Bottom Line on…. South Carolina

It might take more than some snazzy new jerseys for the South Carolina Gamecocks to be a threat in the SEC East in ‘06.

Forget that head coach Steve Spurrier’s squad returns 16 of 22 starters on offense and defense and is coming off what many believe to be South Carolina’s best recruiting class ever, the Gamecocks still have some unresolved issues at some key positions and have a treacherous road schedule.

After struggling against Georgia and Mississippi State at the beginning of 2006, senior quarterback Blake Mitchell got the hook in favor of the more athletic Syvelle Newton who helped the Gamecocks win four of the next six games. After being arrested following a brawl at a near-campus bar (the charges were subsequently dropped and Mitchell served a one-game suspension), Mitchell was re-inserted into the lineup following a near miraculous comeback at Arkansas and would throw four TDs in the Gamecocks win in the Liberty Bowl. Despite a less-than-spectacular showing in the Garnet and Black game (13-39, 150 yards), it appears the QB job is once again Mitchell’s to lose. Expect the backup position job to be a three-horse race between Chris Smelley, Tommy Beecher and jailbird freshman Stephen Garcia.

Fielding the best pair of running backs not named McFadden and Jones, South Carolina’s running game will serve as a nice compliment to their shaky passing game, which will be without record-breaking receiver Sidney Rice, who opted out early for the NFL. Junior Kenny McKinley will likely be Mitchell’s go-to-receiver but the passing game will need Larry Freeman, Freddie Brown or Mike West to develop into scoring threats to be an effective compliment to their relatively solid ground game.

Despite the hole left by the departure of Sidney Rice, no unit has more to prove than the Gamecocks O-Line and no unit is perhaps more important. To put it bluntly, it is the line’s performance that will determine what kind of offense Spurrier can run. After being “steamrolled” in the spring game, it appears the line has a long way to go and Spurrier may have to play it safe and keep Mitchell upright rather than going 5 wide, empty backfield and chucking the ball all over the field.

The defensive line returns first-team freshman All-America Eric Norwood, who led the team in sacks last season but lose Casper Brinkley who joins his twin brother Jasper at linebacker. With a rotation of hungry young players, the defensive line could turn into one of the best in the conference. Returning a pretty solid core of starts from last season (including some new additions) the South Carolina defense looks as if they can hang with some of the conference’s best offenses. And they’ll have to. With road tilts against Tennessee, LSU and Arkansas.

Coming off an eight-win season last year, Gamecock fans could be expecting Spurrier to finally push them over the edge and into an SEC east title. But it’s not going to happen this year. Regardless of the fact that they play Georgia, LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas on the road (three of which they couldn’t beat last season at home). Look for this to be a transition year, one in which some of Spurrier’s recruits from the ‘06 class get some playing time and mature. Expect to see more than one quarterback, my guess is that Blake Mitchell will struggle and won’t last the whole year and will get pulled, probably in favor of Smelley.

Bottom Line Prediction: 7-5. You can never count a Steve Spurrier coached-team out of any game and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Gamecocks gave the Gators all they can handle in Columbia on Nov. 10, ditto for Georgia on the road in week 2. Best case scenario for this team is 8-4. Anything better and you’re betting that they will beat one or more of the following teams: LSU, Tennesee, Florida or Arkansas. Not likely