The South Carolina Gamecocks will be without junior Dalton Wilson for the 2012 season as he has opted to leave the team after completing his degree.

Wilson, a walk-on who started seven games at fullback last season, will not return to the team next year, a school spokesperson said.

Wilson, who did not have a carry or a reception in his career, was an academic All-American and finance major who had completed his degree work.

Not the biggest of losses and not the biggest of surprises as he indicated around bowl practices that if he did not get a scholarship he would move on to the real world.

This departure leaves Matt Coffee as the likely candidate to assume the role of fullback in the Spurrier offense but there has been a little talk of giving Brandon Wilds a shot at that slot also next season given a healthy Marcus Lattimore is ready to resume his Heisman hunt.

University of South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier has added former Southern Miss assistant Grady Brown to his coaching staff, it was announced today. Brown will serve as the Gamecocks' secondary coach and assistant special teams coordinator in 2012.

"We're pleased to announce the hiring of Grady Brown, a sharp, young defensive secondary coach who has had much success the last three years at Southern Miss," said Coach Spurrier. "He will also assist Joe Robinson with the special teams. He and Joe were together at LSU and know each other well. He will fit in extremely well here and be an excellent addition to our staff."

Brown, 34, has spent the past two seasons as the Golden Eagles' cornerbacks coach. During the 2011 campaign, Southern Miss was No. 7 nationally in pass efficiency defense (108.47 rating) and set an NCAA record for interceptions returned for touchdowns with eight. As a unit, the Golden Eagle defense finished the season as a Top-30 defense.

In his first year at USM, Brown, who was hired just prior to the start of fall camp, quickly instilled a toughness and physicality into his corners that amounted to a pair of freshman being selected to the All Freshman squad.

"I'm excited to work with Lorenzo Ward, someone I've known since I was 17," said Brown. "It should be a smooth transition and a blessed opportunity for me to work with someone I've known for such a long time. I also am excited to have the opportunity to work with Coach Spurrier. He is such a well-respected coach and has done some great things here at South Carolina. I'm looking forward to becoming part of the Gamecock family."

Brown came to Southern Miss after spending the previous year and a half working in the strength and conditioning area at LSU.

*The above is from the press release sent from USC today.  

Do you remember when high school football players signed a Letter of Intent at there school or house, without a video camera present?  Or when you didn't rely on a recruiting service to tell you how good a player was by ranking him with stars and youtube.com a highlight video?  Well, times have changed and the circus of signing day will continue to get crazier every year as long as there are thousands of high schools kids looking to make a big slash on the first Wednesday of February. 

Many players use the standard "pick a hat" or take off a dress shirt with the schools shirt underneath (i.e. superman).  A lot of players just announce at a high school all-star game, or at their high school gym with their classmates watching.  Let's think about this more and get creative to spice this up for the future.
 
Here is my ideas for the future on how to improve NSD....

The South Carolina Gamecocks will be without Jeep Hunter as the safeties coach in 2012.  He has been relieved of his duties after just completing his third season with the team. 

Hunter had been the safeties coach in 2011 and the two years prior to that, he was the tight ends coach as well as an assistant special teams coordinator.

This came out of nowhere for us, the fans, and Humer himself as Josh Kendall of The State tweeted that “Hunter was returning from a recruiting trip and in the airport when… Spurrier called to tell him he was fired.”

Wow....there has to be more to this story.....

The University of South Carolina announced today that freshman safety Brison Williams has been suspended indefinitely from the football team.

“Brison Williams has been suspended for conduct detrimental to the South Carolina football team,” coach Steve Spurrier said in a statement.

Williams played in eight games in 2011 and had 11 tackles.

No other details have come to light associated with this issue as of yet. Nonetheless, this is the second member of the Gamecocks football team (Byron Jerideau was the other) to be suspended in nine days.

Combined this with losing quite a number of coaches and it is safe to say, this has not been the kind of offseason our football team needed. 

Let's hope this is the last negative headline for awhile and both players do what is necessary to re-join the team very soon as they are both key players for success in 2012.

Craig Fitzgerald, who was the strength and conditioning coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks, has left the football program to pursue other opportunities.  Likely meaning he is the next S&C coach at Penn State.  Make no mistake about it, this is a huge loss for South Carolina and the biggest coaching loss of the offseason for the Gamecocks.

Fitzgerald will be replaced by Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach Joe Connolly.

Conn0lly, 29, joined the Gamecocks’ strength and conditioning staff in January 2009. In addition to his duties with the football team, Connolly has also worked with the Carolina track & field program.  Welcome Mr. Connolly and don't let any part of the football program degress on your watch.

Back to our point that this is the biggest loss amongst the various coaching changes USC has experienced.  Fitzgerald helped to get the USC program where it is today by taking young freshman and helping to mold their bodies into what it takes to win 11 games.  Coach Fitz was one that never got a lot of credit but he dealt with every member of the team unlike a position coach. Coach Fitz was their motivator and helped the football team reach their potential as a person first, then as a unit.  Think of the program before Fitz.  Now you get my point?

Good news is Connolly knows the system and what it takes.  Let's hope we don't see anyone sucking wind in the fourth quarter...meaning no drop off due to this change.

Steve Spurrier got his man to be the next running backs coach, Everette Sands.  He comes to USC via a stint on the staff of NC State.

Sands is just the latest hire in the last week as Joe Robinson was hired to coach special teams/tight ends and Kirk Botkin was hired to coach the linebackers.

As the running backs coach, he gets to continue to mold Marcus Lattimore into a NFL-caliber running back and inherits a deep roster of talented tailbacks with the likes of Shon Carson, Brandon Wilds, Kenny Miles, incoming freshman Kendric Salley and recent 2012 pledge Mike Davis.

Sands will be very successful at USC given the talent he gets to coach as they will make him look really smart.

Sands replaces Jay Graham who left to coach at Tennessee.  Other candidates for this job included Lonnie Galloway (Wake Forest), Des Kitchings (Air Force) and Chris Brasfield (Oregon State).

USC is getting a strong recruiter and a young coach with solid talent to go with along with high respect amongst the coaching network.

Long-time South Carolina fans will remember the name of Everette Sands as he rushed for over 100 yards against USC when The Citadel defeated the Gamecocks in 1990 by the score of 38-35.

Here is more information on Everette Sands from the USC press release:

USC head football coach Steve Spurrier has tabbed Joe Robinson as the team’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach, it was announced today.

Welcome Kirk Botkin to Gamecock Nation.  Steve Spurrier has chosen Kirk Botkin to be the team’s linebackers coach.

South Carolina defensive lineman Byron Jerideau was arrested Thursday night and faces two charges: public disorderly conduct and another as a pedestrian on a controlled access highway.

Has to be dumb move of the year and maybe we can blame this on Friday the 13th.  Nonetheless, this young man had no business doing what he did.

According to the police report Jerideau, a rising senior, was leaving a bar in the 5-Points area of downtown Columbia when officer observed him being loud and profane. According to the report he almost caused an accident by walking into traffic and was loud after he was arrested.

According to the arrest report, Jerideau and a group of peers were jaywalking.  He was almost struck by an SUV and almost caused a traffic collision. Jerideau was approached by an officer and used profanity when confronted.

The report goes on to say that the officer reported that he "could smell alcohol on the subject's breathe and person." The reporting officer attempted to place Jerideau under arrest, which prompted more profanity. Two other officers arrived and assisted in putting Jeriedau under arrest without further incident. He was then taken to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

Per USC athletic department policy, Jerideau is automatically suspended from the team indefinitely.

Jerideau was a back up last season, but played in all 13 of USC’s games. He picked up seven tackles and 1.5 sacks.

___

LOHD spin:  Totally dumb move on his part.  This guy is a rising senior and knows better than to be stupid like this.  Consider this a mistake and hopefully he learns from it.

Here is a tweet from Jerideau -