Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Gamecocks, staff updates from the football program, men's basketball stumbles on the road, and the college football world says goodbye to a legend. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:57] Welcome to episode two, nine of Cox talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. And what a week, y'all. I mean, seriously, what a week to be a football fan. It's just been bananas. Going to kind of go out of my lane here, but like an NFL coaching carousel. Crazy. Pete Carroll, legend of the game, stepping aside. Vrabel head scratching fire. Arthur Smith, Ron Rivera, Bill Belichick stepping aside. It's just wild to see. It has been just a banana land, electric, non stop news cycle this entire week. And if you're a football fan, college, pro, whatever, this has been a very fun week. A lot of content, a lot of discourse, a lot of discussions, a lot of made up scenarios. It's great. It's a great time of year. Offseason is already in full swing and we're not even in the season yet. But going back to college here, the greatest college coach of all time, that's pretty undisputable. Nick Saban announced that he is retiring. So really sending shockwaves to the college football world. And I mean, you talk about a guy who had incredible success at multiple different stops in college, won national championships at different programs, and established a dynasty and a culture, and was the headman for a run at Alabama, the likes of which we will never see again. And I mean, really, college football will never look the same again without Nick Saban on the sidelines. Without this Alabama program, with this legendary figure leading them and things like that, it's going to be pretty wild to see who they have to replace him, what that person does. Does Alabama maintain a level of excellence? Do they have a step back a little bit? I mean, I think a little bit. You're seeing already them Alabama fans having a little bit of a meltdown. And for all the success that they had, I think a couple of seasons of eating a little humble pie could do. You know, I saw someone say it online. It's like you deserve to tailgate for a noon game against Jacksonville State where you think you might have a chance at losing that game.
[00:03:33] You deserve it. The universe needs to balance itself. But in all seriousness, it's pretty weird to see him go. And it really is officially a new era of college football. Between this new batch of young, up and coming coaches finding success, you're seeing the transfer portal era, the Nil era. Now it's the twelve team playoff. And these coaches, again, at all levels, who a lot of us grew up with as mainstays as staples in the sport, are now moving on. So it really is turning a page and it's going to be very interesting to see what the future of college football looks. You know, from a South Carolina perspective, that game against Alabama might not be as stressful anymore, depending on who's at the helm. But you would imagine that they're going to have some guys jump ship to the portal, jump ship to the NFL. They might have a year or two, even if they get a home run higher, who might struggle. Or maybe it's a coach who we're playing elsewhere, Ole Miss maybe. And then all of a sudden that game looks a little bit more winnable. So going to be wild to track. And if you're a fan of college football, which I'm assuming you are, if you listen to this podcast, this is a very fun time and I would imagine the next 48 to 72 hours are going to be insane.
[00:05:00] But bringing it back to USC Sports here got a week in review for you all, starting with some news from the baseball program as they received a transfer commitment from Florida State shortstop Jordan. Carry on. Jordan started 103 games in two seasons for the Seminoles and hit 271. This is going to be a very nice addition, going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out with some of the infielders that we already have in place. But if nothing else, you're bringing in an experienced player. I think there may be questions about immediate eligibility or not, but nonetheless Jordan on the staff within the roster, rather bringing some experience and a guy who can play pretty consistently.
[00:05:46] Now, looking over to the football program here, a lot of news from the football team here. Starting with some coaching news, tight ends coach Jody Wright has left the program to accept the head coaching job at Murray State. Shout out to Jody Wright. He follows me on twitter, still does. So shout out to him. Shout out Murray State. But really wish him nothing but the best. He seemed like a solid coach for us here, but with that, South Carolina is expected to hire former Texas a M's tight end coach and co OC James Coley. Now, Coley would come to Columbia with a great resume, really having been an assistant under Jimbo Fisher, Kirby Smart, Nick Saban, Mario Kristobal, among others. He has deep ties to the SEC and also I think Florida as well, so would bring a lot of experience to this staff. But keep in mind this is a fluid situation right now. There is a board of trustees meeting, I believe, for Friday afternoon, late afternoon. That probably is the approval of his contract and word is that he is actually set to be the wide receivers coach. So despite having this new opening at the tight ends coach and him having that experience at a m. It's being reported that he's going to the wide receivers coach. Now that begs the question, what does that mean about Justin step? Is Justin stepp going to move over and coach tight ends or is he on the way out? This is all speculation here. I don't have any indication one way or the other, but Justin step is a wide receivers coach. That's his thing. He was that at his last stop at Arkansas. You brought him in here to do that. I know that on the recruiting trail it hasn't always been the easiest for him, but I do feel that the development of our wide receivers under him has been very good. So it will be interesting to see what happens.
[00:07:53] Again, little fluid right now. We'll probably have a lot more of a clear idea in the next day or two, probably by the end of the weekend, but nonetheless, expect James Coley to be announced as a new assistant coach for the Gamecocks and then we'll figure out the rest from there. But definitely need to keep your eyes open on this one, y'all. I mean, I don't want to get ahead of myself here. I'm a Justin step fan. I think he's a great coach. I know it hasn't been the easiest on the recruiting trail for him, but again, that development that you've seen, Jalen Brooks, Josh Van, Xavier Leguette, a lot of examples of guys making strides under him. So we'll see what's going on there. I would hate to see him leave. That's just my opinion right there. But we are also still waiting on an official hire to fill the running backs coaches opening. So a couple of names being thrown out there. I'm not going to speculate and get into all that, but we'll be interesting to see when that gets sorted. I would imagine in the next week or know that has been open for a little bit. You would think that Beamer had someone in mind when he let go of hardesty, but nonetheless be on the lookout for that. Got some other updates here. This in regards to the transfer portal for the football team, offensive lineman Aaron Parks committed to the Gamecocks coming from Oklahoma. He was a backup over there. He played in three games this past season, was originally a four star recruit out of high school. He is listed at six foot, 4301 pounds. Just massive. These guys are just big. It's crazy. This feels like a nice depth piece for Beamer along the offensive line. I could see him competing for some playing time, but this offensive line needed as much help as it could get. You're bringing in a guy who was at a good program for a couple of years. He can come in, provide that experience, provide that depth, and as evident as was last year, you just can't have enough of that. Just can't. So welcome home Aaron Parks and then defensive lineman Monkel Goodwine committed to the Gamecocks coming from Alabama. He was also in a backup kind of reserve role during his time with the Tide. He played in just five games in three seasons, but he was the 13th ranked d lineman in the recruiting class of 2021. And I think of it kind of similar to the offensive line.
[00:10:25] Beefing up the trenches is never a bad thing. Carolina did have some backups transfer out, so this provides depth, sort of reloads there and I'm kind of looking at it know this is a guy. You could say the same for the previous transfer to Aaron Parks where they've at least been in the presence of some great players and great coaches, right? Oklahoma and have. Those are good programs, so they've been coached up, they've been around success. They know what winning looks like. It's never a bad thing to have that, right? Of course you want talent wherever it comes from, whether that's Charlote and North Carolina Central, whatever.
[00:11:12] Maybe there is a little bit of shell shock there, guys making that jump up to the next level. Guy comes in from Alabama, you didn't play a whole lot. You're going to have to earn your way. We have good starters, a good two deep along that d line, but you're coming in knowing what it takes to be a winner, right? So I'll take that.
[00:11:31] And then last update here from football. Quarterback Davis Bevel committed after transferring from Oklahoma, and I think he was also at Pitt as well. Davis is actually coming in as a preferred walk on. Fun fact, he is originally from Greenville, South Carolina, another guy who really didn't play a ton in his career. He had just 30 attempts in 2022, but our quarterback room was in desperate need for depth and really anyone with any sort of collegiate experience, so he fills that void. And because he's coming in as a preferred walk on, that signals to me that this staff is not done yet, that they probably will continue to try and bring in another quarterback via the portal, whether it's in this window or maybe in the spring, but that could get a little dicey having to wait till then. The issue is you got to think about a quarterback, right? Like most important player on the team.
[00:12:32] If you have that starting experience and you're transferring somewhere, you're probably going to want some assurances that you're going to be QB one. Beamer has been on record that he's not promising starting jobs to any transfer player. You're also coming in where you're going to have to compete against a guy who knows the system in Lenore Sellers has a high ceiling. So you're kind of looking for someone who's coming in who wants to compete, but who understands that there is a guy on the roster who's going to give you a run for your money and who very well might be in line to be QB one. So it's sort of a balancing act that this staff has to do. You want a guy with some experience, a little bit of an older guy, but you also want someone who isn't just going to go for QB one or bust, right? So you want a guy who was basically a backup, maybe played in games here and there, could push Lenoris, but ultimately is okay with being that backup role. It's been proven difficult so far for this staff here, but going to be interesting to see what else shakes out from players, coaches and everything like that as college football just. It's not sleeping, it's just not, which is great. Like I said the other day, it's fun to report on, fun to track, fun to talk about, but it's a lot. But now changing gears over here to men's basketball. The men had their first road trip in the SEC and yeah, things did not go quite as planned as the Gamecocks lost to Alabama 74 to 47. And this is really the tale of two halves, if you ask me. This game started and Carolina started with their hair on fire. They were playing incredible defense. They were playing bigger than they are. They were out rebounding. Alabama playing very physical on the glass, very physical defense, causing many turnovers from Alabama. Alabama just looked all out of sorts. They were turning the ball over, not executing. They looked all out of sorts and Carolina was able to build up a lead. Now, two things I was critical in that first half is first, letting Alabama's leading scorer, Sears, be their leading scorer. It was a situation where pretty much everybody was being locked down except him. He was somehow getting open, wide open looks. He was beating us with his drives, with his shots, all that. You don't want to see the best player on the team, the guy that you should have eyes for, beat you like that. Also being a little nitpicky here, but the points off turnovers and the second half chances, it felt like it wasn't quite enough for Carolina. Yes, the Gamecocks were up six points, eight points for most of that first half. But you watch that game, there were opportunities to blow it a bit more open. And the guys on the telecast said that you're on the road, yes, you're winning, but you want to build that lead. And the Gamecocks were just not quite able to get to that 1012 plus mark, which would have been pretty great. And the first half ended. Alabama stormed back, actually took a one point lead. So at that point, I was okay with it. I put it on twitter, like, I was absolutely okay with that first half. I loved the defense, the way the guys are playing. The offense looked just fine. Yes, you didn't build that lead. Alabama kind of woke up a little bit. They stopped turning the ball over. They're a good team. Then in the second half, again, just everything flipped. Everything flipped. Alabama looked like the freaking 2016 Golden State warriors where they could not miss a shot. They could not miss a shot. Guys hitting from everywhere. And that's the Alabama team that you read about, that you heard about, that plays fast, that shoots a lot of threes, that hits a lot of threes. They're great in transition.
[00:16:39] I mean, they put up 74 points after being held well below that sort of trending mark in the first half.
[00:16:48] So that was a bit jarring. But then on the flip side of it, the Gamecocks could not buy a basket. They just couldn't. Shots that looked decent were not going in. But really, for the first, like five minutes of the half, I kind of felt that the guys just were not getting good looks at the basket. They weren't taking smart shots, they weren't being patient with it earlier in the shot, know, some uncharacteristic offense from the team, and you kind of got a sense that the team felt that Alabama was waking up and the team felt that Alabama was getting on a run and they came out the gates hot. So you almost got this feeling that someone wanted to be the guy to kind of jumpstart the Gamecock. So guys were chucking up threes where maybe they could have waited or driving and trying to go against a double team where maybe they could have had an outlet pass.
[00:17:45] So it wasn't the best offense that we had seen because I think guys were trying to play a little bit above their head to try and get it going, which you can't blame them, but it ended up where Alabama got on this incredible run. And it took forever, literally forever, for South Carolina to just see one go through the hoop, let alone put together several good possessions. And we went into this game as I think it was eleven and a half point underdogs. Turned out that was a little low. Alabama is a good team. They're a really good team. Despite their record last year, they were number one seed in the tournament. They're probably primed to make another run in the tournament here and it was a tough break for the Gamecocks in their first road trip here. But this is basketball, right? Got to remember that nobody is expecting you to go undefeated, especially undefeated in SEC play. And there's always going to be losses in the game of basketball. You just play more games. It's going to happen. The key is to move past it and don't let things snowball. You saw that a lot last year. Now, I know it's comparing apples and oranges. It's stupid to do right now, comparing last year's team to this year's team. But last year you would see like a win and you're like, oh, what's nice? And then they would come out and look flat. And it looked flat, flat, flat. And then finally try and get another one. So you can't let that happen. I don't think that's going to happen. This is a more veteran team. This is a more mature team, more team. A team that's more bought in, really. And this is still a solid group. I mean, that Mississippi state win is looking even better. They just beat Tennessee, a good Tennessee team. And the Virginia Tech win is even looking better now, too. So don't be fooled by just one loss, right? Two losses, whatever it may be on the year. But this is a solid team. They're going to be tough out. They might not be top of the world all the time, but again, that's basketball. This is a solid team. They're going to be competitive in the SEC. Some player highlights from this game. Michi Johnson had 16 points. Talon Cooper had ten. Each had four rebounds. Next game for carolina is this Saturday, 03:30 p.m. Against Mizzou in Missouri. Mizzou is currently eight and seven on the year o and two in the SEC. They've played a solid schedule, has mizzou, so they're definitely battle tested. But to me the crow to the game is don't let Bama beat you twice. Just what I was talking about here. The team has to go back on the road after, frankly, getting their butts kicked. So there's not a lot of time to catch their breath. But they have to remember what works for them, almost get back to their roots a little bit and do that. Play hard defense, get guys good looks at the basket, hit shots at a high level, and be able to rotate guys in who are effective.
[00:20:40] Mizzou is going to be hungry for their first SEC win, but this is a fantastic opportunity for South Carolina to get a road win and get back to that winning record in the SEC. And I mean, really, when you look at it, the SEC is very good this year and there's not many teams that you can look at and be like, oh, yeah, that's a scrub team. Like, they're slouches. So when you're facing a team that is struggling like mizzou, I think they've lost four out of the last five. Something around that mark, you have to take care of business because there's not going to be so many more of these opportunities in league play.
[00:21:20] Now, moving over to women's basketball, as I am just recording this now, the ladies are about to tip off against Mizzou. And that is a program that's a team that I still just really don't like the history and all that between us and them. So I really hope that dawn and company stick it to them. After that. The women take on Kentucky early next week, which I will preview in my next episode. But with that, y'all. 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 y'all. Go Cox.
