Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] This episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks is brought to you by the Mason jar, New York City. The Mason jar is the official Gamecock bar for the New York City area. Fans and alumni of USC can come by the jar for some great barbecue, cold drinks, and of course, to watch the gamecocks in any sport, all while surrounded by South Carolina memorabilia. If you want to get a slice of game day in Columbia, all while in the Big Apple, head to the Mason jar on East 30th street. All right, here we go.
[00:01:13] Welcome to episode two, six of Cox talking gamecocks brought to you by the Mason jar in New York City. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. And I've said it before, I am a softie for Christmas. I am in the Christmas spirit, but I mean, it really is the most wonderful time of year. Yeah, you get the Christmas lights, the hot chocolate, the bourbon, the eggnog, all that jazz. But you also college basketball is cooking. Bowl games are heating up. NFL is heating up. There's just so much going on and unfortunately, having to sit on the outside looking in this year without having a bowl game, it makes you want to ask for that for Christmas next year, right? Like, dear Santa, I don't know how much sway you have in this whole thing, but can we get to a bowl game next year, please? Not asking for a whole lot.
[00:02:16] Know the independence bowl. Is that still a thing? I'll take it. I'll take any bowl game. But nonetheless, here. Got a fun episode for you all here. But first, wanted to share the holiday podcast schedule with you all. So you got the end of this current week here. You may be listening to Friday or Saturday, whatever it may be. There will be no episode to start next week, no episode Monday or Tuesday because of Christmas. And there's also just a break in the action. So I myself will take a little break, but there will be an episode on Friday. So next Friday, the last one of the year, talking both basketball teams, any news that comes up from that week, maybe football recruiting, things like that. And then I will do a bowl preview for several bowl games. Give my picks, give my takes. Just kind of get into that spirit there because you got the New Year's six games and then you have several other bowl games. New Year's Eve, New Year's Day. That's an all time couch day, really, because you're probably nursing how you're feeling from New Year's Eve. Sit on the couch, order some greasy breakfast and just watch football. And then you end with the great game. So looking forward to that. But that's the schedule. So no Monday episode this upcoming week, but there will be one next Friday and then we should be back to normal for the foreseeable future here. But let's take a look back in this week in Gamecock Nation. And it was a big week for the football team as it was national signing day. I think technically speaking this is now it's the early signing day. You still have one that comes in a month or two, I think. But this has really become the de facto signing day. This is the time when most recruits put pen to paper and it's also neat because this is also when the transfers will put pen to paper and make it all official here. So this has become maybe a little overshadowed by the transfer portal. You can make an argument that high school recruiting, the news and things like that has been overshadowed by the portal, but I think any college coach will tell you that the key to that sustained success, it starts with the high school ranks. It starts with high school recruiting. This is definitely still an important time for college football and for college football fans. It's great to just have a pulse on what your team is doing in the high school ranks. I think with the transfer portal, my opinion, that's just a great way to plug up some holes. Or if you're trying to take that next step, it can be a way to sort of give a little shot of adrenaline, like a little shot in the arm to your program. But I do think there is something to be said about recruiting guys, building those relationships with them and then having them in your building for two, three, four years. They understand the culture, they understand how you do things, they understand the system for longer. And I think there's something to be said about that. And you obviously just simply have to have the players right. Like, you can't just build the team off of transfers. That's not sustainable. So you need to have good high school recruits to be the foundation of your team. And Shane Beamer has said that, that they will always start at the high school ranks, they'll always start in South Carolina and then they'll work their way out from there. And I personally like the way that Beamer has handled the transfer portal. You have a glaring position of need. Let's go address that with some experience and then we'll bring in some youth behind that. If you have the opportunity to get a Spencer rattler, you take it. But other than that, it has to be built from the high school ranks and this national signing day was a great day for South Carolina. As things really went swimmingly, there was very little drama. This class signed without a hitch. It felt like you woke up and you already had the social media post of several guys signing the letter of intent. They're fully committed. Welcome home. And by like lunchtime it was over. There was not a dragged out thing. Is this guy going to sign or not? Waiting on the last one. This class was ready to go. They wanted to get their paperwork in. You absolutely love that. There was one flip away from this class, but it seems like that was actually more related to a personal matter. The kid wanted to be home closer to his family during a difficult time. So no hard feelings there. Of course you wish him the best and everything like that. But to recap, according to two four seven sports, our 2024 South Carolina recruiting class has the following 16 commits, an average rating of 90.89. Two five star prospects. Nine four star prospects, the highest rated out of state prospect ever to come to South Carolina in defensive end Dylan Stewart. And four out of the top five players from the state of South Carolina committed to USC. So a lot to be excited about. The headliners of this class are definitely five star prospects Dylan Stewart and then offensive lineman Josiah Thompson attacking both of the lines of scrimmage. How many times are we going to hear it and say it? To win in the SEC, you have to win in the trenches. You have to have the guys along the line of scrimmage to be difference makers. Dylan Stewart is the kind of guy that could probably get on campus and I would expect him to basically walk in the building and be in the too deep, especially based off of what we saw from that position group this past season. Not a ton of production, not a ton of depth. But you talk about getting some time to get bigger and faster and stronger for a kid that's already got the build, got the twitch, got the explosiveness to get after the quarterback, that's the kind of player that can change games. That's the kind of player that will put fear into other opposing teams that they have to game plan for him. I'm not going to put this comparison out there yet, but that's what Clowney was, okay? Clowney was a guy that put fear into opposing teams and they had to game plan for him. And because of that, it made everybody else on that defensive line good. And he was a freaking beast and he was still productive by being double teamed and things like that. Dylan Stewart's rating is right up there. Right? You're not going to be right at the clowny level. Perfect essentially. But he's the guy in the position where you can wreck a game and if you have a guy who can consistently disrupt the backfield, it makes everybody's job that much easier. Coupled with maybe a guy like Gere, maybe a guy like Desmond, some of these interior defensive linemen you're bringing in can make everybody better. Offensive lineman Josiah Thompson I mean this is the highest rated one of the guys in the state there. Top five highest rated player in the state.
[00:10:06] He's going to be a stalwarth this team for years. This program for years has struggled along the offensive line despite having some experience year over year. He is that talent, that skill that you need. I don't know if he comes in and starts, but maybe he grows into it. Kind of guy like tree ends up having to play his freshman year. But you look at some of the dudes on the offensive line that are going to be there and there's a lot to be excited about. Marquis Anderson Tree Josiah Thompson Pringle Franks finally, like elite talent on the offensive line, but really up and down this class there is talent and there are high ceiling guys. And the good news is, according to Shane Beamer, that almost all of this class will be enrolling early, which is huge for player development. This class will provide that stability again along the offensive line and complement a lot of the younger guys that are already on campus. I'm excited a lot about wide receiver Mazio Bennett. The more I read up on Jaluis Solomon, he seems like a kid that can come in and compete right away and can grow into a true lockdown corner, which is a piece we haven't really seen be recruited yet. So that would be exciting to see. I love that Beamer brought in guys to play linebacker like Fred Johnson and Wendell Gregory. That room all of a sudden is a lot deeper than it was and has more talent than it has in years.
[00:11:43] Running back Matthew Fuller, I feel like is getting lost in the shuffle here, but he's someone that's going to benefit from learning behind guys that are older, like rocket Sanders. Oscar Attaway could turn out to be a real good player. There's just a lot of reason to be excited with this class. I feel that Beamer's classes have progressively gotten better and built off of one another and although this one, it might not be the biggest in the country, you see some classes with 20 plus guys, the quality of players is extremely high and that average rating, was it 90.8? That's higher than several blue blood programs that regularly are in the top ten of recruiting classes. So I think there's a couple of different guys in different position groups that you can see being staples of the program and can grow into really, really good players. Like normally when you look at a recruiting class, you're only looking at on paper, right? For me, normally you get one or two guys that jump off the page that really excites you and then of course you can be pleasantly surprised down the line. This class has like five at least different guys who you can say, that guy can be really good.
[00:13:12] I mean, even Mason, love the kicker. He could turn out to be really good, right?
[00:13:21] You got a guy like Jalua Solomon who could be locked down again, Maisio Bennett, I said then you already have really good offensive lineman and Josiah Thompson. But pringle Franks, Stewart Ducey, like, there are guys who you can see could be really, really good for this program and it's super exciting. Now, of course, the test comes when they get to campus and they have to earn playing time. But us fans, I think we can rest easy knowing that at least the right type of players are going to be in that building and hopefully we see it pay off on the field real soon. Get these guys on campus early, keep them out of trouble because that was apparently difficult with this last previous recruiting class and develop them and get them bigger, faster, stronger, get their head in the playbook and maybe come summer camp, fall camp, rather, we got some guys who are freshmen who can contribute and all of a sudden you could be looking at a lean, mean, young, nasty, exciting Gamecocks football team. So it's really cool, really exciting to see. National signing day was a success and of course, coupled with the transfers that signed as well.
[00:14:52] Also news from the program here. Great news from the program. Shane Beamer said that linebacker Mo Kabba is in. He's full steam ahead recovering from his knee injury and there is every indication that he is working to come back this season. Really great news. I really hope that Mo can come back and get a full, healthy season under his belt and then sort of ride off into the sunset. He deserves it. And I mean, shoot, if you can get Mo kaba, let's say at 80% of his production, but he's healthy for the full year.
[00:15:31] That linebacking room, that linebacker core is looking nice. It's kind of what we were saying beginning of last year, but now we saw how Debo took that next step. You have to believe Stone will continue to develop. So you're looking at Debo Stone, Bam Martin Scott came on great last year. Jaron Willis was a guy that played decent amount of time last year. Maybe he grows into that Mo Kabba and then you're bringing in some of these young freshmen. Very exciting. So, not to get ahead of myself here, but hope all the best for Mo. There we go. But moving on to games that are being played. Talking about men's basketball here. Tuesday night, the men played Winthrop at colonial life and got the w, winning 72 to 62 to grab their 10th win.
[00:16:27] Now, I've said it again, I've said already, but to put it into perspective, last year they had eleven wins all season and the guys already have ten. And it's not even Christmas. So enjoy that and we'll see what happens when SEC play comes around.
[00:16:49] But this team is significantly better than last year. Significantly more fun to watch. And make no mistake about it, Winthrop is a solid team. This was a good win. Winthrop could compete for the big south title, could go to the tournament. They are a scrappy team. They make you earn every possession. They're really good at getting to the line, which was evident in this game. And really that was the roadblock for Carolina to pull away in this one because it felt like every time Carolina got that 810 point lead looked like they were ready to pull away, Winthrop would create a turnover, get to the line and next thing you knew it was just a one or two possession.
[00:17:35] You know, this was an interesting game from the South Carolina perspective. The team had to adapt a little bit to win this one. They won differently. It looked different than what we had seen previously. BJ Mack, he didn't have the best game. He was not having the easiest time of it. You saw some frustration on his face, getting banged inside and things like that. Michi wasn't really shooting as many threes, but he changed up his game and was driving into the paint scoring that way a lot. Loved to see it. Bozeman's Verdonc brought energy to the floor. Played a lot of minutes. Looked good out there. Miles studie had a couple real nice moments, lockdown defense as well. And it was nice to see the team be able to win in a different way. Right. The normal offense, it just wasn't there. But the guys adjusted. Lamont Paris adjusted. Lamont Paris was not afraid to keep a starter on the bench more than usual. The team ended up with a comfortable win. When it was all said and done, some player highlights for you all here. Michi Johnson, 20 points, five assists. Talon Cooper, 13 points and six rebounds Miles studie ten points and five rebounds. Up next for the Gamecocks is a game Friday night against Elon at home at 06:00 p.m. Elon is six and five on the year. They do score at a high clip, but they've lost a couple of games recently. My crow to the game here is playthrough BJ Mack. I like to get him going again. Let him just be more physical and outbody Elon. Make sure he's involved early and often, and I think the rest should fall into place from there.
[00:19:18] Moving over to the women's team now. The ladies were also in action Tuesday night up against Bowling Green, who actually is coached by longtime former Gamecock assistant coach. So that was really neat to see. The women got the win 93 to 62. This game was a little closer than I thought it was going to be early in the game, but once the Gamecocks got cooking, it was just too much for bowling Green to handle in the second and third quarters. You really saw a good effort from the team to pull away. And the shooting. The shooting looked strong throughout the game against Bowling Green. Here, player highlights Chloe Kitts 21 points, Brie hall behind some very strong shooting, 18 points and Ashlyn Watkins had a nice game. Nine points and eight rebounds. Very impressive there. The ladies next game is not until after Christmas, so we'll hold off on previewing that until the next episode. But with that y'all, that wraps up this episode. Merry Christmas. I appreciate all your support. My presents are your listens and you know, maybe do this. Give me a present, share the podcast with a Gamecock fan. Let them spread the cheer. I don't know. That worked out better in my head, but nonetheless, y'all know the drill. Follow me on social media Twitter X is Cox gamecocks. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox talking gamecocks. Then please like subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'all go cops.
