USC coach talks about the return of Evan Marzilli, the injury of Jackie Bradley Jr. and the 3 games series this weekend with Auburn. If the Gamecocks make a run in the regionals look for Jackie Bradley Jr. to be on the field in some way.

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I was glad to see the Carolina Panthers take Cam Newton with the number 1 pick in the NFL Draft. I used to be a Falcon fan and still pull for them when they are not playing the Panthers. But when Charlotte got an NFL team I instantly became a Panther fan. Last year I almost bought Panther season tickets. That would have been a waste of money last year but this year I may have to reconsider. Not just because of Cam Newton but the team should be much better this year with all the injured players back in the lineup. I think there was like 17 or 18 starters out last year at one time or another for the Panthers.

I think Cam Newton has a lot of upside to him. He is the best athlete I have ever seen for his size. Some of the so called experts say Auburn would only have won 3 or 4 games without him last year. I don’t know about that but I saw him win about 3 games last year pretty much by himself. He lead some of the greatest comebacks I have ever seen in college football. Especially so many in one season. Alabama, Clemson and South Carolina all had them beat in the 3rd or 4th quarter before Cam worked his magic.

5 reasons I think Cam Newton was a great first pick in the NFL Draft for the Carolina Panthers.

1. He can make all the throws. Has a very strong arm.

2. Cam is a great athlete. Very fast at (6 foot 6, 250lbs.) and shifty in the open field. Hard to tackle when he breaks past the line.

3. The few problems the pros say he has are mechanical and can be fixed with practice. (Throwing motion not always perfect. Drops after taking snap are not perfect.) Big deal the guy makes plays. All the same stuff was said about Tim Tebow by the experts.

4. Just like Tim Tebow he is a winner.  He has won at every level he has played at so far.

5. Can throw with great accuracy on the run. He may have to do a lot of that for a year or two.

The Panthers now need to shore up their offensive line and get another solid receiver and this team will be much improved over that terrible season last year.

Also 5 of the top 6 picks in the NFL Draft were from the SEC. No surprise there. The SEC is the best college football conference in the nation by far. The other 4 picks were DT Marcell Darius, WR  A.J. Green(Summerville,SC native), CB Patrick Peterson and WR Julio Jones.

By my count there were 8 DE taken in the first round. I think this probably helps DE Cliff Matthews of USC. A lot of writers had him going in the 4th or 5th round but I think he could go in the 3rd now. It just depends on teams needs.  A lot of times you will see a run on certain positions. Teams start drafting a certain position and everyone jumps on the bandwagon for fear the player they want at that position will be gone if they don’t take him now.

Comments about the LSU Purple and Gold spring game from Les Miles, players and coaches.

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Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino discusses the Arkansas Red-White spring game. There is a part 1 and 2. He feels his defense has improved greatly since last year.

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Gamecock coach Ray Tanner previews Mississippi State, talks about Matt Price and Jake Williams. Ray needs Matt Price to be used where he can help the team the most.

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New coach Florida football coach Will Muschamp talks about the Florida Gators 2011 spring game.

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Vanderbilt football coach James Franklin gives post game comments after the 2011 spring football game. Coach Franklin is a good speaker and likes to talk.

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What a great college baseball series this weekend between 2 of the top 3 teams in the nation. And once again the South Carolina Gamecocks have taken a series from from the number one ranked team in the nation. This time it was the Vanderbilt Commodores. USC won the series 2-1, winning the Friday night and Sunday afternoon match ups. The bats finally started to heat up a little bit and Jackie Bradley may be breaking out of his slump after getting two hits on Sunday after being moved to the lead off position.

I was at the games Friday and Saturday night but had to catch the last 5 innings of the Sunday game on TV. Relief pitcher Matt Price was awesome in relief on Friday and Sunday. He struck out all 4 batters he faced Friday night to clinch the 3-1 victory. Michael Roth got the win as he continued his excellent pitching to put him at (8-1) on the season. Roth had great control of his pitches the entire night. “I stuck to the weekly game plan,” Roth said. “I threw some changeups and I felt like I had pretty good stuff tonight. I was just really locating well. I didn’t miss too many spots.” Roth only gave up 3 hits in 7 2/3 innings.

The losing pitcher for Vanderbilt was Sonny Gray (7-2) on the year now. Gray is expected to be a top 10 pick in the Major League draft in June.

Top-ranked Vandy was able to even the series Saturday with a 6-4 victory. The Gamecocks scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning but were unable to muster much offense after that. Vanderbilt used 5 relievers out of the bullpen to keep the Gamecocks at bay. Freshman Tony Kemp LF  5-6 160lbs was 5 for 5 on the night and scored 2 runs. Mike Yastrzemski homered to right to lead off the second inning. It was his first homer of the year and I am sure it made his grandpa awful proud. He is listed at 168lbs. but showed good arm strength in right field and a little power. Bad news in the sixth as Adam Matthews re-injured his hamstring and may be done for the year although I bet he will be back in a month for DH and pinch hit duties.

The crowd at the Friday game was like the crowd at World Series last year. Very into the the game and loud. Saturday night the crowd was more laid back. The Sunday crowd appeared to be more like the Friday night crowd.

In the Sunday game Ray Tanner showed what a great coach he is by pulling out all the stops to get the 5-3 victory and win the series 2-1. Forrest Koumas started for the Gamecocks and 5 1/3 innings before being replaced by Tyler Webb. Webb got the final 2 outs in the sixth before Matt Price came in and worked his magic the final 3 innings to get the victory. Price struck out 7 hitters in 3 innings. Price is (4-2) on the year. Vanderbilt againg used a bunch of relievers but were unable to protect the 3-1 lead they took in the sixth after they had back to back homers.

This puts USC at 28-7 overall and 12-3 in the SEC. Vandy is now 32-5 and 11-4 in the conference. USC sits atop the SEC East with a one game lead over the Commodores. I don’t think USC will jump over Virginia in the polls even though they have won 2 series this year against number one ranked teams. Virginia will probably have to falter somewhere along the way for the Gamecocks to move ahead of them. But who knows, anything can happen.

South Carolina is through playing teams from the east and will now play teams from the west the last month of the season. Vanderbilt stills has to play the Florida Gators.

Review of Alabama Spring Game by announcers and interview of Alabama football coach Nick Saban. Announcers also pick MVP of spring game.

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