Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Game, Cox baseball hosts another top opponent. The football team loses a player to the portal, and the NFL draft turns dreams into reality. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay. Welcome to to episode 237 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001 and hope you all are ready to start the weekend right. Gamecock Nation. Hope y'all got big plans out there, whether it's chilling, drinking, eating, watching the Gamecocks chillin. I know I said that twice, but hope you are ready to have a lovely weekend out there. I myself have a very busy, very exciting weekend ahead of me. I am off to Sin City. That's right. None other than Las Vegas. Going out there for a little r and r, some gambling, maybe a little bit. I might have to place some bets on a rattler and leggettes number. I mean, how about that? Very exciting here. NFL draft this weekend. Going to be very fun to see where these guys land. And it's always cool to see gamecocks and the pros and to see that moment where a guy that you've watched for, whether it's one year now in the transfer portal era, or two years, three years, four years like it used to be, to see them realize that dream and to watch them eventually in the pros making plays on Sundays, it's so, so cool. And obviously, Rattler and Leggette are the two big names of the Gamecocks draft class this year. But there's a couple guys out there who might get their name called Jordan Strachan being one of them, Nick Gargiulo, potentially late round, but nonetheless, anytime you can see a Gamecock turned pro, whether they were with us for one year or four, it is very, very exciting to see. So I wish nothing but the best for those guys. Shout out Gamecocks and the pros. Very exciting stuff here with that since I will be traveling out west and, you know, everything that comes with it. Probably not going to be the most energetic on Monday. I'm still going to be out there anyway. So there will be no show on Monday, no podcast. So what I'll do is next week, it'll be next Friday. I'll have to touch on at least what happens this weekend in terms of the baseball team a little quickly, but then it'll be right back to that normal cadence of reviewing updates from the week prior and then getting ready for the weekend ahead. So no show on Monday, but we'll still be on my phone and social media like crazy and of course, if something big happens, you already know I'm going to have to chime in and of course got to repost the team that drafts our boys. So very, very cool here. Before I jump into a week review for y'all here, I know we are a few days after the fact, but the spring game. I posted a spring game recap article on the college huddle. I know I've talked about them a lot, but if you're still fiending for some analysis, takes whatever about the spring game, go to the college huddle, filter down to South Carolina. You'll find my recap there. But if you listen to the show, you already know what I think. So get your double dose, whatever it may be here. But let's jump into things here. Not a lot to cover this episode very well might come in a little under that 1801 mark. So don't get on me too bad, but not a ton going on this week. Very little scores to report. The only score I have actually for y'all is an in progress score. As the men's golf team is in the middle of the SEC championships. They are currently sitting 10th. Good news is they would they were surging a little bit after round one. They were eleven. Now they're ten. So hopefully our boys can continue to climb and end that SEC tournament in a very strong position. So shout out to the men's golf team. Shout out to the swinging cocky merchandise. But got a few bits of news from the football team. And because it was a little bit of a slow newsweek, I'm actually going to talk about a 2026 football commit. That's right. I mean, I clicked into this kid's twitter profile and it was just, it said 10th grade. I was just like, what? Like, what is this? But nonetheless, the Gamecocks picked up four star linebacker commit, Rodney Colton. Now, Rodney is the 14th ranked linebacker in the country. He resides in Georgia. This is a big pickup. I mean, I know it's down the line here, but you want a staff that is proactive and you want a staff that is not just living in the moment. You have to think ahead in college football, even in this day and age with nil and transfer portal. The foundation of your team is going to be from the high school ranks. Shane Beamer has talked about that remaining to be something that is true in his program.
[00:05:59] And then when you look at between the two freshman linebackers that we already have on campus and now building a pipeline, seemingly of linebacker talent, there is a lot to be excited about. All of a sudden, for this position group, not just this year, but beyond that and even beyond that. So the 2026 class for the Gamecocks, it's small right now, but you got a couple impact players in there, but we got to worry about 25 1st really? 2026. Geez Louise. Who knows what college football is going to, was going to look like then. But another update from the football team here. Offensive lineman Sidney Fugar has entered the transfer portal. So y'all would remember he joined the team via the portal just last year. So about a year in the program, he played in several games this last season, was really forced into action, at least sooner than I think this staff would have liked because of all the injuries on the line. He was playing at a lower level. They took a chance on him, brought him to the SEC, started a couple games, played in a few more.
[00:07:12] I think the general consensus when you read things and the sentiment of it, it didn't really work out. You know, it wasn't a one where the staff found necessarily a diamond in the rough in the portal here. Sidney goes on, probably trying to find some, some more playing time or something along those lines, maybe something a little bit more his speed. He seemed like a nice kid, seemed like he was hungry, seemed like he was ready and excited to improve, got forced into action.
[00:07:41] Things just seemed to be a little too quick for him. A little bit above his head maybe, but I think it's more so a testament to the talent and probably the writing on the wall for him this year in that he's looking around and saying, wow, like we got a couple of really incredibly talented sophomores on the team who got as much, if not more playing time than me this past season. And then we have a couple of veterans back on that line. And then we have an incredible couple of freshmen who might crack the rotation, like, who might very well see the field this upcoming season. So probably saw the writing on the wall that might not be the best fit for him. So, Sidney Fugar, all the best to you. I got Noelle will towards Sidney Fugger.
[00:08:28] You'd be surprised. Some people seem to, but nonetheless, here also, quick bit of news here before I get into baseball. This is not really directly about scores, but the Garnet trust, the nil collective for University of South Carolina, currently has two match campaigns happening for both basketball teams. So you'll remember a couple of months ago they ran a match campaign where a donor donated up to a million dollars in matching contributions. So basically this person said, if y'all raise a million dollars, I will match that. Thus $2 million to the football program.
[00:09:12] Now, it's the same thing this time. I don't know if same people or persons, but each team has a $250,000 match campaign currently going on. So if you go to the Garnet trust, you can directly donate to one of the basketball teams, men's, women's, and that donation will be automatically doubled. So if you give $10 to the men's team, that's really 20. Same thing for the women. Very, very important stuff here. I know nil is confusing. It's not everyone's cup of tea to discuss. I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm never going to tell anybody what to do with their money. But this is sort of the way of the world right now in college athletics. I don't see it drastically changing anytime soon. And unfortunately, a lot of it is kind of falling onto fans, you know, not in the great sense, you know, but this is a really cool opportunity where you can do a little bit and have that little bit doubled. So Garnet trust match campaign, you can do one time donations. You don't have to do a whole monthly thing. Go support both our basketball teams if you can, if you're open to it. Nonetheless, wanted to let y'all know that the Garnet trust is doing something pretty cool right now. But let's get down to business here. Let's talk baseball, the only major sport going on right now for the Gamecocks. Now, there was no midweek game for the team, which might honestly have come at kind of a nice time because the Gamecocks, yet again, are facing an incredibly tough test this time as the boys welcome the number four ranked Kentucky Wildcats to Columbia. This is right on the heels after playing another top team. So the Wildcats enter the weekend with a 32 seven overall record and already at that 15 mark, 15 and three in SEC play, that is good enough for first place in the SEC east. And, yeah, I mean, Kentucky is a team that I think has surprised a lot of people by having the really good year that they are. Kentucky does come into this series on a two game skid, though, but they are just really playing good, big baseball, pitching, hitting, running. They are very impressive. So far through this season here, the Wildcats actually have six guys hitting over 300. They have two guys in their rotations who have won seven games, and on top of it, they are leading the SEC in stolen bases. So, yeah, not exactly the easiest test for the Gamecocks. And it really just does feel like the hits keep on coming to this team and, you know, give them credit because they're fighting. You know, I'm going to get into my thoughts on this series here in a second, but, you know, the boys are sitting at nine and nine in the SEC.
[00:12:17] You got a month left and, you know, you're kind of thinking, well, where could we be at at the end of the year? Like a very respectable record, especially in the SEC, is very much still attainable. Like this is not a doomsday season. It's just sort of a middling season where there's been some good, there's been some bad, there's been some frustrating, and it feels like there's been more frustrating than good. And I think it's just, again, this lack of consistency here, but it's not an excuse because really we should be one of those top teams in the country. But the schedule has not done us any favors and I don't think it's really allowed these guys to get in a groove. And so hopefully you can see a little home cooking this series. Typically speaking, the boys have played really well at home. I know last weekend, you know, you didn't win the series, but there's an opportunity here for sure. I mean, first place team, it's not going to be easy, but the guys have faced top teams and they have gone toe to toe with them. So really need to dig deep here. Your weekend rotation for the Gamecocks, you have Friday Roman Kimball, Saturday Eli Jones and Sunday as TBA. So same rotation as last weekend, last series, Kimball in that Friday spot. It worked out, but the team came up just short. So he's going to have his work cut out for him in that spot. But he absolutely needs to step up because it really does feel like getting off on the right foot. This series is absolutely massive for South Carolina here. We've seen this team play well against some of these top ranked teams, but, you know, it just feels critical to get out of the gate in the right way. You know, we certainly have the offense that should be able to do it and I love the back end of our bullpen. So when you're looking at your Friday and Saturday starters, particularly your Friday starter in the SEC, you need a good game from that guy. You need to get some quality innings, you need him to get out of jams. You can't be burning through your bullpen so early, especially when you look at Sunday and you're probably going to have like a bit of a bullpen game, you know, is that going to be sQ gives you three ish innings, then you bring in Becker, vice versa. You know what I mean?
[00:14:58] You need to find a way to get a great quality start from Roman Kimball, get some runs for him. He needs that run support. I don't think Kentucky's starters have the craziest era, so you might be able to plate some runs. You got to hit with running and scoring position like these things that have plagued this team.
[00:15:19] But getting out in front of this series is critical for Carolina to try and get a huge series win in front of the home fans. If you're not going to get it done at home, you're certainly not going to do it on the road. And if we are looking down the line a little bit, how are you going to do it in the event you find yourself at a neutral site against a good team?
[00:15:44] So now really is the time to get out there and make a statement, you know, defend founders. You saw a little bit of that edge last year with this team and earlier this year the team was playing quite well at home. Vanderbilt series comes to mind. Right. But you certainly can't, you certainly don't want to lose back to back series at home despite being division leading teams. You know what I mean? Like, I understand how it's a top team, top competition, all that jazz, but optically, you need to be able to win a series when you might, maybe you shouldn't type of deal. And when you look at it, this series closes out the month of April. Then you look at the schedule. It's a quick couple of weeks before the regular season ends.
[00:16:40] Ends mid, mid, late May. Right? I think it's the 18th. Might be the, might be the finale. Tennessee. But point being, it's high time for this team to go on a little run here and it should start and can start this weekend against Kentucky. You take down a top team, perform well, what do you do with it? You know, the bat half of the schedule. You know, you're playing some teams that you might be able to really do well against. So big series. Big series. I'm riled up here. My crow to the series here is be the better defensive team. You know, we've seen some bad errors at times this season and there is one thing this team can control and it should be that, especially when you have a team that can run like Kentucky, you cannot give any free passes, no errant throws to first base, no not turning the double play. You know, you can't leave guys on and when they really should be out. So play good, clean, fundamental baseball and go out there and give Kentucky hell, give something for the home fans to cheer about. I mean, lets absolutely go. Lets frickin go. But with that yall that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox gamecocks. Instagram is just the name of the show, Cox talking gamecocks. And please like subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all Yall go Cox.
