we also got this guy https://jmusports.com/sports/football/roster/antwane-wells-jr-/17255 > JMU Single-Season Records in 2021 for receiving yards (1,250), receiving touchdowns (15) and receptions (83) > Ranks 3rd all-time at JMU in career receiving touchdowns (21) basically unrecruited out of high school
+ that Safety from Western Mich who was a 4 year starter. These guys plus Rattler and Stogner...we've got to be having one of the best transfer portal "classes" right?
yeah youre right it looks like we did pick up a safety from Central Michigan: https://cmuchippewas.com/sports/football/roster/devonni-reed/3523 former 3-star out of HS, and 3rd team All-MAC, from Detroit and a DE from NC State: https://gopack.com/sports/football/roster/terrell-dawkins/10642 former 3-star, from Concord NC
I'm super excited for next year. There's going to be some attrition for sure to make room for these transfers but it's shaping up to be pretty good looking QB: Rattler/Doty with DK for packages RB: Beal-Smith/Lloyd with Juju as a scatback guy for some packages FB: Trai Jones WR: Vann/Powers WR: Wells/Legette WR: Bell/A Brown TE: Stogner/Kenion TE/H: Jenkins/Bell LT: Nichols/Jakai Moore LG: Lee/Manos C: Douglas/Trai Jones RG: Gwyn/Manos RT: Wannamaker/Wonnum OL is a mess. Obviously this starting 5 group was our best performance-wise but I don't care for Douglas or Wonnum and I'm not sure why either comes back unless they're pretty sure they are a starter. We'll see how it shakes out in the spring. DE: Jordan Burch/Dawkins DT: Rick Sandidge/MJ Webb/Tonka DT: Pickens/Huntley BUCK: Strachan/Gilber Edmond (I'd move Brad Johnson back to here) MLB: Greene/Blanton/Debo WLB: Kaba or West Weeks if we get him from UVA/Darryle Ware CB: Cam Smith/Fortune CB: Darius Rush/Dial Nickel: Spaulding/Keenan Nelson FS: Devonni Reed/Tyrese Ross SS: RJ Roderick Could see Spaulding move to SS or Anthony Rose or Peyton Williams make a move into the starting lineup there. I think Emmanwori will be a factor somewhere, at least in the rotation, but it sounds like he could end up anywhere from DE/Buck to safety, which makes me think he has huge potential. Brad Johnson was a shit off-the-ball linebacker so I hope they move him back to the Buck position, because I think he was a lot better when he was in similar responsibilities as a Sam backer in the old system. He's a solid run defender on the edge and could be a good compliment to give Strachan rest on early downs since he's a better pass rusher anyways.
Alex English seems like a pretty good dude. I'm glad he's involved with our BoT https://twitter.com/AlexEnglish_2
Conversely, he's a big part of why we're not already in a new era with the basketball team and why we still have to watch god awful Frank Martin basketball
I'm hearing a rumor that it's Harris Pastides in a mustache and glasses and he's going by Parris Hastides.
First glance, that's not bad. I heard this guy speak before. Thick Greek accent but funny. At least he's a serious academic official with experience
Somebody let me know when Tanner commits hari Kari sepuko or whatever it’s called and Frank is excommunicated to a mid major. Also can we please make Satterfield “fall” out of a window? The Russians do it all the time and everyone is super chill af about it.
I'm interested in what Satterfield can do with a QB with a lot less limitations and a whole offseason to commit to a coherent plan. Last year would've probably been a disaster for most coordinators implementing a new offense with all our personnel changes and inconsistent OL groupings. But if he has another mediocre year he's got no excuses because they've significantly upgraded the talent everywhere but maybe RB and bring back their top 7-8 OL with more game experience and time together.
Football team got a big ovation at the basketball game Saturday. Joyner had to stop every 2 seconds to take pics with someone. 7-6! Mayo Bowl champs!
Here’s my Frank Martin question - The rub has always been that he does not recruit “dirty” and won’t play the AAU game so we have less talent. He coaches hard and holds guys accountable so they either transfer or love him. No in between. Now that there is NIL - can’t he recruit “clean” by offering them money from sponsorships/donors/etc? That should take away that excuse for lack of talent. Am I missing something? I like Frank but think we’re a year or two past where he should’ve moved on or been fired. Beamer - exceeded expectations year 1. Good trend but has to keep moving the program up in talent and coaching. His handling of Satterfield will tell a lot about him as a head coach too.
Where does the money come from? Is there any moneyed interests at SC who really give a fuck about the basketball program with Frank Martin in charge at this point?
Someone with better understanding will have to explain, but I've been told we straight up can't get certain bball prospects because we're an Under Armour school
I also have an issue with how he “holds players accountable”. Like it’s possible to do that without acting like a baby and having a temper tantrum during games. Can’t imagine how it is when he’s not in front of fans. And as far as his players loving him, plenty of people love their toxic ass parents and coaches, doesn’t mean their methods are best for that child or mentee’s development. The game has passed the old man by and he’s going to give himself an aneurism trying to continuously shove his old, squared coaching philosophy into the round hole of modern basketball.
We're 67-66 since that Final 4 season...zero tournament appearances. IIRC we were a bubble team in 2020 before the covid cancellation, but sheesh. Talk about not capitalizing on success.
Yeah he hasn’t made a tournament outside of that one magical run that looks more and more like a fluke that was a product of a lucky run of instate talent than anything he did
Money can come from a lot of places. I’m sure there is more than one donor out there who relives their glory days when they were in school and Frank McGuire was the coach. They used to camp out for tix. 75+ year olds with $$$. If approached right then I think they’d give a 4-5 star some $$$ to sign with SC. It would finally level the playing field of recruiting. UA doesn’t do us any favors from an AAU perspective and I don’t claim to know how that whole system works but the women’s program is in the same situation. I know there is a huge difference between men’s and women’s recruiting but we have a window to pay players the same as UK, UNC, Duke, etc right now. We need to capitalize before they regulate it. They will eventually put in a lot more rules.
That 2020 team was making it close during SEC, but if I remember correctly the bottom fell out over the last couple of games, which were basically the last couple of games of league play, we were going to have to make it to the conference championship game to squeak into the tourney that year.
My opinion on Frank started to change the year after the Final Four. Sat behind the bench at a game and could hear what he was saying...it was borderline incoherent and just too much. Like he bases his substitution patterns off who makes a mistake. Turnover? You're coming out immediately. I'm no Pat Riley, but man, that cannot be good for overall strategy. "What's your sub strategy?" "I just see who commits a turnover." Then there's just the constant yapping at players in the game. Wonder why the team always has several clunkers in non-con and starts to look better in league play? Pretty sure it's because they've started to tune him out by then. I'm not going to argue the value of coaching hard. But incessantly hollering at players in the middle of games especially free flowing ones like basketball is just not ideal for performance. That transfers over to recruiting. The Final Four team was two elite in-state talents (which SC has basically struck out on since) two players from outside the US and Chris Silva. All of those guys were unique in the ability to take Frank's coaching. It's not a "players nowadays are soft" deal. Based on what I've seen up close, it's not reasonable to think players with options would sign up for that. You can appreciate the contributions he made to the program, but it is what it is.
He's always substituted that way and it's maddening. And he picks and chooses the dumbest things to get mad about. Like forcing a turnover to try and make a play is bad and substitution-worthy or forgetting a rotation on one defensive set...but Erik Stevenson is allowed to build a brick mansion every game and never gets pulled because he is always hustling. Even if he is getting beat on defense...he hustled!
Tennessee is playing a game at Washington. That's a sick road trip; I wish we could do that. Now I'm curious if we have ever played a game on the west coast. Currently researching the media guide; will report back
Wonder how many folks roadtripped to the LA Coliseum in 1980. But yea looks like USC is the only PAC-10/12 team we've ever played. 1980 in LA and 1983 in Columbia.
We went to Hawaii and lost in 1977 and 1981 in games scheduled the week after Clemson, and we played at Southern California in 1980
I'm continuing my deep dive. First game ever played outside Columbia: Charleston (vs Furman) First game outside SC: Charlotte (vs Davidson) First game in NYC: 1938 vs Fordham https://s3.amazonaws.com/gamecocksonline.com/documents/2021/7/19/History.pdf
Neutral site games used to be wild. "Hey, Washington and Lee College up in Virginia. How about you come down and play us in Sumter?" (1904)
First game west of Mississippi: 1949, Baylor in Waco Same year we played a November game in Milwaukee (vs Marquette). Yikes at that weather
1962, we went to Detroit in November. What were we thinking? At least we were able to beat U of Detroit 26-13
Research complete. These are the times we've played west of the Mississippi: Previously mentioned at Southern Cal Previously mentioned at Hawaii twice At Nebraska twice In Texas a bunch of times vs Baylor, Texas, ATM, Houston etc That's it. That's the list.