Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Senior Matthew Thomas will provide leadership to a young, talented wide receiver corps this fall. hootoaii CONTINUED FROM PAGE Cl Defense gets new look Moving across the line of scrim mage is a welcome change for the Gamecocks. The defensive side, barring a huge surprise, will be the team’s lifeline. The defensive line is ready to thrive under mnnei a new stiicuic. icn return at the ends where junior Moe Thompson and senior George Gause should both make a run at All-SEC honors. The under achieving duo of senior Darrell Shropshire and Freddy Saint Preux will get more action in Minter’s defense, which involves more stunts at the defensive tack le position. A healthy Preston Thome will be a boost to the depth of that position. Like the receiving corps, the linebacker unit is dripping with talent. Mostly due to injuries, se nior Marcus Lawrence and ju niors Ricardo Hurley and Lance Laury have not lived up to their potential. This could be the year that changes. Hurley will line up at outside linebacker and has the potential to be All-SEC. Laury will back up Hurley, while Lawrence looks to stuff up the middle of the defense. Converted safety Rod Wilson, who is play ing his fourth position in five years, will fill the other outside linebacker position. The secondary will feature an abundance of new faces. After losing cornerbacks Dunta Robinson and Deandre Eiland, Minter will look to some new comers for playing time. Junior college transfer Jonathan Joseph went through spring drills and will be a starter at one corner. Time could be split at the other corner by sophomore Fred Bennett and senior Taqiy Muhammad. Promising senior Jermaine Harris will fill free safety, while the strong safety spot looks like it will go to fresh man Ko Simpson. Schedule The schedule for USC looks again to be a roller coaster. In what might be the key game of the season, the Gamecocks open at Vanderbilt, where a loss could mean doom. The squad could play championship spoiler in game two as they play host to the Georgia Bulldogs. After a few as sumed wins at home, a six-game conference stretch will be the key to the season. With three games both home and away, a split could guarantee the team’s first bowl berth in three years. The fi nal two games will see the Gamecocks try to withstand the arange crush that is games at Florida and Clemson. Holtz and company are praying they are not 5-4 going into those last two con tests with a bowl berth on the line. “Last season was a hard pill to swallow. We lost some close ?ames,” senior John Strickland said. “The experience made us work harder and become more fo sused on the task ahead.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Football season: the most wonderful time of the year It’s that time of year again. It’s time for skipping your 11 a.m. class to wait in line for tickets at □ the Russell House. It’s time to dust off the tailgating equipment and fire up the grills. It’s time to get excited about JUCL Gamecock WALLACE football. Fifth-year There’s so print much to look journalism forward to this student season. For starters, the Gamecocks are back in black, and I couldn’t be happier. I re member (just barely) the Black Magic days when the man in black, Joe Morrison — not Johnny Cash — patrolled the sidelines as USC’s head coach. The new uniforms might bring back some of that excitement, intimidation and prestige. I like garnet as much as the next guy, but when you play in the SEC, it gets lost among the crimson at Alabama, the red at Georgia, the maroon at Miss. St. and whatever they call red in Arkansas. The 2004 campaign will hit the ground running as USC does not have the luxury of opening its schedule with a perennial door mat like Southwest Louisiana State. Instead, the Gamecocks open against Vanderbilt in Nashville. While the Commodores have been pushovers in the past, that is most definitely no longer the case. Vandy returns 21 of 22 starters, including one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC — Jay Cutler. If the Gamecocks drop one to the Commodores, it could be a long, long season. USC turns around the next week and has to play Georgia in Columbia. Last time the Dawgs visited, Gamecock fans had to witness a play that to this day boggles my mind. When Georgia’s David Pollack “inter cepted” a Corey Jenkins “pass” in the end zone, I swear I heard 80,000 people say in unison, “What the hell just happened?” I might not exactly be lobking forward to the thought of anoth er game like that, but I must say I can’t wait to be there. The first home game is always the best—walking under the im posing shadow of Williams-Brice with garnet-clad comrades-in arms, the crisp autumn breeze carrying the aroma of various meats grilled to charcoal-in duced perfection as the voice of Todd Ellis echoes from portable radios and car stereos. Every as pect heightens the anticipation for the moment when “Also Sprach Zarathustra” drowns out the screams of the 80,000 fanat ics who have endured nine starv ing months, hungry for Gamecock football. The emotion at that game is always palpable, as if you could reach out and grab a chunk of it. Call it hope, call it excitement — it’s there, and it’s real. I don’t want to get into the rest of the season. I don’t have any 1 bold predictions or anything like that. I can’t tell you if Dondrial Pinkins will finally become the quarterback Lou Holtz wants him to be. I don’t know if Demetris Summers will turn out to be the next George Rogers or if Troy Williamson will be the next Sterling Sharpe. I’m just excited to see them play. I want to see Cory Boyd light up a would-be tackier like a Christmas tree like he did in the Virginia game last year. I want to see Syvelle Newton and Noah Whiteside show off their agility in the open field. I also can’t wait to get to the student section and stand for the entire game. I want to hear the back-and-forth volleys of “Game” and “Cocks.” I can’t wait to hear the words, “Here’s a health . Carolina,” and see half the peo pie hold up their imaginary glass es while the other half mistaken ly gives a thumbs-up. It’s football season at USC once again, and it couldn’t have come sooner. See you at the game. 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