It’s no secret that South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is notoriously tough on his quarterbacks. A former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Spurrier has always been an offensive-minded coach, so while he was overjoyed to see USC go 11-2 last season, he knew the Gamecocks’ defense carried them through much of the season, though the offense did its part at times.
While USC ranked No. 42 nationally in scoring offense (30.1 points per game, though that counts defensive and special teams scores) and No. 73 in total offense (373.5 yards per game), it ranked No. 10 in scoring defense (18.4) and No. 3 in total defense (267.7).
The Gamecocks were especially effective defending the pass, as they ranked second nationally with 131.7 passing yards allowed per game. But they were far from a prolific passing offense. They ranked No. 95 nationally with 181.5 passing yards per game.
They were actually a fairly efficient passing team, especially later in the year, as they ranked No. 50 with 7.4 yards per attempt. They just didn’t throw the ball a lot. They were No. 104 with 24.4 attempts per game. By comparison, they were No. 23 in rushing attempts per game, with 42.5.
That’s not how a typical Spurrier offense looks, but USC had a great running back in Marcus Lattimore for the first half of the season and a fleet-footed quarterback, Connor Shaw, for the second half. They only overlapped for one game, Kentucky, before Lattimore suffered a season-ending knee injury at Mississippi State.
Spurrier wants to see Shaw grow as a passer as he prepares for his junior season. The Gamecocks will also get Lattimore back. So it’ll be interesting to see how their run/pass balance works this fall. Right now, with three practices remaining before next Saturday’s spring game, Spurrier is none too pleased with his offense, though he did say today that the running back group, which doesn’t have Lattimore back yet, is doing “very well.”
First, here’s what Spurrier had to say a week ago today, unprompted to start his post-practice media session ...
“We had a sorry practice for the offensive guys. They looked pretty pitiful, pretty sad. The quarterbacks were lousy, the offensive line was pretty sad, couldn’t block anybody. As (linebacker) Damario Jeffery said, the defense whooped up. They whooped offensive butt out here in shorts today. Hopefully, we can get a little bit better on offense, but it was sad watching our guys try to play today. Maybe we’re practicing too many quarterbacks. They all looked pretty average. But anyway, it was sort of sad watching offense attempt to play today.”
After touching on a few other things, he continued, “The defense plays faster. Our offensive guys, you slap them upside the head, they don’t even get mad, some of them. I said, ‘Just tackle (defensive end) Jadeveon (Clowney) when he comes around the end.’ They can’t touch him. They can’t even grab him. So it was sort of sad watching. Anyway, sad.”
And that was how the session ended.
Today, Spurrier approached the media mongrels and launched into this ...
“I’m thinking about closing practices so you people don’t have to watch us try to throw and catch. I think we hit 1 out of 20 (in pass skeleton drill with no defensive rush). It was ugly. It was ugly. But anyway, I guess that’s why you practice. We’ve got to start throwing and catching better and see if we can look like a better passing team. I see why coaches close practice now. They don’t want people to see how bad they are, I guess. But we were lousy throwing today and hopefully we’ll get a little bit better as we go.
“We’ll keep working on it. We’re practicing a lot of quarterbacks, four or five. But still, it wasn’t near what we should be doing right now. It’s something we’ve got to keep working on. We can’t run the ball 50 times and throw 17 like we did last year, I don’t think. But maybe we can. I don’t know. Maybe we can beat some teams 14-3 or 14-10 or 12 like we did (last year). That might be our best formula right there. But hopefully, we can pitch it around. ... There’s no excuses. Just not real accurate throwers.”
As for his thoughts on last Saturday’s scrimmage, the final one before the spring game, Spurrier said, “We’ve got to pass block. It wasn’t as good as we had hoped offensively.”
Spurrier has four quarterbacks auditioning for the backup job: redshirt freshman Tanner McEvoy, sophomore Dylan Thompson, junior Andrew Clifford and senior walk-on Seth Strickland, who was not listed among the top three backups on the pre-spring depth chart. Spurrier wants to have a pecking order coming out of the spring, but he might not get his wish.
“That would be good, to have a solid backup to backup to Connor,” he said. “But who knows? We’ve got (freshman) Brendan Nosovitch coming in to compete with Dylan and Seth and those guys. We’ll see how all that plays out, too.”
A few other things Spurrier mentioned today ...
** Redshirt freshman Cedrick Cooper, who entered the spring as the No. 3 will linebacker, had an MRI on his lower back, which has been bothering him all spring. The severity of the injury remains unclear.
“Hopefully, it’s not too serious, but if it is, he may have to have surgery like (offensive tackle) Kyle Nunn (last year),” Spurrier said.
** Redshirt freshman wide receiver Shamier Jeffery, the younger brother of former USC star receiver Alshon Jeffery, is done for the spring with a minor knee injury. Shamier Jeffery was one of several receivers trying to replace his older brother as USC’s primary big target. The leader in that group is junior DeAngelo Smith.
“(Shamier) is having surgery,” Spurrier said. “He’s having a little meniscus, cartilage (surgery). Something got out of place, so they’re going to go in there. That’s a simple surgery. He should be back at the end of summer ready to go.”
** Starting center T.J. Johnson was running around at practice today after missing most of the spring with a sprained foot that isn’t serious.
Offensive line coach Shawn Elliott had said Johnson wasn’t going to get a lot of work anyway this spring, because the senior is entering his third year as a starter and Elliott wants to get a look at younger players. But as expected, Johnson is healing fine and working his way back from the relatively minor injury.
link: http://www.postandcourier.com/section/spurofthemoment?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&UID=6076b782-972c-43ee-b7e6-6c16fbce4f12&plckPostId=Blog%3a6076b782-972c-43ee-b7e6-6c16fbce4f12Post%3a29d986c8-3101-4f7a-9c16-ed0cd722aa5e&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
While USC ranked No. 42 nationally in scoring offense (30.1 points per game, though that counts defensive and special teams scores) and No. 73 in total offense (373.5 yards per game), it ranked No. 10 in scoring defense (18.4) and No. 3 in total defense (267.7).
The Gamecocks were especially effective defending the pass, as they ranked second nationally with 131.7 passing yards allowed per game. But they were far from a prolific passing offense. They ranked No. 95 nationally with 181.5 passing yards per game.
They were actually a fairly efficient passing team, especially later in the year, as they ranked No. 50 with 7.4 yards per attempt. They just didn’t throw the ball a lot. They were No. 104 with 24.4 attempts per game. By comparison, they were No. 23 in rushing attempts per game, with 42.5.
That’s not how a typical Spurrier offense looks, but USC had a great running back in Marcus Lattimore for the first half of the season and a fleet-footed quarterback, Connor Shaw, for the second half. They only overlapped for one game, Kentucky, before Lattimore suffered a season-ending knee injury at Mississippi State.
Spurrier wants to see Shaw grow as a passer as he prepares for his junior season. The Gamecocks will also get Lattimore back. So it’ll be interesting to see how their run/pass balance works this fall. Right now, with three practices remaining before next Saturday’s spring game, Spurrier is none too pleased with his offense, though he did say today that the running back group, which doesn’t have Lattimore back yet, is doing “very well.”
First, here’s what Spurrier had to say a week ago today, unprompted to start his post-practice media session ...
“We had a sorry practice for the offensive guys. They looked pretty pitiful, pretty sad. The quarterbacks were lousy, the offensive line was pretty sad, couldn’t block anybody. As (linebacker) Damario Jeffery said, the defense whooped up. They whooped offensive butt out here in shorts today. Hopefully, we can get a little bit better on offense, but it was sad watching our guys try to play today. Maybe we’re practicing too many quarterbacks. They all looked pretty average. But anyway, it was sort of sad watching offense attempt to play today.”
After touching on a few other things, he continued, “The defense plays faster. Our offensive guys, you slap them upside the head, they don’t even get mad, some of them. I said, ‘Just tackle (defensive end) Jadeveon (Clowney) when he comes around the end.’ They can’t touch him. They can’t even grab him. So it was sort of sad watching. Anyway, sad.”
And that was how the session ended.
Today, Spurrier approached the media mongrels and launched into this ...
“I’m thinking about closing practices so you people don’t have to watch us try to throw and catch. I think we hit 1 out of 20 (in pass skeleton drill with no defensive rush). It was ugly. It was ugly. But anyway, I guess that’s why you practice. We’ve got to start throwing and catching better and see if we can look like a better passing team. I see why coaches close practice now. They don’t want people to see how bad they are, I guess. But we were lousy throwing today and hopefully we’ll get a little bit better as we go.
“We’ll keep working on it. We’re practicing a lot of quarterbacks, four or five. But still, it wasn’t near what we should be doing right now. It’s something we’ve got to keep working on. We can’t run the ball 50 times and throw 17 like we did last year, I don’t think. But maybe we can. I don’t know. Maybe we can beat some teams 14-3 or 14-10 or 12 like we did (last year). That might be our best formula right there. But hopefully, we can pitch it around. ... There’s no excuses. Just not real accurate throwers.”
As for his thoughts on last Saturday’s scrimmage, the final one before the spring game, Spurrier said, “We’ve got to pass block. It wasn’t as good as we had hoped offensively.”
Spurrier has four quarterbacks auditioning for the backup job: redshirt freshman Tanner McEvoy, sophomore Dylan Thompson, junior Andrew Clifford and senior walk-on Seth Strickland, who was not listed among the top three backups on the pre-spring depth chart. Spurrier wants to have a pecking order coming out of the spring, but he might not get his wish.
“That would be good, to have a solid backup to backup to Connor,” he said. “But who knows? We’ve got (freshman) Brendan Nosovitch coming in to compete with Dylan and Seth and those guys. We’ll see how all that plays out, too.”
A few other things Spurrier mentioned today ...
** Redshirt freshman Cedrick Cooper, who entered the spring as the No. 3 will linebacker, had an MRI on his lower back, which has been bothering him all spring. The severity of the injury remains unclear.
“Hopefully, it’s not too serious, but if it is, he may have to have surgery like (offensive tackle) Kyle Nunn (last year),” Spurrier said.
** Redshirt freshman wide receiver Shamier Jeffery, the younger brother of former USC star receiver Alshon Jeffery, is done for the spring with a minor knee injury. Shamier Jeffery was one of several receivers trying to replace his older brother as USC’s primary big target. The leader in that group is junior DeAngelo Smith.
“(Shamier) is having surgery,” Spurrier said. “He’s having a little meniscus, cartilage (surgery). Something got out of place, so they’re going to go in there. That’s a simple surgery. He should be back at the end of summer ready to go.”
** Starting center T.J. Johnson was running around at practice today after missing most of the spring with a sprained foot that isn’t serious.
Offensive line coach Shawn Elliott had said Johnson wasn’t going to get a lot of work anyway this spring, because the senior is entering his third year as a starter and Elliott wants to get a look at younger players. But as expected, Johnson is healing fine and working his way back from the relatively minor injury.
link: http://www.postandcourier.com/section/spurofthemoment?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&UID=6076b782-972c-43ee-b7e6-6c16fbce4f12&plckPostId=Blog%3a6076b782-972c-43ee-b7e6-6c16fbce4f12Post%3a29d986c8-3101-4f7a-9c16-ed0cd722aa5e&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest