Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1975 Jim Carle i new USC f f By MARK LEARY Sports Editor As the Sports Information Department says "The fall of 1975 brings a new era to Carolina Football with the arrival of Jim Carlen as head coach." So just what is in store for Carolina during the up coming season. Carlen and his staff have a reputation of rebuilding programs and the task of rebuilding Carolina will not be an easy one. If you are one of those who expect an im mediate winner you better think twice. Even head coach Jim Carlen realizes that success will not come overnight. As Carlen puts it he expects Carolina to get their nose bloodied a few times this season. They are a team with some strengths and a lot of weaknesses that have to be repaired before the Gamecock fans will see a winning team. The Gamecocks biggest strength going into the 1975 campaign was the quarterbacking position. Already this strength has been diminished greatly with the loss of Ron Bass for the season. One of Carlen's major worries going into the season was keeping his quarterbacks healthy. If this was a worry before the season Carlen must be having many a sleepless night lately. So with the loss of Bass for the season the pressure is on Jeff Grantz to produce. As everybody knows, Grantz did produce in his sophomore season racking up 1,670 yards total offense but last year A C rol11 begins >potball era was a different story. Constant injuries hampered Grantz's per formance throughout the entire season. After Grantz the best way to describe the signal calling position is inexperienced. Even with the loss of Jay Lynn Hodgin to graduation the Gamecocks backfield must be rated the strong point of this year's team. Carolina has good depth at both tailback and fullback. Junior Clarence Williams and sohpomore Casper Carter will share the tailback spot while senior Tom Amrein and junior Kevin Long divide the fullback duties. Seniors Scott Thomas, Randy Chastain, Jay Saldi and sophomore Philip Logan give good depth to the receivers. Senior Brian Nemeth returns to the football squad and could work his way into the star ting line-up. The offensive line could cause problems since the Gamecocks lack depth at all the positions. Three starters from last season return on the offensive line. Returning are center Mike Mc Cabe, left guard Brad Kline and part-time starter E.Z. Smith at left tackle. The three senior linemen are joined by junior guard Steve Courson and sqphomore tackle Jerome Provence. What can you say about a defense that gave up an average of 418 yards total offense per game? That it needs improvement would be an understatement. Carlen and his staff are trying to change this defense into one that Gamecock fans can be proud of. Carlen told the media at a recent 4$r aFoot Jim Carlen press conference that 'his defensive coordinator didn't even want to look at the game films from last year. He wanted toD start from scrati!h and rebuild. When the new coach arrived on the scene last year it was evident to Carlen what one of his major problems was and he recruited to solve this problem. Out of the 27 freshman signees, 11 were defensive linemen, seven were linebackers and two were defen sive backs. As of last week ten of these fresh men had already broken into the varsity roster depth chart. Carlen said during spring practice that he would not hesitate to play fresh men if they were ready. One bright spot on defense is the secondary. Carolina has good depth at each position in the secondary,' making this the strongest area on defense. The cornerbacks are senior Henry Laws and sophomore Lance Garrett. The strong safety position is filled by seniors Andy Nelson and Zeb Shue. One of Carlen's biggest hopes is to create a positive attitude with not only the players but also the student body. 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Carolina has two defensive ends that do not fir the modem day stereotype of size, which the defensive end imperatively needs. However, the one thing USC's ends do have is speed and determination. Starting at the defensive end positions this year for the Gamecocks will be Russ Manzari (5-9, 190) and Scott Blackman (6-0, 220). Both ends said they do not think of their size as a liability, rather they said they use their speed to make up for what they lack in size. Manzari said he can use his speed to his advantage because he never has to leave the ground to right off potential blockers. He also said he can react faster on defense than a larger player might be able to. Manzari was a starter last year and led the team in individual tackles with a total of 133. Manzari also said he liked the new "50 defense" because it is not as physical on him as the type of defense the Gamecocks played last year. He said that in the new defense he doesn't have to wait on the play to come to him and has the advantage of meeting the play at the line of scrimmage. Manazari is an exceptionally fast defensive end as he runs the 40 yard dash in 4.6 seconds. Manzari's counterpart at defensive end Scott Black man said he thinks Georgia Tech is going to "come out running." Blackman said he feels the new defensie is "a lot more fun to play because the ends stunt a lot." The defensive ends have different reads on backs than they did last year, according to Blackman. Blackman is a little larger than Manzari, although he is still small considering the size of most defensive ends in the college ranks. Blackman is also very fast however, as he runs the 40 yard dash in 4.8 seconds. "I really don't think about my size," Blackman said. He played defensive end for the junior varsity last season and is considered one of the most improved players on the team. Blackman said he is looking forward to playing against N.C. State this year because two high school classmates of Blackman's are starting for the Woflpack this year. Both defensive ends said the spirit on the team is a lot better than it was last year. Manzari noted that the team is confident and they think they are ready for Georgia Tech. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets run a Wishbone attack and last year they ran it well against the Gamecocks at Grant Field. However, Tech will not be able to rest on last year's laurels, they wili have to prove their ground game again this year against a Gamecock defense that will present a new look. If Manzari and Blackman have their way the Yellow Jackets will not accumulate as much rushing yardage as they did last year. Their speed and winning spirit culd be the difference.