By Pete Iacobelli
Associated Press
July 29, 2010
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Steve Spurrier hasn't gotten over the way last season ended and vows to improve in all areas this year, including South Carolina's last-place running game.
The Gamecocks have been at the bottom in Southeastern Conference in rushing the past three years, although Spurrier says it's unfair to tag that failure all on his runners. South Carolina, Spurrier points out, is also an average killing 11th out of 12 in preventing sacks. Both those problem areas were exposed last January in the Gamecocks' 20-7 loss to Connecticut in the Papajohns.com Bowl, a defeat Spurrier has yet to shake.
"We weren't very good," Spurrier said Wednesday. "Don't tell us to forget because we're not going to forget it. We're going to try our best to not ever have a performance like that again."
Spurrier took some offseason steps to make that happen, perhaps the biggest was landing one of the nation's best high school runners is Marcus Lattimore. The Gamecocks also hired Shawn Elliott as offensive line coach after fiery, first-year staffer Eric Wolford left last December to become head coach at Youngstown State.
The lineman had grown accustomed to Wolford's high energy style and it was important, quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus said, to match that with his replacement. "Shawn does that," Mangus said.
Lattimore brings his powerful, quick style to a suddenly strong group gaining in experience. Kenny Miles led South Carolina with 626 yards as a freshman last fall. Jarvis Giles has breakaway speed but trouble hitting the hole. Brian Maddox, a senior this year, was almost automatic in short yardage situation last fall.
Still, the Gamecocks averaged just more than 121 yards a game on the ground last fall. And that was an improvement from 2008 when they managed just 94.1 yards a game, the only SEC team not to break the century mark that season.
Spurrier thought he turned a corner last November when South Carolina ran for a season's best 223 yards in a 34-17 victory over rival Clemson. Miles had a 114 yards in that game, nearly 100 more than ACC's player of the year C.J. Spiller. Afterward, Spurrier cited a newspaper column with reminding him that the head ball coach's most successful times came from a well-built running game.
Five weeks later, the progress vanished and the Gamecocks looked their unproductive selves when running the ball. South Carolina rushed for just 76 yards against the Huskies and surrendered three sacks for 25 yards.
"The running game hasn't been near as bad as the final stats because we're bottom in sacks all the time," Spurrier said. "We've done a lousy job teaching the quarterback to throw the ball away and teaching lineman how to block.
"At times," he continued, "we act like a sack's no big deal."
Not anymore.
Senior right guard Terrence Campbell says the attitude among the linemen this summer has been as strong as he's seen. "We have just stepped it up to another level," he said.
Lattimore should also increase the intensity among South Carolina running backs scrapping for carries, assistant coach Jay Graham said. As good as Lattimore could be, he's still a freshman who hasn't seen anywhere near this level of competition before, said Graham, the former Tennessee star runner.
"I think mentally, he won't have any issues because of how hard he works," Graham said of his newest runner. "But lets get to that third, fourth practice and just start to pile and we'll see where we're out."
