The "Jadeveon Clowney - Magnificent 7" video offered without further words:

The South Carolina men's basketball team got a boost recently as Reggie Theus Jr. has signed his letter of intent to join the Gamecocks hoops program. 

The signing of Theus Jr. is a surprise to most and likely means that there will be more roster attrition for the Gamecocks on the current roster. Don't get us wrong, we welcome the addition as it will help the team become more of a "true Frank Martin squad."

Theus Jr. is a 6-foot-6 wing player who could see action at either shooting guard or small forward. Theus Jr. averaged close to 18 points a game and is the type "slasher" that Martin likes to have.

Theus Jr. is USC's 6th pledge for 2013.

Here is a good video to learn more about the newest recruit:

Linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams of Ellenwood, Ga., committed to South Carolina on Monday, is the right kind of recruit for the Gamecocks. He has tremendous upside on the field, is a high character kid and has the potential to be a great ambassador for the program.

Allen-Williams who had 88 tackles and 18 sacks last season, will play the weak linebacker spot with South Carolina. As noted earlier, he is a kid that will serve as a ambassador for USC so I am sure he will be asked to lean on other potential recruits; especially, the likes of running back Stanley Williams, wide receiver Terry Googer and defensive back Wesley Green.

Allen-Williams had long been favoring South Carolina. Over the weekend he updated his top three as the Gamecocks, Alabama and UCLA after garnering numerous other offers. This was a great "get" for USC and lord knows we need linebackers.

He’s the second commitment for South Carolina’s 2014 class.

The South Carolina Football team held its' annual Garnet and Black Spring Game at Williams-Brice Stadium and put on quite the show with a final score of 44-30. The Black squad won thanks to 393 yards of offensive production. All being said, it was a great Spring Game for the team and also for the fans.

Walking away from the contest, there are numerous take-a-ways but here are five observations we had:

1. The Gamecocks offense could be one of the best in the Spurrier era. I know it was a Spring Game but both the Garnet squad and the Black squad did some impressive things on offense. The Gamecocks will be loaded at running back and should have a nice passing attack, led by the tight ends.

2. Losing Marcus Lattimore to the NFL a year earlier will be tough to overcome but the answer to getting over that missed production lies in Mike Davis and Brandon Wilds. Ladies and Gents, these two are the real deal and should quickly fill the shoes of what is missed.

3. Over the years, the Gamecocks have never had so many weapons to throw the ball to that what they have today. The WR corp is stacked with talent, only quesiton is who will step up every game and the tight ends are the best in the SEC. Don's want to think "fun-n-gun" but this could be a fun season for those that like offense.

4. The defensive will not let us down. There are many new faces on the defensive side of the ball but to the credit of Coach Ward and Spurrier, they have reloaded and should be just as good as the last few years. Many questioned the secondary last year and this year they seem to have quality depth which is key going forward towards the goal of a SEC crown.

5. Lastly, it is truly a great time to be a fan of the USC Gamecocks. Watching the Spring Game and seeing the type of players in the program now. Wow is the only word that can describe the feeling. The 0-11 and 1-10 seasons are not so far away and here the program is.....wow. Gotta say it is truly "great to be a Gamecock" and enjoy the good times as we have seen the low points.

The South Carolina Gamecocks football squad has gone through 10 practices so far this Spring Football session and here are some 10 quick observations:

1. What would spring football be without Coach Spurrier poor-mouthing the play of the offensive line? It is a fact that success in the SEC begins with this unit but we have full confidence they will begin to mesh before fall ball.

2. We talked a lot last year about Clowney and Taylor, well expect to hear a lot about Chaz Sutton and Clowney. These two could be the best defensive line combo in all of college football. Expect to hear their names called a lot in 2013.

3. Oh, Clowney is still a man amongst boys. UNC, beware.

4. Running back Mike Davis has erased all doubts about the running game in 2013. The entire unit is deep and should be poised for good things come fall.

5. There is a quarterback battle between Shaw and Thompson. Will be interesting to see who wins out. Early money on Thompson.

6. Speaking of QBs....Connor Mitch is the real deal folks. Expect great things from him in the coming future.

7. Vic Hampton, if he keeps his head straight, is a gamer and likely the next USC defensive back to make a NFL roster. He should have a very good year and be the shut-down corner that USC needs.

8. Landon Ard will be a good field goal kicker this year and this is exactly what we need to make a run at the SEC crown.

9. Going to say that one of the USC tight ends make All-Conference. Anderson and Adams are very talented and should impress this season.

10. Kwinton Smith at wide out. Remember that name as you will hear it a lot. He is on the right track to get reps and knows how to make the most of the chances.

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So those are just 10 quick things garnered from the recent scrimmage and the last ten practices. We will have more insight in the near future.

The South Carolina Gamecocks basketball program has gotten two pieces of good news this week from Jaylen Shaw and Duane Notice as both have pledged to be future members of Coach Frank Martin's squad.

Today, South Carolina landed a commitment from Hartsville point guard Jaylen Shaw and the earlier in the week guard Duane Notice verbally committed to South Carolina.

Here is video of Shaw:

Here is video of Notice:

Both are great additions to the squad and these are Coach Martin-type players. We are glad to see the new pieces to the program as we have high hopes for Coach Martin..

These two additions join in-state talents Sindarious Thornwell, Justin McKie, Desmond Ringer and transfer Tyrone Johnson as part of the new face of South Carolina basketball.

South Carolina baseball had a great weekend to bounce back from a terrible one.  The Gamecocks are now 5-4 in league play with 7 series to go.

Texas A&M came to Columbia 5-1 in conference and was swept.  South Carolina got some mediocre pitching and some great pitching.  Tyler Webb was in the great category, and he saved all three games.  Adam Westmoreland was similarly wonderful in going long, effective outings on Thursday night and Saturday afternoon.  Nolan Belcher was amazing again.  He was spotted a lead on Friday night and held onto it for 8 1/3 innings.

The bats were either hot or cold.  L.B. Dantzler was hot, going 5-11 with a pair of home runs.  Connor Bright was 4 of 11; Tanner English was 4 of 9, and Chse Vergason was 3 of 10.  Those four had a .390 average for the weekend The rest of the offense, the rest of the series was a combined 7-50 for .140.

On Tuesday South Carolina hosted a below average Charleston Southern team.  The Gamecocks pulled away late to win 9-5.  On Wednesday Carolina went to Greenville to play Furman.

So, where are we?  Most of the season the lineup has been fluid at many positions.  The batting order was constantly in a state of flux, and the offense has suffered.  Coming into the Furman game USC is hitting a mere .270 with most of their easier competition behind them.  In the A&M series the coaching staff seemed to inject some stability in the line-up.  Connor Bright was left in right field the entire weekend and responded with a 4-11 performance.

Well, it's Monday, and the sun came up, so perhaps this weekend wasn't as bad as everyone thinks.

Last season South Carolina won two games in a row against Arkansas in Omaha to eliminate the Hogs and advance to the College World Series finals. This season South Carolina was swept at home for the first time since 1999 by those same Hogs. Carolina lost by scores of 15-3, 4-2 and 5-3.

Fire Chad Holbrook. Just kidding. Seriously, I'm kidding. Anyone who wants to draw conclusions about the new head coach based on the Arkansas series is jumping the gun. In fact, anyone who wants to draw conclusions about this season is jumping the gun. Nonetheless there will be some fans who will want to use this weekend as an excuse to attack the head coach. Such attacks are misguided and wrong. Coach Holbrook is still a tremendous coach, and this team may still turn out to be very good.

If Holbrook is still great, and the team is still pretty good, how did this happen? Well, lots of reasons. First, and most important is Arkansas. The Hogs are an elite team. Carolina is used to fielding elite teams, but this year's team isn't there yet. Arkansas was a preseason #1 team, and with the exception of one weekend, they've pretty much been steamrolling everyone.

When Chad Holbrook took over as head coach we knew not everything would be the same as it was under Ray Tanner. Something that has seemed different this year is the frequency with which our runners attempt to steal bases and the frequency with which they get caught. One of those is true; the other just seems that way.

South Carolina is stealing with more frequency, but they aren't getting caught as often. South Carolina has stolen 23 bases in 33 attempts thus far this season. (All Stats through the Missouri series.) That is 1.65 attempts per game and a 69.70% success rate. Last year Carolina took off 1.03 times per game and succeeded 61.97% of the time. In 2011 USC attempted 0.86/game and succeeded 69.49% of those attempts. In 2010 it was 1.07/game and 70.67%.

2013's success rate is in-line with historical norms and an improvement from last season. Still, they aren't being successful enough. Whether to steal or not is a matter of playing the odds, and right now, we aren't doing that.

Baseball lends itself well to statistical analysis and in any given situation there are expected outcomes. Most of us assume that when the bases are loaded with no outs the batting team is likely to score more runs that inning than an inning when there are no runners on and two outs. Statistical analysis would confirm this assumption. In fact, it is the acknowledgement of this proposition that makes stealing bases attractive. All other things being equal, a runner on second is better than a runner on first. The big question is: how much better? And how much worse is it to have no runners and an out?