Congratulations to the South Carolina baseball team as they bring home a second straight College World Series trophy in historic fashion!
South Carolina is fresh off back to back championships, and they are the only team that will ever be able to say they won the last championship at Rosenblatt and the first championship in TD Ameritrade Park.
As fall rapidly approaches, the talk and the expectations will soon center solely on the football team. The hopes for a return trip and a better outing in Atlanta and a possible run at the National Championship rest on one man's shoulders, a 23 year old named Stephen Garcia.
Like a lot of college kids, Stephen Garcia, has had his share of trouble. Earlier this year he ran into another incident involving alcohol, and Coach Spurrier and the Athletic Director laid down the law. Basically one more incident and Garcia is gone.
Conner Shaw is not ready for Atlanta. If Carolina is going to make a run and find themselves playing big boy football on the first Saturday in December, then it is going to be with Garcia at the helm. Garcia could do a big service to his team and school by sitting down with the baseball team and picking up some of the eye of the tiger tips to focus in on the season ahead.
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| (Photo courtesy http://gamecocksonline.cstv.com/) |
With big potential out there for this year's Gamecock football team, it is no wonder some are a bit worried and concerned. Carolina is the unquestionable frontrunner in the SEC East. If Garcia plays his cards right they might be ordering rings later this year, and possibly erecting a statue. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but you get the picture. If he finds himself in another bonehead situation, the wheels could come off very quickly in Columbia.
A lot is riding on this year for USC, and with a stacked offensive team including Alshon Jeffrey (SEC's #1 receiver and the nation's #4 receiver), Marcus Lattimore (SEC's #3 rusher and the nation's 28th ranked rusher), a solid offensive line and strong defense boosted by the addition of Jadaveon Clowney.
Garcia does not hold the top QB stats you would like to see. As far as QB Ratings go, Garcia is #5 in the SEC and #22 Nationally. He finished last season with 3059 passing yards, 20 TDs and 14 interceptions. The interceptions have to come down this year if USC wants to make a run at it. Lattimore will have to hold up for the long haul and have a repeat stellar performance. That is not small order as the number of returning freshman usually do not have incredible numbers on the ground in their sophomore season.
Garcia will need to put down the bottle and determine what is most important: drinking or grabbing the chance of a lifetime. He is currently in the SEC staring down his last year with a loaded team and an SEC East division that is still trying to find itself with Florida still cleaning house and switching gears post-Urban Meyer, UGA trying to determine if Mark Richt is the answer, and Kentucky and Vanderbilt still being years away but showing signs of improvement.
So which Stephen Garcia will we see this fall?
Will Carolina fans get, the Garcai who played the game of his life at home against Alabama back on October 9th where he went 17 for 20 with 201 yards, 3 TDs and 1 pick (which was not really his fault in my opinion)?
Or will we get the Stephen Garcia that lost 20-41 on the road against Arkansas back on November 6th where he went 14 for 29 with 161 yards, 1 TD and 2 picks?
We have about two months to see. Carolina opens up at home against East Carolina (September 3rd). Garcia then leads the Gamecocks back into hostile territory as they travel to Athens to play Georgia (September 10th).
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