EVANS, Ga. — In the eyes of the 12 Southeastern Conference coaches, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney was the best freshman football player in the conference last season, according to a recent article at GamecockCentral.com.
Clowney finished with 36 tackles and ranked among the SEC defensive leaders in sacks (8.0) and forced fumbles (5). All in all, it was pretty good year statistically for the former No. 1 prospect in the nation.
Steve Spurrier, though, says his season could have been better, and he’s looking for Clowney to take the next step up the ladder in 2012 towards becoming a consistently dominant defensive end in the SEC.
“Hopefully, some players on defense will step up. Clowney has to have a bigger year than he had last year,” Spurrier told a small group of reporters before taking the stage to speak to a crowd of about 300 Gamecock fans at the Lady Antebellum Amphitheatre.
“We have him coming from a lot of different spots. He didn’t play a lot last year. I had to put him in the game sometimes. I had to ask Coach (Brad) Lawing why he wasn’t in. He would say because he messed up the last time he was in there. He lined up wrong or something. I would say, ‘Well, get him in there.’ He didn’t play about 30 plays a game. He needs to play 50 or 60 (this year). Replacing a national defensive player of the year-caliber guy like Melvin Ingram will be hard. We need guys to fill in.”
Spurrier added Clowney and senior Devin Taylor have the talent and ability to become the top defensive end duo in the country, hopefully sparking what should be another outstanding Gamecock defense.
“Our defense should be good with Clowney and Devin Taylor,” Spurrier said. “Some people think they’re the two best defensive ends in the country. Our linebackers should be solid.”
USC grabbed two more commitments on Thursday from a pair of defensive linemen less than 48 hours after four-star quarterback Connor Mitch of Raleigh, N.C., pledged to the Gamecocks for the 2013 signing class.
Nationally, prospects are seemingly committing earlier and earlier. USC has 12 commitments after receiving three pledges on Thursday and we haven’t yet reached the middle of May. During the last recruiting cycle, the Gamecocks had over half of their signing class locked up before the start of the 2011 season and every one signed with USC.
What’s driving the trend of prospects deciding to end the recruiting process before the end of their junior years in high school? Spurrier provided a few answers on Thursday night.
“The month of May is now a big recruiting month,” Spurrier said. “High school kids have their choice right now because everybody has scholarships to offer. Sometimes when the season starts, most schools are already full or have just one or two left. They look around on their own and pretty much make their decisions in the month of May now.”
With Brendan Nosovitch joining the program next month and Mitch coming aboard next summer, USC appears set at quarterbacks for the next five years. Right now, though, Connor Shaw remains the clear No. 1 signal caller for the Gamecocks.
“Connor Shaw is our quarterback, no question about it,” Spurrier said. “He played extremely well, especially in the last four games of the season. He doesn’t do stupid stuff. You can win with Connor Shaw. That’s really why we won 11 games — Connor Shaw, our defense was very good and we ran the ball. We had a good team.”
With a career completion percentage over 66 percent (146-of-221) and a touchdown pass-to-interception ratio of almost 2-to-1 (15 TD, 8 INT), Spurrier believes Shaw is set to become one of the top quarterbacks in the SEC.
“I think Connor is ready to be the All-SEC quarterback,” Spurrier said. “I don’t know if we’ve had one. If so, Connor Shaw could be the first one in a long time. He might have a chance to be our first All-SEC quarterback. He’s a young man who can run and throw and take care of the ball. He doesn’t do stupid things. He’s a winner. He’s a guy all of our players believe in.”
Dylan Thompson has a firm grasp on the No. 2 job heading into pre-season camp, but several contenders will be looking to unseat him over the course of the 29 practices prior to the Aug. 30 season opener at Vanderbilt.
“Dylan Thompson is a very capable backup to Connor,” Spurrier said. “We may be a little better off at quarterback than we have been in a long time. To complete all those passes in the spring game. We’ve never completed that many. That’s encouraging.”
But USC is well stocked at many other positions as well, especially in the defensive front seven and running back. Will the Gamecocks set another school record for most wins in a single season?
Spurrier doesn’t want the Gamecocks to rest on their laurels from last season.
“We have to try to do better each year,” Spurrier said. “We think we have a team that’s ready to do some good stuff. We’ve made improvements in the last several years. We have better football players than we’ve ever had and players with a better commitment. They go to class and they graduate. They do what they’re supposed to do.
“When you have a bunch of good players that put the team first, you have a chance to win a whole bunch of games and hopefully win some more championships. But you need to have a bunch of good players to start with. Then you have to train them and develop them. Then they have to take it upon themselves to be the best they can be. We have a good bunch ready to go this coming year.”
USC has captured the ‘state championship’ over Clemson for three straight years - outscoring the Tigers 97-37 in the process - but Spurrier eyes a greater and more prominent prize - a SEC championship ring for the Gamecocks. Winning the game in Atlanta on the first Saturday in December is typically a guaranteed ticket into the national championship game.
“Last year, we won our state championship again and we won the bowl championship,” Spurrier said. “But we didn’t win the division. Our goal every year is to win the division and the SEC championship. We still have a bunch of firsts still out there to accomplish that we haven’t reached yet. We want to have our expectations high.
“And certainly they’ll be up there. We won 11, Now we’ll try to win 12.”
Read more: http://thetandd.com/sports/spurrier-clowney-has-to-step-up/article_b255bd8e-9d76-11e1-9f88-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz1utL34PtA
