re: State of Gamecock Recruiting for 2019

Thanks for providing that link. He's got some crazy highlights. Very excited about him.

You get 5 to play four. He redshirted so thats one year then he played as a rsfr last year that is 2. He has to sit out this year and there isn't a red shirt available so thats 3 years. So that leaves years 4 and 5 available. So 2 years unless he gets a 6th year.

Yeah ... so the little things I noticed about him that really stood out beside how hard he runs ...

Kid has incredible vision. Really hits the hole hard but also glides laterally to the open holes along the line, he has a nose for it, almost effortlessly. Last guy we had that could do that, and it's something you can't teach, was Lattimore.

His open field vision is just as good. He plants and moves laterally at full speed ... that's something you just cannot teach.

Next, you're right, he doesn't have breakaway speed but neither did Lattimore. He's got good football speed and you don't need breakaway speed inside the fifty. Watch how smoothly he switches hands based upon his angle of attack ... ball always gets moved to the outside to help him with his balance, to increase his speed of arc and to protect the ball from defenders pursuing from the inside. He also uses the sideline read well to protect his outside. A lot of backs do not do that well but he does it and makes it look easy. They call those hashmark backs because he takes half of the field away from defenders and helps his blockers in the process. Our coaches will be able to use that to thr short side of the field ... something UGA does really well with their backs. It's very hard to teach.

Another thing ... he looks like he has good hands on the wheel routes and delayed swing routes and screens. That's a huge plus.

Now, can he block? We didn't see a lot of that in the film but typically, your cannonball backs like him are good to above average blockers.

He's got a very low center of gravity so he's not only difficult to bring down but it helps him gain extra yards after contact. And a lot of that has to do with very powerful thighs ... he protects his legs and punishes tacklers who come in on him low. Also, if you'll notice, and this is very old school, but he delivers blows with his free arm. Watch how many tacklers he hits in the facemask with that free arm and watch their heads snap back. As a former LB who played ball until the age of 25 ... I hated hitting guys who knew how to use that free arm as a weapon and this kid does it like butter. Nothing hurts worse than having that neck and head snapped back.

I really really like this kid. He may end up being a TD machine for us down the road.

I wish you were correct but I'm pretty sure once the clock starts there is no changing the 5 years, unless you get a 6th year.

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I wish you were correct but I'm pretty sure once the clock starts there is no changing the 5 years, unless you get a 6th year.

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So, on this first.

What I found out yesterday is that y'all are right. He's got to be granted a sixth year ... and they've already filed the waiver. I was told chances are 50-50 he'll get one. As it was explained to me quite a few waivers are being granted these days thanks to a new policy by the NCAA where they do not want to penalize a kid for transferring under certain circumstances, especially where the school he is transferring from is not contesting or attempting to prevent the kid from going to his new school.

Most think it really doesn't matter with this kid though because he is talented enough that he'll turn pro first chance he gets working under the tutelage of TRob and Boom.

I also got to see Belk yesterday. Damn he is wide. He's running around doing some weight loss stuff ... he's not in shape. Was told he's lost ten pounds since Saturday.

Saw a lot, but not much in terms of anything worth mentioning because they didn't let us stay for long but ...

... there was this one kid, I think he may be a LB or DB, I'm thinking DB. Big kid though, was wearing #24. Holy cow he is an athlete. Has got to be one of the best athletes on the team. Just smooth as silk. Fast, strong, physically gifted. Reminded me a little bit of Gilmore but bigger and faster. If he is a DB, and he appeared to be with the DB group, although it was hard to tell, then he's the biggest DB we've ever had. He's got to be 6-4, 6-5. He looked as tall as Evan Hinson to me.

It was just amazing to me how big some of these kids are these days. This #24 would have been a TE or DE for us not all that many years ago. And he dominated in the Cock Drill.

Oh, saw Rosando Louis in a tshirt before he put his shoulder pads on ... maybe the most physically impressive true freshman linebacker we've ever had. A beast. Reminded me of Body Bag Wadley back in the day but bigger. Must be a dedicated guy in the weight room. He looks like a Bama type LB. If we ever have four or five Louis type guys on the LB depth chart we will have arrived.

Couple of things I heard while there but it's just talk, not written in stone.

Everyone was talking about Joyner being ahead of Urich on the depth chart but that may just be for optics and not necessarily the case. Urich is still, clearly, much further along than Joyner ... it's not really even close. BUT, for whatever reason, they want to get Joyner some reps because of some promises made and because they intend to use him in certain situations and move him around some.

Okay, so with that said it is the general consensus that, Urich will be the official #3 QB this year if needed, but with Hilinski coming he'll eventually be moved to WR.

Joyner will be the utility QB for special situations which I took to mean we'll see him line up as a WR and be motioned into a wildcock role from time to time. Joyner is the more elusive runner.

What I don't understand is how they expect to have a couple of QBs ready to go in a couple of years once Bentley is gone ... and, fwiw, it would take a helluva great year this year for Bentley to enter the draft. No one believes that's going to happen.

But let's say he does. Scarnecchia is also gone. Who stsrts next year? It's something to think about but it would not be good if it's Hilinski imho. He really needs a RS year ... but who knows. I'm probably wrong. It just wouldn't make sense to me considering both Urich and Joyner would have some experience.

Bentley's not going to declare though ... I really believe that.

They just didn't let us see enough to have much more to share. We got to trickle in with the media and then we had to leave when the media left so all we really got to see was the guys stretching, running some position drills and then doing the Cock Drill.

We did get to look around the outside of the FootballOps building for a little while but not go in. From what I could tell it will not be long before they start putting doors on the place. Looked like they're starting to install fixtures and tile and electrical plugs and boxes in .... so it's getting close. They said it should definitely be ready by early signing day. Was told they will probably not try to actually move in until after the bowl, whenever that is.

Not going to be a lot of stuff to move from the Floyd building because they are getting all new furniture and computers and stuff and file transfers will be done electronically. Only stuff to move will be mUSChamp's desk, some paperwork and the various Coaches' momentos they want in their new offices ... pictures, footballs, stuff like that.

So by mid morning I was in the Cockaboose taking liqour cabinet inventory and getting ready for game one. New tarp is tied down and looking good. Trees around the plaza have really grown and are in full bloom.

Football is in the air over there. It'll be here before we know it.

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there was this one kid, I think he may be a LB or DB, I'm thinking DB. Big kid though, was wearing #24. Holy cow he is an athlete. Has got to be one of the best athletes on the team. Just smooth as silk. Fast, strong, physically gifted. Reminded me a little bit of Gilmore but bigger and faster. If he is a DB, and he appeared to be with the DB group, although it was hard to tell, then he's the biggest DB we've ever had. He's got to be 6-4, 6-5. He looked as tall as Evan Hinson to me. 

It was just amazing to me how big some of these kids are these days. This #24 would have been a TE or DE for us not all that many years ago. 

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That was Isreal Mukuamu, and he is a corner, yes a corner

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That was Isreal Mukuamu, and he is a corner, yes a corner

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Day-um. Now that makes sense. I thought he was wearing #31 yesterday. Now I'm wondering who was #31? I need to get my hands on a current roster with all the new guys because the official Gamecock app is shite.

Well, he's another one that looked pretty dang impressive.

So, this reminds me of a story from years ago.

Back in 1996, I think it was, I was at a practice one day and admiring all these new, what I thought at the time, big time athletes Brad Scott had been recruiting. I think we had landed our first Top 25 class that year ... and those were the years of Super Prep and Max Enfinger and Parade All-Americans and ... I can't remember but maybe Bobby Burton had his magazine starting right about then.

I had started the first Gamecock website on AOL that year and we also had USCCocks then as well. But there wasn't the big websites dedicated to recruiting back then that there are today.

Anyways, so I'm standing there and lo and behold standing right next to me is Gene Stallings. He had his mentally disabled Son with him and at first I had to do a double-take because it caught me off guard and then I spoke to him, introduced myself, asked him about his visit ... I think he was speaking at the Columbia TD Club that night if I remember correctly.

Well, I had been around Gamecock football since I was a kid, did a little waterboy duty back in the day and even sold Cokes in the stadium in the 60s long before upper level expansions ... so I was a big fan very early on and had been on the sidelines and around players pretty much most of my life.

I knew sizes and we had not been a very big football team ever in the overall scheme of things.I mean we had some good players, especially in the late 70s and through the 80s, but we had never had the monsters Bama and Georgia and especially So Cal, OSU and Michigan had back in those days.

But that day in 1996 I was standing there thinking ... man, we have finally arrived. We had some hosses in my eyes, big boys, 300 pounders by gosh!

So, my dumbass says to Coach Stallings ... 'what do you think Coach? Is this finally looking like an SEC team or what?'

And he looks at me and says, and I mean it was very matter of factley the way he said it, he says, "y'all are still a ways away. Y'all've got a ways to go. I see some good ballplayers out there but you're going to need a lot more or those."

And he left it at that.

He was right. And it stuck with me as I got more into recruiting over the course of the next ten or fifteen years ... we were waaaaaay behind the blue bloods. Especially when I would see Tennessee in their hayday years come in and we looked so outclassed, and Florida and Georgia. They were all just bigger and stronger and faster.

Now, things began to look-up under SPURrier for a few years but we still didn't have enough and, as we all know, we fell off quickly because we were not reloading ... and that's the key here.

What I saw yesterday were more big time athletes, more big, quick, well built, (not just big, but really athletic guys), SEC caliber athletes than we've ever had. It's not even close. I mean the upgrade in talent has just been remarkable under mUSChamp and it appears it will continue to get better every year.

These guys he is signing are college football ready. They may not all be able to contribute right away because they've got to get used to the speed of the game and the intensity and violence ... but they've got what it takes if they are willing to spend the time in the weight room. They are very moldable.

What's the word I'm looking for here? I guess what I'm trying to say is that these are not two or three or four year projects we are signing. These kids just need some tweaking and fine tuning. I mean I could see such a difference in some of them just since Spring ... it's incredible what our nutrition and weight training program is doing for these kids.

Who knows what this season is going to bring but whatever disappointment may be in store, and there will be one or two, it's not going to be for lack of effort or facilities or management. We've got all of that in place now and the studs to go with it ... we still need more of course, and we'll have them, bit mUSChamp has wasted very few schollies in his time here thus far.

He's really got an eye for talent on the defensive side of the ball especially. And he's got the staff, on the offensive side of the ball, to overcome whatever shortcomings he may have as a head coach over there.

It's just amazing to watch. I'm a big guy at 6-3 ... but for the first time I actually felt small around some of these guys. And I mean they're not tall and skinny or tall and fat ... these guys are absolutely chisled studs who can run.

It's hard to see how really big and fast they are from the stands. I was thinking yesterday what it must feel like getting hit by some of these guys. Close up it sounds like cars colliding or bulls butting heads.

It's just so impressive seeing what Boom has done in terms of upgrading talent.

Now, let's hope it all translates into big wins. I walked away yesterday thinking we have a dozen or more guys on this roster right now who will be drafted one day ... probably more. Not free agents mind you, but drafted.

We need 25. When we can look on our roster and legitimately, during any given year, find 25 draft quality athletes on our roster ... then we will have arrived.

We've still got a long ways to go but we are getting there. It's a big jump from a dozen to 25 ... but we're getting there.