Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, the Yardcocks get hot. Football Spring practice concludes, and the basketball team brings in a pair of transfers. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:56] Welcome to episode three, 385 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope y' all had a lovely week out there. Gamecocks. What a last week. And what. What a time for the Southeast right now. I mean, we had a fantastic Masters going on in Augusta. You got Charlotte Hornets playing Game Bonanza Madness. You got the. The Hawks getting their playoff run going. We're talking NBA playoffs on the Cox Talking Gamecocks podcast. There's always a first time for everything there, but it's just a fantastic time with some unseasonably warm weather, got people out at the pool. It's just a beautiful, beautiful time, and hope y' all are ready for a lovely weekend. Of course, there are Gamecocks sports throughout to get y' all through, and there is a good amount to cover from the last few days. Got some thoughts on all of it. So, of course, let's jump into things here with a week in review. Just real quick here before we get into some other news and things like that. Tuesday, the men's Golf finished 10th in the Ford Collegiate. And then big game here, Softball beat Clemson 3 to 1 on Tuesday as well. That's a big W. Absolutely love to see it. Shout out to the softball team.
[00:02:27] Shout out to the Gamecocks anytime you can be Clemson. I don't care how your season's going, I don't care what your record is. I don't care what sport it's in.
[00:02:35] That's the good stuff. That's what it's all about right now. And it just gets the competitive juices flowing. And I think we all needed a win there. And again, just. Yeah, anytime you see that link next to Clemson, it's just. It's great. Or rather a W when you're looking in the box where it depends on how you lose. You know, look at it. Right?
[00:02:55] But. All right, got a couple of pieces of news here from around some of the programs here. Starting off with basketball. Yeah, the Court Cox, the. The Q Zips. Hey, Lamont Paris still being the basketball coach.
[00:03:10] They're still the Q Zips. And, yeah, it's a hell of a lot more fun to call them the Q Zips when we're winning than it is when we're losing. But nonetheless, you know, we're we're, we are Q zip. Through thick or thin here. The team brought in a pair of incoming transfers, of course, as Lamont Paris is looking to rebuild this roster. First point guard Corey Mincey, coming from George Mason, this is a nice pickup here. He averaged 11 points and three assists last season.
[00:03:43] Type of player that Lamont Paris wants, you know, get that point guard in. And then also small forward Camden Hyde. Heidi.
[00:03:51] So we're already 0 for 1 on pronunciations of his name, but nonetheless, Camden is coming in from Texas where he averaged six points and three rebounds last season.
[00:04:03] Listed as a small forward, but he plays on the wing. Kind of strikes me as a 3D type of guy. Guy with a little of a bigger frame that can shoot the three ball. That is something that Lamont Paris likes. Obviously you look at those numbers, you might not think it's like off the wall, but this is exactly what you have to do. You have to bring in the type of caliber player that you want. I like that these guys have experience and yeah, just generally thinking like it's good to see some action here. And when you read reports of what's going on behind the scenes there, they are interested in a lot of guys and pretty much all positions. As Le Mans, Paris is looking to rebound from two down years and roster construction was a big talking point last season. And the recruiting and the guys bringing in from the transfer portal is a huge reason as to what went wrong last season and not having the caliber of player and the type of player and type of positions, etc. That Lamont Paris needed. So hopefully the lesson was learned.
[00:05:10] There's all this talk about basketball is going to have more resources to compete budget wise and things of that nature. Hopefully that's the case and hopefully, you know, we see more transfers coming to South Carolina in the coming days and weeks and all we can do from there is hope for the best. I mean, basketball to me right now with how things have gone is it's really wait and see.
[00:05:33] You know, I was excited about some of the players Lamont brought in last off season and it didn't work. The evaluations were off, you know, off the jump. I like this guy, Corey Mincy, you know, that that strikes me as the type of player that you needed to start this transfer portal class with, but let's see.
[00:05:50] So I want to continue to see him bringing in different types of players. I want experience, I want older guys and hopefully at the end of the day it's a pretty good looking roster, but only time will tell.
[00:06:02] But shifting Gears a little bit over to football.
[00:06:05] Yeah, we're talking football, y'. All. It's. It's exciting. But spring practice wrapped up, so with that, you can take stock of where things are at. And it was weird, of course, this year with the construction going on at Willie B. There was no spring game. So the spring kind of like with, you know, of course there was the Darius Rucker concert and all that jazz, but it just kind of came to this unceremonious end where the spring game is like, okay, let's get a peek at what we've been talking about and listening about and all this jazz here. So to put a bow on it, like, I think the spring progressed well. Obviously, the biggest storyline is Kendall Briles and the offense. You know, of course, there's some of the other assistant coaches, but from everything that you read and everything that you hear from Kendall Briles, press conferences, Lenore's press conference, Beamer press conferences, I think the offensive side of the ball has progressed pretty much as well as you could have asked. Kendall was saying that things started to slow down for the Norris, and you could tell that in practice, and that was about a week or so ago when he said that. So there was still even more to come from there.
[00:07:15] It seems that the vibe with Briles system, or at least the message that he's trying to get across to Lenores and the group that was left over from last year is just go out there and play. It seems like he, of course, wants you to know the system, but he wants you to react to the system on instinct and to get the job done. Like, get the first down. It doesn't maybe necessarily have to be how he drew it up, but go out there and do it. The concepts are there to stress the defense, and if you have to improvise from time to time, that's all right.
[00:07:50] And I think that that's going to resonate well with this group. I think that's going to resonate with Lenoris. And a lot of it is just getting into that rhythm, getting positive yardage, getting the first downs. Whereas while, of course, Mike Shula wanted to do that and any OC wants to do that, I think the philosophy that Shula had was just very textbook, and it was very technical and very nuanced. Like we're talking about last year, of course, like talking footwork in the middle of the season, you know, And I think that type of stuff was just in Lenores, his head of like, oh, my God, I have to worry about all of these different things to be the perfect quarterback. And then if I'm the perfect quarterback, then everything else goes well. Whereas the offense and the team works better when he just goes out there and balls and make some of these off schedule plays. Like go out there, execute the concepts right and stress the defense. And yeah, you need to hit on these plays and you need to understand what coach Browse is doing. But just go out there and play ball, have the instincts take over.
[00:08:59] So that was really cool to see a couple names that have stood out from press conferences, articles and everything like that. Matt Fuller, running back, won the offensive player of the Spring award. That was incredibly welcome news for anyone who's been following along. I mean, that was something last year that lacked at times was that consistent performance from running backs. You know, you needed that true RB one. And I was high on Fuller. I called for him to get more playing time a lot last season. I think the issue with him was consistency and you saw these moments where he was able to make something happen and you saw drives where the team, you know, would lean on him. The Kentucky game was referenced by Beamer, but there were also games and drives where he would go ghost and he wasn't able to do that. So if he's able to respond to some of the new coaching and to the new system, that is music to all of our ears because he is someone that has everything that it takes to be a true RB one in the sec. There's also been some really good, exciting reporting from transfer running back Christian Clark. Coming from Texas, he had some productivity at that level, of course, in the SEC big time program, but just has a lot of upside. And that was what was exciting about this running back group where you had a couple guys like Clark, like Isaiah Augustave, who have that upside and who have flashed at times at their pri, at their private schools, at their previous schools. But can they come over and do that consistently at South Carolina? And that of course is addition in addition to the guys who were already on campus. So if you can give me a good combination of Fuller, Clark, maybe Howell or Isaiah, like that, that gets me going like that. That rocks there. And then on the, on the defensive side of the ball, there's been a couple of names thrown around who guys who have performed well. But a name I' a few times is freshman defensive tackle Noah Clark, which if you haven't seen is just an absolute enormous human being. Just a mammoth of a man. Of course he's young and, you know, needing to develop, but his name has Got brought up a few times from everything that I've read and, you know, heard. And that's a group in that defensive tackle room that has been reworked. There's been some older guys that have been brought in, but you definitely want more consistency as a whole. You want more explosiveness. And if you can get contributions from a younger player like a Clark, even in situational moments, or a guy that just is, you know, lightly rotated in, it'll go a long way. Because you have a guy like Brownlow Dindy, who is going to be, you know, your. Your starter. He's going to hold down the fort in that line and in that group, but you're going to need some guys behind him to develop. And if Clark is able to do that and continue the momentum he had in the spring, I think that'll be really huge. And, you know, there's a lot of question marks and a lot of people talking about Dylan Stewart. He sat out this spring still nursing that back injury that really, really limited him and, you know, put him on the sidelines at the end of last season. And I think it's just like, kind of a mystery as to what's going on. Beamer said that right now the prescription is just rest. And he's been resting. He hasn't been exerting himself. He's been doing some work in the facility, especially with the, you know, the medical personnel. You know, he's out and about at practice talking to Beamer, probably taking those mental reps, as they like to say. But that's a question mark, right? And he's the type of talent that now that he's a little bit older, he can get back into shape over the summer and be ready to go come fall. And he's just going to have that natural skill set to be disruptive. But you never like to see your star player sidelined an entire spring with especially like a back injury, something that's just so crucial and can be really touchy for athletes. So hopefully it really is a situation where he's just stayed off it. He's taken it easy for the last few months, sat out through spring getting up to speed with some of the coaching and whatnot, and is ready to go come where it's time to get ready for the season. So I'm excited. I think, you know, barring some of the injury news that we had to weather early in the spring, I think it was productive and I think it was a positive spring. And, you know, for as much football as you can talk in April, I Think this is about as good as you can be without having to see it at a spring game. And especially again, like, weathering some injury news and whatnot. But all told, like, I'm jazzed up. I think the team's in a really good spot. There's going to be a lot of recruiting going on.
[00:13:58] June tends to be a very busy month for this program with commitments and whatnot. So of course we'll bring y' all up to speed there. But, yeah, Gamecock football inching our way closer. Very, very exciting. But there is still meaningful games being played right up the road from the football facility. And that's the Yardcocks.
[00:14:17] Don't look now, but the yard cocks are hot.
[00:14:22] I did not think I would ever say that this season, but I am damn glad that I am.
[00:14:29] Last weekend, the boys swept Mizzou on the road in pretty impressive fashion, winning 5 to 1, 1 nothing, and 6 to 4. And doing this on the road, that, to me, takes grit and it is pretty impressive. I'm not looking at the fact that Mizzou is even worse than South Carolina. That doesn't matter to me. You're on the road in the sec. To go out there and, you know, pretty much impose your will for especially two out of three games is very impressive. And then the guys came back home in the midweek game this past Tuesday night and battled Davidson and still got the win. Win eight to six to make that four in a row for the Gamecocks. And it just feels good. Like, you know, I. I said it an episode or two ago where it's just like, for everything this program has been through under the old coach to get some momentum and to get some positive vibes, like, those guys deserve it. Monty Lee deserves to coach a winning Gamecocks program.
[00:15:37] The guys in that clubhouse that show up every day and have gone through this, like, let some of that hard work pay off now. But it's interesting because you're sitting here in mid April with about a month left to go in the season.
[00:15:51] The team is sitting at.500 overall, a less than stellar SEC record, but nonetheless, and about a month in the season with an opportunity to salvage this season. Now, I'm not going to get ahead of myself here, okay? But there is enough baseball left in this season where if the guys can play consistently and play well and avoid, you know, sort of some really bad series, they can hang around like, they can be a tough out, and we can be sitting here at the end of the year saying, you know what that team Got it together again. I'm not putting too much stock in that. I'm not going to get myself too worked up. And, you know, the hope's too high.
[00:16:36] Saw some people online talking, like, you know, you got, you got. You got a chance to make, make a run at the postseason. Let, let's. Again, let's not get ahead of ourselves here, but there's some momentum in our corner now, and I think these guys needed to see it pay off. And, you know, so you're hot now. And the Gamecocks are coming back home this weekend, taking on number 17, Mississippi State. The Bulldogs, they are smack in the middle of the SEC, 8th place with a 7, 8 conference record, 25 and 13 overall. Pitching rotation for Carolina is Brandon Stone on Friday, and Phillips Saturday and Sunday is currently listed as tba. But, yeah, I mean, like, maybe these past few games have been the spark needed. And if the team has a good showing and go out there and win this series in front of the home crowd this weekend, these next few weeks will be very intriguing. And I think you'll have a lot more fan excitement and you'll have something to point to. This team will to say, like, it's paying off and wouldn't that just be fun, like. And, like, that's what I'm saying. Even if they come up short at the end of it, right?
[00:17:51] To find a way to put together, like, a somewhat compelling season and to go from now until the end of the year and where everyone's kind of paying a little bit more attention and, you know, maybe we're not just a complete doormat. Like, I think that would be a lot of fun, and everyone in that clubhouse deserves it, as do we as fans. So let's see how this weekend goes, and let's see if these guys can keep up, keep up the momentum. That'd be pretty electric.
[00:18:18] But with that, y', all, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media Twitter or X is Cox gamecox. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox Talking gamecox. And please, like, subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'. All. Go Cox.
