HBC’s “LOI” to Dabo:

Buck laid down the funky offensive beats for yesterday’s Best Case/Worst Case analysis, so today it falls to me to answer with some defensive BC/WC thoughts:

Let’s start, just like a quarterback reading the pre-snap alignment, with the defensive backs and work our way down:

Safeties

Best Case:  DJ Swearinger translates his offseason grind-hype into even 10% of its potential.  Opposing B and Y receivers become B and Mers at the very sight of him.  Brison Williams develops from the dependable practice player that all the coaches love, to the gamer that all the fans adore.  One of either Kadetrix Marcus or Sheldon Royster develops into the next E. Cook or D. Stew as the season progresses.  Between the hash marks at Williams Brice is a bitter no man’s land for anyone who dares to try a post or crossing pattern.

Worst Case:  Swearinger’s offseason grinding results in stripped gears when it comes race time.  We get used to seeing the safeties pointing at each other post-touchdown in the age-old “no-you-had-inside-leverage” debate.  Opponents convert on various iterations of 3^rd and 10, 3^rd and 20, 4^th and 23, etc., etc.   And run support?  Yeah, but here it’s of the “run-down-from-behind-after-twenty-yard-gain” variety.  What I’m describing here is the “Bad Cully” part of good old #17’s schizophrenic career.

Corners

Best Case:  Auguste is back to his 1987 form (What? He’s been around that long, right?)  Victor Hampton takes his flashes of brilliance from last season and turns them into one season-long klieg light of shutdown domination.   Ahmad Christian and/or Jimmy Legree develop into solid backups – kind of like a more physical, cerebral, focused, and athletic version of Kevin House.

Hey, all any of them really need to do is keep the pattern covered for 3 seconds, as we will further explain in the Defensive Ends section, below.

Worst Case:  Since the TRC editorial ground rules prohibit discussing injuries during a BC/WC post, I’ll just quickly mention Akeem Auguste again and post this picture of a teddy bear:

Oh, and in a worst case scenario, Vic Hampton goes back to hanging out with known human organ traffickers and loses his place on the depth chart.

Linebackers/Spurs

Best Case:  Wilson, Smith, Bowens, Jeffrey, and Holloman, seniors all, play the best football of their careers.  Run fits and coverage drops are second nature to these guys, and our veteran corps wrecks havoc on opposing running backs and tight ends.    Young guys like Cooper and Lewis look like young Brinkleys in mop up duty, as we prepare them for the 2013 season.

Worst Case:  Wilson, Smith, Bowens, Jeffrey, and Holloman, seniors all, play like senior . . . citizens.  Slow and out of position, these guys make us long for the days when Shane Burnham roamed the area immediately back and to the left of the right hash mark on the 42 yard line (you know the spot where he was trying to unload the piano).  By midseason we are forcing things with the younger guys, who make up for their lack of experience by running in the wrong direction, but faster.

Defensive Ends

Best Case:  Jadeveon Clowney is the Best Case Scenario.   <—-that is a period, so read it that way.

Worst Case: We move #7 around between DT, DE, Will, and Mike so much that he gets frustrated and just starts eating people.  This includes, unfortunately, all the other defensive ends as “Don’t Say Nothing” can’t summon the presence of mind to yell for help.  Chaz Sutton manages to get two penalties called on him in the same punt return (wait – that already happened, see the third quarter of the Capitol One Bowl)

Oh and we waste Darius English’s redshirt year by accidentally playing him on the punt team during the Wofford game.

Defensive Tackles

Best Case:  Byron Jerideau Fever sweeps the nation as the svelte happy one becomes the feel-good story of CFB.  All the attention just makes him mad, so he plugs the gut of the Dline like an all-meat diet.   Kelcy Quarles develops into a premier run stopper in the mold of what we thought Stanley Doughty was gonna be, but never became.  Opponents give up trying to run up the middle, and can’t run around the end, for the reason we explained in the Defensive Ends section, above.

Worst Case: Kelcy Quarles, Philip Dukes, and however many Gerald Dixons we may or may not have on the roster get beat out on the depth chart by Aldrick Fordham.  I know, I know, he’s a heck of a ballplayer and we love him, but he’s got the frame of linebacker to go with his heart of a lion.  Byron Jerideau notices the Bojangles beside the stadium and starts trying to eat his way happy again.

We grew to love Travian, but all too late.

Next up, Gman analyzes Special Teams . . . or something.

You smell that?

No, not that.

THAT.

That’s the smell of football in the air people.  We’re speeding towards Thursday, August 30 like a Silver Bullet train, and expectations for Gamecock football have never been higher.  An SEC Championship Game appearance is a reasonable expectation.  And a 9-3 regular season feels kinda…meh.

Over the next week we’ll show you what a SEC Championship season looks like, and what 9-3 or worse looks like with best case/worst case scenarios for Gamecock offense, defense and special teams.

And we begin with…The Offense. (Note: In the best case/worst case scenarios, we cannot, will not, and do not assume injuries.)

The Quarterbacks

Best Case – Connor Shaw picks up where he left off in 2011 and becomes the poster boy for dual-threat quarterbacks in the NCAA.  He runs the offense with complete confidence.  As a passer, he makes good decisions with the ball, goes through progressions, and only takes off running as a last option.  As a runner, he picks up first downs, and knows when to get down to preserve his health.  He’s a white Charlie Ward, but finishes as third-team SEC because of the brilliant smiles of SEC poster boys Aaron Murray and Tyler Wilson.  Dylan Thompson gets very few meaningful minutes and a few kneel downs, and Brendan Nosovitch gets to redshirt as God intended.

Worst Case – Connor Shaw freaks out.  He looks like the wild-eyed kid that opened the season against East Carolina last year.  He overthrows open receivers, fumbles more times than the acceptable number of zero, and looks lost against inferior competition.  The offense can find no rhythm and sustain no drives, even with a powerful rushing attack.  Dylan Thompson comes in and you realize all his offseason “progress” is just internet talk, and the revolving door begins to spin.  Shaw, Thompson, Clifford, even Strickland.  Talk of taking the redshirt off Nosovitch begins, and the QB spot is once again a thorn for the HBC.

The Running Backs

Best Case – Marcus Lattimore is pissed.  Pissed that God tested him like this.  Pissed that he had to work ten times harder to get back to where he was, so he worked ten more times harder to get better than that.  Pissed at SEC defenses.  Pissed at me.  Pissed at you.  And he runs like it.  He powers over people and all of a sudden has that second gear that Matt Millen said he was missing against UGA last year.  He is the second coming of Adrian Peterson, and he’s glorious.  Kenny Miles is glad he came back, and spells #21 more than adequately.  Shon Carson gives us a change-of-pace back we haven’t had since NOBODY back in THE YEAR THAT DIDN’T EXIST.  Because we only have one ball Brandon Wilds and the uber-talented Mike Davis get to redshirt.  By the end of the year the USC backfield is widely recognized as the best in the SEC, if not the nation.

Worst Case – I can’t come up with a worst case scenario involving Marcus Lattimore, it’s just not in me.  So let’s just say he rushes for 1200 yards and 20 TD’s but gets no help from anyone else in the backfield.  Miles is the pedestrian Miles he has been for much of his career, Carson doesn’t pan out, and Brandon Wilds is more the Wilds of Clemson instead of the Wilds of Tennessee.  The Mike Davis redshirt is burned, but he simply doesn’t get many carries because #21 is so good.

The Wide Receivers

Best Cast – Ace Sanders steps up and becomes worthy of all-conference talk.  He finishes in the top 5 in receptions in the SEC, and while he doesn’t have a ton of yardage he’s a first down machine.  Bruce Ellington kills out of the slot.  Dameire Byrd becomes the deep threat we all hoped he’d be last year, getting behind defenses with his blazing speed.  Shaq Roland lives up to the hype, and like Alshon, becomes our jump ball/fade guy in the red zone. (Oh, and our Hail Mary guy too.)  Other receivers like D.L. Moore and K.J. Brent are solid contributors when needed.  With a powerful run game to compliment it, the passing game helps the Gamecock O become the most balanced in the SEC.

Worst Case – Ace Sanders continues to be Ace Sanders, solid but not a breakout performer.  Ellington dreams of early playing time for Frank Martin.  Byrd has stone hands and can’t be trusted, while Roland is lost once the lights come on and the proverbial bullets start flying.  Moore catches eight passes on the season, and Brent is the second coming of Moore.

The Tight Ends

Best Case – Holy moly people.  Cunningham, Anderson, Adams, Owens (for half the season), Rainey.  Let’s just say Justice Cunningham (an excellent blocker who can catch the ball on occasion) and Buster Anderson (an above average blocker with excellent hands and moves) play the way they did last year.  And let’s just say Jerell Adams is close to what we are hearing about in practice, which if you believe the legend is a cross between Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham and Tony Gonzalez.  And let’s just say Owens comes back from his knee injury as a contributor and Rainey redshirts.  I think that will do just fine.

Worst Case – Cunningham decides blocking is for the birds and he wants to catch more passes dammit.  Anderson regresses to more resemble the lightly recruited tight end we didn’t expect anything out of last year.  Adams is a myth, Owens doesn’t recover from his knee injury in time to contribute in 2012, and Rainey plays like a freshman.

The Offensive Line

Best Case – The corner is turned, and we finally have an upper level SEC line for our stable to run behind.  T.J. Johnson anchors the line as a veteran multiple-year starter who knows how to handle the wars.  A.J. Cann, Ronald Patrick and Mike Matulis build on their solid seasons from last year, and Brandon Shell becomes the left tackle we’ve always dreamed of.  The second teamers provide depth, and Sean Elliott is hailed as a savior.

Worst Case – We’ve been down this road oh so many times, do I really have to spell it out?

Next up, Tbone gives us Best Case/Worst Case for the 2012 Gamecock defense.

Tune in live, or later, for the historic 25th episode of TRC Unleashed.  We have no idea what we’ll be talking about, but you can be rest assured it will awesome.  

Starting to get a little concerned:

A Monday morning look back at the Gamecock weekend that was:

– Steve Spurrier will never, ever, no, not ever be an Athletics Director.    Good thing is, he has zero desire for that kind of job.  Need convincing?  Just listen to his latest presser from Media Day yesterday, and note how much he cares about finances.  I’ll give you a hint, its less than he cares about defense.  I think his quote was “don’t they just put all that cash in a big wad?”

– Marcus Lattimore and the Book of Job.  Again, watching video from yesterday’s Media Day and noted Marcus waxing personal about why God was testing him (and his ACL) in Starkville last fall.  Hate to go all Presbyterian on you here, but I think he’s got it wrong.

Augustine said it best, and I will paraphrase it poorly: God may well test us, but only to reveal to us how much grace we already have, not to prove anything to Him.

Or, maybe Latti was referring to visiting Starkville in the first place as being a test from God. In which case, point taken.

– Rico McWilliams – Feel horrible for this kid, and we died just a little when Lattimore said, in the above-referenced video, that he was dedicating each hit he took this season to the injured freshman.  Keep your head up, Rico – we are pulling for you to have a big 2013.

– DeDe Smith is a star in the making.  We here at TRC are really pulling for this guy, who is apparently now one of our starters at wideout.  Of course, so were Jason Barnes and Taqiy Muhammed at some point in their careers, says that nagging voice that’s been worrying me about the Gamecocks for over thirty years.

– ‘Punish.’  Reports have it that the 2012 Gamecock has adopted the word ‘punish’ as their slogan.  Couple of points here:  First, its wwaaaayyyy better and less prone to double entendre than “All In.”  Second, it certainly scares the crap outta me, and I’m not likely to be running a crossing route over the middle anytime soon.

– ‘Beastboard’ update.  It might, or might not, have been Eric Nichols of the Gamecock Front Office that coined the phrase (at least he’s using it on his twitter feed).  Regardless, we LOVE it as the unofficial moniker of the hulking behemoth that is now being constructed in the North end zone of the ‘Brice.

But one thing on the Beastboard, and someone pass this on to Mr. Nichols:  If, prior to the ECU game, we miss the gargantuanly dramatic opportunity to run the old school ‘2001’ opening video circa 1980 in the exact size and location of the old video board, and then immediately wham-splash a new updated video all over the Beast for the actual 2001 entrance, then we’re just killing puppies and kittens and wasting time.

See to it, Eric.

Latti’s Back: