Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking game Cox women's basketball has thanksgiving plans, baseball recruiting heats up under the new staff, and football recruiting rolls on in June. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:56] Okay. Welcome to episode 250, 50 of Cox talking Game Cox. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001 and feels like I've been away for a little bit. I missed y'all. Took last week off, was on vacation, traveling, whatnot. Didn't want to bring my stuff with me here. But between that and the once a week summer schedule, it feels like it's been a while. So hope y'all have been great out there. Gamecocks. Summer is rolling. Hope y'all are staying cool out there. I mean, my goodness, the low country, the midlands, it is hotter than anything there. Charlotte, too. It's just crazy. So stay cool, stay inside, stay hydrated. Let's. Let's take care of each other here in this heat here. And, you know, want to thank y'all really quick here. Episode 250. I mean, wow. Absolutely. Wow. And for anyone who has been listening since that first season, really, really, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. For anyone who has joined along along the way. Thank you. And the only thing we can say is it's going to continue to keep going up. You know, it's been a blast connecting with so many Gamecock fans on social media and in games and things like that. So if you want to keep spreading the word about the show, it would mean the absolute world to me. If the show grows, get more resources to do some really cool things. But even without that, it has been really, really fun covering the team and the school that I love so dearly and to connect with fans along the way. So episode 250, thank you very much. And here's to 250 more. Wow. Wow. Got a fun episode for y'all here. Got some updates from a few sports. But before I do that, let me jump into Gamecock trivia as it is the offseason. So we have facts and trivias to start off the episodes here. We got a piece of trivia today.
[00:03:06] How many Gamecock football players were chosen in the 2019 draft? Oh, that's a good question. 2019.
[00:03:16] I don't know.
[00:03:18] Four? I'm gonna say. Let's see. Three. There you go. Shout out. Shout out. Gamecock football. Absolutely. 2019, you know, not the best year for us.
[00:03:31] Muschamp year is not the best years, quite frankly, but we all know that, and we're on to bigger and better things now in an ideal scenario, right but, yeah, let's jump right into things here. Got a few announcements and updates from different sports here. Really focused on recruiting updates, which, you know, for those of you who have followed me for 250 episodes, I don't always dive deep on, but it's the offseason, there's just not a lot going on right now. So we're going to highlight the comings and goings of the teams, and that's recruiting right now. But before I get into that, have an update from the women's basketball team. And it was just announced that the Gamecocks will play in the Fort Myers tip off, which is right around thanksgiving, as the ladies will take on Iowa State on November 28 and then Purdue on November 30. So that's really fun. You know, those early season, kind of at a conference tip off things, some. Some of them are like mini tournaments, if you will. Those are a lot of fun. And for the Gamecocks especially, I think it's really cool to play these unique opponents that you don't always play like an Iowa State and a purdue for a couple of reasons. One, from a fan perspective, I think it's just neat to play different teams, right? You get to see different personnel, you get to learn a little bit more about the comings and goings of their conference and things like that. And then depending on how those given teams are, like, it could be good prep for a team that you could potentially face down the line in a big time tournament setting, right. I couldn't tell you right now if I was state of Purdue or slated to go very far, but point remains. And then also, it just kind of preps you. Right? Like when you play those out of conference games. Power four. Now, it's going to take some getting used to, but the power four conferences, they're still just elevated levels, right? We played bowling green last season. No offense to Bowling Green, but when you're playing Iowa State and Purdue, you're just playing better athletes. So that'll be a fun thing in November, actually. Wow. You look at those dates. That's a busy weekend for gamecocks. Wow. Yeah. Right around Thanksgiving, too. Women's basketball, football. My goodness.
[00:05:48] Yeah. Well, that's fun. So thanksgiving plans are set as if they weren't already. Get to sit on the couch, watch sports. It's fantastic. Eat leftovers, drink.
[00:05:58] I love it. Absolutely love it. And hopefully you get two big time wins there. But, yeah, women's basketball. Very fun update. And I also saw that Don Staley is set to receive an award at the ESPYs so that's really neat.
[00:06:11] Very exciting. You know, she deserves all of the recognition that she should get. But then moving on to recruiting, as I for mentioned here, got some updates from the baseball team. So you kind of got to reset here because the last episode was right after Paul Mineri was hired. So it's crazy because that wasn't that long ago, but it kind of does feel like it was a long time ago and certainly a lot has gone on between now and then. But yeah, so Paul Mineri was hired and really since then I get the sense that the excitement around his hire has really hit South Carolina fans and especially the content that the team has shared. I mean, that has been absolutely electric. But I mean, yeah, I talked about it when he was hired. There were some people who voiced a couple of concerns, but I just think people really realize that, hey, you have a coach here who, yeah, he may have been sitting on the sidelines for the last couple of seasons, but he's not a couch potato. Like, he was still very much in tune with the game. He and his staff are here. Monty Lee is invaluable to this staff and you got guys like Ethan Petrie saying that they're going to stay around. So the optimism around the program, I think, is really high and has risen ever since his hire was announced. And really since his hire, Mineri and his whole staff have hit the ground running on that recruiting trail. The Gamecocks picked up a few commitments from the transfer portal, so that's exciting to see. And that was something that was maybe that little bit of a beige flag, if you will, right where people were saying, Ken Palmoneri, navigate the transfer portal because it was certainly not what it is today, the last time that he was coaching, and he acknowledged that in his press conference. But he said that he's going to rely on his staff to navigate that and to bring him up to speed. And he mentioned his staff having success evaluating guys in the portal and bringing them on via that way. So got a few guys to walk through here. All good things, very exciting here. Pitcher Wyatt Evans from Tennessee, pitcher Ashton Crowther from Miami. Both of these guys, when I looked at it at least, and again, I'm no scout here, I think they are more bullpen depth, if I had to guess. But that's something that you can always use. You're bringing guys who do have some experience as well. Then the Gamecocks also picked up Nathan hall, who transferred from Clemson, actually. So not the first time we've seen that going one program to the other there, one side of the rivalry to the other. Now, hall didn't see a lot of action this season. He hit 227 with a 346 on base percentage. But bring some athleticism, bring some power five, power four, whatever you want to say, experience. And I do think there is a lot of upside in that commitment here. And then a few more commits actually rolled in later this week as Carolina picked up Georgia transfer pitcher Jarvis Evans. Now, I like this one because I feel that he has the potential to be that back end of the rotation kind of guy comes in with two years of eligibility left. Honestly, depending on how things shake out, you could see him in that Saturday or Sunday role as a mainstay, which last year the pitching rotation was just all sorts of out of whack. You have a few things. You can point out why that was the case, but the one thing that my opinion that Carolina needs out of their rotation is stability. So if you can bring in a guy like Jarvis Evans to be your Sunday guy, okay, that's one less thing you got to worry about. So I like that pickup there. And then also the Gamecocks picked up Charlie Meglio. Sorry if I'm mispronouncing that from Campbell, Campbell University, though. Side note, I think I saw they had like 30 guys enter the transfer portal. Like, there's no way that's right. But, like a ridiculous amount of guys enter the transfer portal. So that's really sad to see. But they had a good team last year. Charlie comes in with a 275 batting average. Seems to be a solid bat that the Gamecocks picked up. I know that some folks around the fan base were pretty excited when this commitment got announced, but, yeah, so maybe not anybody. You know, not everyone on that list here makes your jaw drop to the floor and say, wow, oh my God. But this staff is going to work. Like, they are getting to work on the recruiting trail. And again, you know, I agree with the sentiment that the guys on the roster from this team that Mineri is inheriting are solid. Like, we did not have a bad team. We haven't had a bad team for the last couple of years. They've just underachieved. So the talent is there and the ceiling is there. So if you keep those key pieces, and then there's also some guys coming back from injury who could potentially make an impact next year, they could really all gel together. And then you bring in the leadership and the experience of Mineri. Like that just might do the trick for getting this team to reach its potential. So look, at these transfer portal additions as depth pieces or, you know, somebody like a Sunday starter, right? Maybe not anybody crazy like, oh, this is the, this is the bell, the ball, the prize of the transfer portal. But there is certainly reason to be excited for what this staff is already doing on the recruiting trail.
[00:12:19] But let me catch my breath.
[00:12:23] If you want to talk about a guy who has been active on the recruiting trail, you absolutely have to talk about Shane Beamer and his staff. I mean, my goodness, the month of June continues to treat Gamecock recruiting very well, as this entire staff has been doing a great job of hosting visitors and locking up commitments. I mean, I'm sure this goes on in other programs where June is a big month for official visits and things like that, but frankly, I don't give a crap about what other programs are doing. All I know is that June has been a very good month for the Shane Beamer staff since he's gotten here.
[00:13:07] They have a formula of getting guys on campus on official visits, doing these big weekends, cookouts and things like that, and getting guys to commit. And yes, when a guy commits in June, there's a lot that can happen between now and when they get on campus, but you have to build your class somewhere. And I think the way that this staff goes about it is really, really good. And this is all before you have the in season visits where guys come and they sit and watch a game and take in that experience and all that jazz. So if you can get someone to commit on an official visit when they're just touring the facility, maybe doing a couple workouts, things like that, imagine what this staff can continue to do when they get guys in the building, right? So very exciting. Now, since the last episode, there have been a ton of guys added to this recruiting class. Frankly, right now, according to two, four, seven sports, this recruiting class is ranked 20th, wherever that actually kind of is in line with what the Beamer classes have tended to be. 2016, like somewhere right around there. So he's on pace, right? And when you look at the breakdown, a lot are three stars. Stars change. And a couple of these kids might have some really good last seasons, and all of a sudden their rating goes up a little bit organically.
[00:14:37] That ranking could already go up, but there's still plenty of targets out there that could make those rankings rise for those who live and die by that, we know that that's not the be all and end all of recruiting.
[00:14:51] You got to develop, you got to retain the talent. Now, it's totally different, but nonetheless, that's that's where. That's where. That's where this. Where this class sits. So I'm going to hit some of the highlights that happened since the last episode. Again, a lot to keep track of, but if you are so inclined, you can go check it out, see who everyone has recruited. The entire class is obviously there, but some highlights since the last episode aired. Gamecocks got commitments from three star linebacker AJ Holloway. He held offers from Auburn, Kentucky, A and M, among others. So a big win for the Gamecocks there. Four star offensive tackle Shadrick Surratt. This was a big get for South Carolina and a huge part of that continued effort for the Gamecocks to get bigger, stronger and deeper along the offensive line. And if nothing else, Lonnie Teasley, his staff, Dowell Loggins, the effort they're putting towards the offensive line. Recruiting is paying dividends, right? We are getting high ceiling, big time talents to commit. Now it's a matter of developing them and getting them to play well. Offensive line is a big, big question mark going into this year. Huge area that you might want to have a little concern about, but get into that later in the summer. But nonetheless, you can at least look around and say, well, the talent is there. Also got commitments from four star edge Jaquavius Dodd. Gotta love that. Three star linebacker Tayshawn Alston. I saw that Alston might be able to also play a little bit outside, like the edge, if you will, maybe a buck, but nonetheless, I see him as a linebacker. And then the Gamecocks also got commitments for a few specialists because what would a beamer team be without special teams? So you got long snapper Kyle Farrow. That's just awesome.
[00:16:51] You're able to commit and get recruited as a long snapper. That rocks. That is so cool. And then also kicker Max Kelly. So, yeah, a very busy week, week and a half in game cocination for a few of our teams, and there's a lot of reason to be excited about. I mean, you, you look at, look at the teams here, both staffs really getting to work here to improve their squads. Football, it's just this ever going cycle, more teams to be managed and everything like that, and it's just an ever changing landscape. But I think this staff is navigating it as best as they can. The foundation of any college football program, even with nil and even with the transfer portal, will be high school recruiting. You can't have however many people are like, are on the roster, right? 100 people, whatever. You're not going to add all of them through the transfer portal. That's just not sustainable. You're going to start in the high school ranks, and if you can have someone that sticks with you over the years and develops in your program, those are the guys that you can really build around you. Use the transfer portal to plug a couple holes here, bring in some depth, maybe get one or two guys who can help bring you over the edge. But the guys who are your foundation are going to be the ones who you recruited in high school and who committed to you out of high school. So this staff is continuing to do that at a good level.
[00:18:24] Obviously, we want to continue to bring in more talent and human nature. You look at 20th, you say, wow, why can't we get to 15? But one thing at a time here with that. That wraps up this episode next week with the 4 July, the scheduling may be a little disrupted. I might do a little bit of a different episode where it's not so much a news and notes recap. I might just give some takes about football, you know, tease a couple things out. I don't know. Still brainstorming it. Also, there's a chance with 4 July travel we might have to pause this this week. I don't know. Stay tuned.
[00:19:03] Stay in tune on my 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 y'all. Go Cox.
