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Junior, wide receiver #86 Kris Clark Senior, wide receiver #78 Jabari Levey Senior, left tackle #71 William Brown Sophomore, left guard #60 Chris White Junior, center #54 Freddy Saint-Preux Senior, right guard #70 Na'Shan Goddard Senior, right tackle #80 Andy Boyd Junior, tight end #12 Blake Mitchell Sophomore, quarterback #18 Antonio Heffner Freshman, quarterback #32 Daccus Turman Senior, fullback #25 Mike Davis ’ 1 Freshman, tailback L m |!»-I n« I |-|| »ri»Tlli r-~ I 1 I '- — — Coach | Steve L Spurrier s to Watch Noah Whiteside 2005 Schedule Junior, wide receiver Sept. 1 Central Florida W, 24-15 Sept. io Georgia 5:30p.m. pfoe Greenville native bounced back with a Sept. 17 Alabama 3:30p.m. it- •/ ■ •// / Sept. 24 Troy tba touchdown catch in week one, but his contribution will be Oct 8 '^Kentucky F vital against an experienced secondary. Oct. 22 Vanderbilt TBA Oct. 29 Tennessee TBA . .jjjtfj Nov. 5 Arkansas TBA Nov. 12 Florida TBA Nov. 19 Clemson TBA _ _ HP Marque Hall SA athei ® Sophomore, defensive tackle Hall will look to burst onto the scene against a very experienced Georgia line that features multiple AH-SEC candidates. USCphotos By Katie KirklandJThe Gamecock UGA photd 'out SIMPS* f a# ‘NAME: Ko Simpson POSITION: Rover HOMETOWN: Rock Hill, HEIGHT: 6 feet 2 inches J WEIGHT: 202 pounds |fEAR: Sophomore MAJOR: Sports and Entertainment Management -Named a preseason All-American by The Sporting News after the AP named him SEC Freshman of the Year in second-team All-SEC in his freshman season. -Ranked first in the SEC and third nationally in 2004 with six interceptions, the most by any Gamecock since 1977 -Enrolled at Carolina in the spring of 2004 after grey shirting in the (all ^---- • -----------'Grap&'hT^raJoyceGou&hmJAmm^ Simpson • CODTinUED FROm B3 win an SEC championship.” With a new coach who has been followed in the national media more closely than any other person - minus the president this year, the time to begin heading toward an SEC championship seems to be forced upon the team prematurely. However, no one expects the team to achieve more than the players do, and after the offense and defense manage to grasp what they’re being taught, Simpson believes that there’s no reason Carolina can’t contend this season. “I think everyone's coming along all right,” Simpson said. “I think we're going to play good. I think we're going to win by a lot.” Bolstered by what Simpson considers “the best secondary in the SEC and one of the top in the nation,” even coach Steve Spurrier made remarks in the preseason indicating the defense and secondary were the strengths of the team. However, after a less-than-stellar showing against Central Florida, the coach said he hopes the defense follows in line with Simpson’s philosophy in not reading in to the hype. "Sometimes when the local newspaper writes about how great our defense is, and they read it and believe it,” Spurrier said after Tuesday’s practice. “It happens to every team all over the country. But after that last (preseason) scrimmage, I would have written the same thing. Our defense really looked good that last scrimmage. But Central Florida didn't care about how good we played in the scrimmage, and they came to play." $ witn success comes proressionai temptations. Carolina has been well-known in recent years in placing secondary players into the NFL. Freeman, Robinson, Sheldon Brown, Deandre’ Eiland, Willie Offord, Andre Goodman, Terry Cousin and Kevin House played on NFL teams last season as defensive backs, and Simpson in all aspects fits the mold of another great Carolina defensive back who could possibly have a future on Sundays. With today’s money-first society, does he see himself leaving school after three years to make the leap? “(The NFL) has been one of my goals since I 1 was little,” Simpson said. “That's all you want to L do — to play in the NFL. That’s what you play high school for, that's what you play college for, to get to the next level. (But) I don’t really think about playing and leaving early, I'm just out here to play right now.” Intent on going one game at a time, having fun and looking ahead to Georgia is all he can do. With the first game out of the way, the defense should be back up to par for the biggest game of the first half of the season. And despite the need to prove there will be no “sophomore slump” on the field, Ko has all the reason in the world to believe this season will be nothing but fun performing in coaches’ Thompson and Nix new system. “Last year it was a lot of the secondary and linebackers making plays,” Simpson said. “This year there's a lot of blitzing and attacking the quarterback. It's going to be a lot of crazy stuff.” Comments on this story?E-mailigamecocksports@gum.sc.edu /hotted Sundeck - Playground • High-speed internet available • 1-4 Bedrooms available • Pet friendly - Short-term leasing available • #45 De'Adrian Coley Senior, defensive end , #79 Marque Hall Sophomore, defensive tackle t #98 Chris Tucker Senior, nose tackle #94 Josh Johnson Sophomore, defensive end £ #48 Lance Laury Senior, outside linebacker #42 Ricardo Hurley Senior, middle linebacker #44 Mike West Junior, outside linebacker 1 #9 Jonathan Joseph Junior, cornerback #10 Ko Simpson Sophomore, rover #26 Brandon Isaac 4 Junior, free safety p #8 Fred Bennett Junior, cornerback ^