South Carolina Football Preview: QB

     This summer, I am working an 8:30-5:00 unpaid internship, and needless to say I am extremely bored, so today I will begin my complete (and 100% opinionated and biased) analysis of the 2012 Gamecock football squad. 

Quarterback

    This position a year ago was one of much uncertainty, and not because of a lack of talent.  Last summer (and spring, and winter, and fall, and for three years before that) the extremely talented, and highly unmotivated and undisciplined Stephen Garcia's status with the USC football program was in limbo, which meant who the opening day starter would be was as well.  A year later, that is certainly not the case.
    
Connor Shaw
     The rising junior from Flowery Branch, Georgia was named the starting quarterback for the opening game last year against ECU, but after a rocky first quarter (and rocky is being nice), Shaw was replaced by Garcia.  Garcia started the next four games, and compiled a 4-1 record (including the comeback he orchestrated against the Pirates).  In his final start in the garnet and black, Garcia and the Cocks lost a heartbreaker (Heartbreaker: adjective; poorly played and poorly coached game in which the team you are cheering for loses on a "bad call"), and shortly there after, he was booted from the team.
     In steps Shaw, who mere weeks earlier had been booed off of the field in Bank of America Stadium.  What does he do?  Shaw leads the Cocks to a 7-1 record in their final eight games including a third straight win over Clemson and Dabo, and the best bowl win in school history against Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl. For the 2011-2012 campaign, Shaw finished with a stat line of 1448 yards passing with 14 TD's in addition to 705 yards rushing (okay, so he actually only rushed for 525 yards net) and 8 trips to the endzone.  But the most impressive stat for Shaw, and the one that I think shows the most about how much his improving as a quarterback is that he only turned the ball over 8 times and had a completion percentage of 65.4%.
    Coming into 2012, Shaw is clearly the starting quarterback for the Gamecocks, and his improvements in 2011 coupled with the work he has put in this offseason, I believe he can be one of the top quarterbacks in the SEC.  Sure, some people will say his stats last year were because he was running a very simple offense, (Yes, I was one of these people last year.  I mean how many times can you really run the read option in a game?) or that he was surrounded by weapons, but the fact is that Shaw came in when his team needed him and guided them to the best record in school history.
     This year, I fully expect Shaw to exceed what he did last year and could see him throwing for close to 2000 yards depending on how many times a game SOS lets him drop back and throw it (which could be few and far between considering the stable of running backs that the Head Ball Coach has in Columbia, but I'll save that for another day).  And with his versatility as a runner and his ability to keep the ball in the hands of the Gamecocks by limiting turnovers, the 2012 campaign could be one that leaves Shaw with a chance to graduate in 2014 and see his name painted up on Williams-Brice Stadium with the likes of Todd Ellis.



Andrew Clifford
     I know that Dylan Thompson is listed at number two on the depth chart, but honestly I don't ever think he he will start a game in the garnet and black and personally he looks like a douche (and please, if you ever do have to start a game, prove me completely wrong).  That said, Clifford gets the bump up to two on my depth chart mainly because we chilled with him in Key West on Spring Break and he hooked us up with some booze (but did steal our football).  Also, from the practices I have seen, and the long bombs he was throwing under the influence on the beach, I think that Clifford is a capable number two.  By capable I meant that I hope Clifford can perform in mop up situations that could arise and that he could manage the offense somewhat competently in a situation that Shaw went down (knock on wood).


Dylan Thompson
     I believe that my thoughts on DT were expressed thoroughly in my analysis of Clifford, so I won't go into too much more detail about a third stringer.  However, since he is only a sophomore, I do hope that he does continue to improve if some of the younger guys and incoming recruits do not pan out the way they are predicted to.




     That's all for the QB's (don't be confused with the nickname of Claude Close), and I'll be back soon for my preview of what I think is one of the best groups of running backs in the SEC.