You Got Him, Now Use Him
posted by David Cloninger, 2/02/2010 10:13:00 PM
------------------- MR. C
We now return you to your regularly scheduled lives …
Marcus Lattimore smirked at the question and threw out a one-liner that would be etched on a plaque somewhere, if he was a quarterback from Jacksonville. Somebody asked how South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier closed the deal with his prized recruit, after a period where Lattimore was deeply concerned about the direction of the Gamecocks’ offense.
“He cha-cha’ed with my mama,” Lattimore said.
The comment drew a lot of laughter and sure made my personal quote Hall of Fame, because I remembered reading about how Spurrier danced with Lattimore’s mother, without music, during one recruiting pitch to the tailback. That little soft-shoe apparently erased Lattimore’s worries if he would be able to live up to his enormous reputation if he came to USC, because he committed on Tuesday and was scheduled to sign on Wednesday.
Steve got him. Now Steve has to effectively use him.
I’ve always been in Spurrier’s corner at USC, because he’s won more games than any other coach has in a five-year period and I took a realistic view of his chances for huge success at USC. Simply arriving wasn’t going to change over 100 years of futility – the guy’s a coach, not a magician.
But even I had to have my doubts after that horrendous performance at the Papajohns.com Bowl. One of my colleagues put it best when I asked him during the game, “How did this team beat Clemson?” and he responded, “This team didn’t.”
That one game destroyed more than a month of goodwill after the Clemson win and once again had fans fretting about the program’s direction. They were legitimate concerns – how could the same team play so well, finally seeming to have the offensive answers, in one game and then return to worse than before in the next?
There were several reasons, which we’ve discussed at length. But on Tuesday, nobody was concerned about that. They were only concerned about which school Lattimore would pick.
He chose USC, parting several gray clouds over the football offices in Columbia. Now Spurrier has got to keep the sun shining.
As in, tweak his offensive plan in order to fully utilize the gift he just received.
I think I’ve been around this site long enough for y’all to know I never buy into recruiting hype. I prefer to follow the lead of Boobie Miles in the wonderful “Friday Night Lights” – “Hype is something that ain’t real. I’m all real.”
In other words, I believe it when I see it.
I have seen it in this case.
The last time I felt this strongly about a recruit was when Stephon Gilmore signed. The time before that, it was about some half-pint from Chester who is currently shredding SEC basketball like a Cuisinart.
Lattimore can play some football. It’s not just the running, with a very impressive combination of speed and power, it’s the receiving. He can take the swing pass 5 yards to the side and already be seeing five busted tackles down the field.
USC has got to use that talent, not try to stick him in an offense where he’s going to be seldom used and never happy.
Spurrier has constantly fallen victim to his own past while he’s been at USC, often avoiding the run in order to throw, even when it’s not working that well. Then when he’s found a good mix of running and passing, he’ll lose his patience, chuck it downfield and hope he’ll see a repeat of Danny Wuerffel to Name That All-Star.
Looking at 2010, USC has great talent at the offensive skill positions, but there’s not much around to block for them. By numbers, sure. By experience and raw offensive line talent, no way.
The Gamecocks are expected to sign several offensive linemen on Wednesday, but the standard in SEC football has been to redshirt linemen during their first year, trying to get them physically ready to handle the abuse that’s coming their way. Not to say none of these guys won’t be able to play right away, but I’m sure the coaching staff would like to build for a full class of fifth-year seniors.
With the veteran linemen on the team, the Gamecocks won’t be able to have a lot of room to pass, and unless they find what allowed them to blow apart Clemson’s defensive line and can duplicate it for 12 games in 2010, won’t have much room to run. That’s why the system needs to be tweaked, using more screens, more sidelines, more swings, more speed.
Lattimore can do that. Jarvis Giles can do that. I’m sure Kenny Miles would be receptive to doing that although he’s fine at bulling through a line, just as Brian Maddox is. In short, with so many rights, how can trying a new approach be wrong?
I have no idea if Lattimore will be as good as his rankings. I’ve seen him play a few times and have never figured him to be another player off the Byrnes assembly line, i.e., a product of the secondary-destroying offense the Rebels have perfected. He’s always been the kind of player that I’ve looked at and thought he was going to be a success, no matter where he went and what system he played in.
The Gamecocks got him. Now they must use him.
Correctly.
Just like last week, USC fans will wake up on Wednesday thinking, “Did that really happen?” Yes, USC beat No. 1 Kentucky last Tuesday and yes, USC nabbed the top-rated running back in the country this Tuesday.
The Gamecocks followed their win over Kentucky with a win over Georgia. Spurrier has a much longer period to wait before he can prove he’s ready to follow up Lattimore’s commitment with an offense that is tailored to suit him.
After five years of struggling to move the ball, the mother of a recruit isn’t the only one who needs to be swept off her feet.
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“Cha-cha now, y’all.”
------------------- MR. C
We now return you to your regularly scheduled lives …
Marcus Lattimore smirked at the question and threw out a one-liner that would be etched on a plaque somewhere, if he was a quarterback from Jacksonville. Somebody asked how South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier closed the deal with his prized recruit, after a period where Lattimore was deeply concerned about the direction of the Gamecocks’ offense.
“He cha-cha’ed with my mama,” Lattimore said.
The comment drew a lot of laughter and sure made my personal quote Hall of Fame, because I remembered reading about how Spurrier danced with Lattimore’s mother, without music, during one recruiting pitch to the tailback. That little soft-shoe apparently erased Lattimore’s worries if he would be able to live up to his enormous reputation if he came to USC, because he committed on Tuesday and was scheduled to sign on Wednesday.
Steve got him. Now Steve has to effectively use him.
I’ve always been in Spurrier’s corner at USC, because he’s won more games than any other coach has in a five-year period and I took a realistic view of his chances for huge success at USC. Simply arriving wasn’t going to change over 100 years of futility – the guy’s a coach, not a magician.
But even I had to have my doubts after that horrendous performance at the Papajohns.com Bowl. One of my colleagues put it best when I asked him during the game, “How did this team beat Clemson?” and he responded, “This team didn’t.”
That one game destroyed more than a month of goodwill after the Clemson win and once again had fans fretting about the program’s direction. They were legitimate concerns – how could the same team play so well, finally seeming to have the offensive answers, in one game and then return to worse than before in the next?
There were several reasons, which we’ve discussed at length. But on Tuesday, nobody was concerned about that. They were only concerned about which school Lattimore would pick.
He chose USC, parting several gray clouds over the football offices in Columbia. Now Spurrier has got to keep the sun shining.
As in, tweak his offensive plan in order to fully utilize the gift he just received.
I think I’ve been around this site long enough for y’all to know I never buy into recruiting hype. I prefer to follow the lead of Boobie Miles in the wonderful “Friday Night Lights” – “Hype is something that ain’t real. I’m all real.”
In other words, I believe it when I see it.
I have seen it in this case.
The last time I felt this strongly about a recruit was when Stephon Gilmore signed. The time before that, it was about some half-pint from Chester who is currently shredding SEC basketball like a Cuisinart.
Lattimore can play some football. It’s not just the running, with a very impressive combination of speed and power, it’s the receiving. He can take the swing pass 5 yards to the side and already be seeing five busted tackles down the field.
USC has got to use that talent, not try to stick him in an offense where he’s going to be seldom used and never happy.
Spurrier has constantly fallen victim to his own past while he’s been at USC, often avoiding the run in order to throw, even when it’s not working that well. Then when he’s found a good mix of running and passing, he’ll lose his patience, chuck it downfield and hope he’ll see a repeat of Danny Wuerffel to Name That All-Star.
Looking at 2010, USC has great talent at the offensive skill positions, but there’s not much around to block for them. By numbers, sure. By experience and raw offensive line talent, no way.
The Gamecocks are expected to sign several offensive linemen on Wednesday, but the standard in SEC football has been to redshirt linemen during their first year, trying to get them physically ready to handle the abuse that’s coming their way. Not to say none of these guys won’t be able to play right away, but I’m sure the coaching staff would like to build for a full class of fifth-year seniors.
With the veteran linemen on the team, the Gamecocks won’t be able to have a lot of room to pass, and unless they find what allowed them to blow apart Clemson’s defensive line and can duplicate it for 12 games in 2010, won’t have much room to run. That’s why the system needs to be tweaked, using more screens, more sidelines, more swings, more speed.
Lattimore can do that. Jarvis Giles can do that. I’m sure Kenny Miles would be receptive to doing that although he’s fine at bulling through a line, just as Brian Maddox is. In short, with so many rights, how can trying a new approach be wrong?
I have no idea if Lattimore will be as good as his rankings. I’ve seen him play a few times and have never figured him to be another player off the Byrnes assembly line, i.e., a product of the secondary-destroying offense the Rebels have perfected. He’s always been the kind of player that I’ve looked at and thought he was going to be a success, no matter where he went and what system he played in.
The Gamecocks got him. Now they must use him.
Correctly.
Just like last week, USC fans will wake up on Wednesday thinking, “Did that really happen?” Yes, USC beat No. 1 Kentucky last Tuesday and yes, USC nabbed the top-rated running back in the country this Tuesday.
The Gamecocks followed their win over Kentucky with a win over Georgia. Spurrier has a much longer period to wait before he can prove he’s ready to follow up Lattimore’s commitment with an offense that is tailored to suit him.
After five years of struggling to move the ball, the mother of a recruit isn’t the only one who needs to be swept off her feet.
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.