Your optimism astounds me Connor. You are a true Gamecock.
I look at the depth chart and am distraught.
Moe Brown is still on this team and is listed as a starter?! He couldnt catch herpes from a 60 year-old French whore.
While you see "capable replacements" filling in for Captain and E Cook, I see... Addison Williams, this should be a delight to 11 people: the starting SEC QBs.
With both Cooks (E and J), McKinley, Jasper, Succop, and Captain all gone, I see 6 of our 7 best players gone. And, as for our best returning player, Eric Norwood, how many games do you think it will take until he goes into "Im mailing in this season because I dont want to get hurt and have Mel Kiper call me an injury risk" mode?
Stephen THE SAVIOR OF THE PROGRAM Garcia (copyright cocknfire from garnetandblackattack.com) has done nothng to suggest he will be anything beyond frustratingly inconsistent. Perhaps we should realize the truth about Garcia's "flashes of brilliance": even the sun shines on a horse's ass every once in awhile.
No, this time of year is not magical - its a depressing cock-tease: rays of sunshine will be at a premium between the bleak, cold days of March.
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I would definitely call Akeem Auguste and Chris Culliver capable replacements for E. Cook and especially Captain. In Captain's case, he may be fast, but I think we can find someone else to blow coverages, commit penalties at the most inopportune times, and then throw his teammates under the bus. You’d have to be a fool to think that E. Cook won’t be missed, but I doubt as much as most people think. Plus you have to factor in the early enrolling Freshmen into the picture, the two most athletic of which are both defensive backs.
Succop, McKinely, and Jasper will all be missed as well. We’ll suffer through the breaking in of a new place kicker, but then again, neither McKinely or Succop had the kind of senior season swan song that we were expecting pre-2008. Jasper, while a beast who I respect immensely, I think will be replaced nicely by a pair or JC transfers from GMC who should be able to step in and fill his shoes right away (actually I can’t remember if JC kids are allowed to play right away as they are in NCAA baseball, but I’m pretty sure they can). As for Eric Norwood, if you can’t see that he’s not the type of player to mail it in, then I can’t help you. He’s a character guy who’s exceeded expectations from day one. He could have jumped to the NFL like the rest, but he had the good sense and motivation to come back to USC for his senior season.
Now we come to the crux of your argument, Steven Garcia’s ineptitude. I don’t really know what you were expecting from a redshirt freshmen in the SEC who also happened to miss both his spring practices, but I think Garcia performed on par with the freshman version of Mathew Stafford a few years ago – given the circumstances of course. I am by no means a Garcia fan, but to give up on him after his freshman campaign is just asinine. He has all the physical tools to compete at a high level in college and appears increasingly to be coming around mentally as well. Now let’s throw in the coaching upgrades (at least at the offensive positions) as well. The GA Mangus hire, in particular, gives fans a reason to think Garcia will come out of spring ball much more developed than he went in.
I’m not saying that 2009 will finally be the year that USC wins the SEC or even the east. I’m not even saying that USC will have a winning season next year. What I am saying is that there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic for Gamecock football fans right now. There is a reason the South Carolina state motto is, “While I breathe, I hope.” If you take away our hope, Gamecock fans would literally have nothing. So don’t go there, Lance. Don’t do it.
The flame of my optimism burns eternal. To me, every year has been "our year" since 1994 when Brad Scott was still thought of as a hero... even though there has rarely been any evidence on which to base these aspirations.
That said...
If we were going to lose three stars to early departure, it couldn't have been at better positions. For all of Cap and ECook's virtues, they were not so great that our great depth and talent in the secondary will be unable to at least come close to replicating their production (between Auguste, Culliver, Gilmore, et al... I like our chances there. Admittedly, Addison Williams is something of an eyesore, but so was his predecessor, Carlos Thomas).
And do you really expect a huge drop-off from Jared Cook to Weslye Saunders? Saunders = Cook + 25 pounds.
And I don't really buy the Norwood argument. What looks worse to scouts? Getting banged up or mailing it in?
So, Connor, what you're saying is that we are going to be good because even when we lose our best players they really aren't that great therefore we don't ever really lose talent....
This is an interesting new way to root optimistically for USC.
Please note:
No one has mentioned the Offensive Line
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