Reality Check for Gamecock Fans RE: Recruiting Worries!!!

BlogSpot News Service
From Staff Reports

How soon we forget. It was the end of a 2004 football season in which Clemson’s Bobby Williamson punched Gamecock QB Syvelle Newton in the face while the kid lay helplessly pinned beneath a pile of players. While Williamson’s cowardly blow to the face was caught on tape for all the world to see, USC, under the authority of the soon-departing Andrew Sorenson, opted to deny GamecockNation and its players, a bowl game appearance.
After the melee, the Gamecocks ended up suspending players that were part of recruiting classes that were highly coveted by the less-successful Clemson (in recruiting) program. And with intense scrutiny on the SC football team, along with Spurrrier’s adherence to high standards, players of legendary status, including Mo Thompson and Demetrius Summers were shown the door. Aside from the stars’ departure, promising players such as K.T. Mainord were disciplined with dismissal and Gamecock Great Cory Boyd was suspended. The fallout from the fiasco that followed the brawl Clemson started, charged SC Football Coach Steve Spurrier with the task that finds him years later, still recovering from. Not to say that Spurrier has not worked miracles with what he has had to deal with. The Head Ball Coach pieced together a respectable recruiting class in 2005, especially considering he had but a few weeks to catch programs years ahead of him. Of that class, players including: Jonathan Hanna; Shea McKeen; O.J. Murdock, Cade Thompson and Dakota Walker were unable to meet Spurrier’s standards for various reasons. Jarriel King still has yet to don the Garnet and Black.
And so it goes. Aside from wash-outs, Spurrier has seen devastating injuries to players including Marquee Hall, Jasper Brinkley, Nathan Pepper and Bobby Wallace, just to name a few. If you don’t think the route Spurrier has had to travel with that first recruiting class has been a tough one, make note that hardly any of Spurrier’s 2006 recruiting class is absent from the program. And except for some NCAA-approved recruits, that were blocked by (the soon-departing) Sorenson, about all of Spurrier’s 2007 recruiting class is still with him. Major injuries, at different times of the season have hurt Spurrier, but you cannot play in the SEC and not expect that.
Now, contrast the staying rate of Spurrier’s classes, to the dismissal rate of the previous staff. If you do that, and make note of the number of post-season honors Spurrier’s recruits received, you begin to see this picture developing.
An example: The Gamecocks began the 2007 football season with fifth-year senior QB, Blake Mitchell, suspended because he cut too many classes. Another top (and much-needed, veteran) defensive player, Jordin Lindsey, was suspended from the team for the year for academics. Neither player is a Spurrier recruit.
The point is this. Spurrier has been working out of a hole, without much leadership from upperclassmen, for three years. And he still may not be out of the dark because he has senior players, from the previous staff, who may not be getting the message yet.
Now compare Spurrier’s obstacles with his in-state rival. At Clemson, a program that has had the same coach for almost a decade, the local Police Department has not made an arrest of a Clemson football players since 2001 (and that was post-season of course.) A Clemson player charged with Driving Under the Influence is allowed to play. And one pleading guilty to an alcohol-related charge, involving a fatality, was allowed to negotiate down the offense, with little media scrutiny. And the players miss little or no playing time. Other serious offenses (a gang-fight) by players are handled by a student court, and scarcely make news, while players remain secure on the football team. And until post-season 2007, player dismissals for academics at Clemson were extremely rare. Thanks to either a cleanly run program (extremely doubtful) or crafty manipulation of the rules and media (probable) attrition, has not hampered the Tigers in the least. And still the team seems to be no better in Coach Tommy Bowden’s ninth year than it was in his second year.
In conclusion: When you consider all that Spurrier has dealt with in three years at South Carolina, it is a wonder he has had anything resembling success, but he has. And for anyone fretting over any recruiting deficiency you think you may perceive, take a closer look. Evidence is strong that things will get much better, regardless of who Spurrier signs in 2008. And that has to have all reason-based Gamecock football fans excited.