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Signing day, and the long awaited Jadeveon Clowney announcement, has finally arrived and it officially ends this signing period...finally. South Carolina The Gamecocks signed a monster-sized class, with 32 players in all. Clowney is the gem of this class, with some solid players joining him. On offense, the Gamecocks signed New Jersey QB Tanner McEvoy , along with RBs Brandon Wilds of Blythewood and Shon Carson of Lake City. Joining them are a trio of WRs: Jersey speedster Damiere Byrd , possession receiver K.J. Brent, and Shameir Jeffrey, the younger brother of current Gamecock Alshon Jeffrey. Tight end was an area of need, and Carolina signed three: Rory Anderson, Jerrell Adams and Drew Owens. Six players make up the offensive line class. Junior-College transfer Kaleb Broome, who projects as a tackle, is joined by tackles Brandon Shell , Mike Matulis and Will Sport, and guards Kyle Harris and Quincy McKinney. But the defensive side of the ball was a major area for the Gamecocks, and...

The tragedy in Arizona when Jared Laughner gunned down multiple people, including the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords , left more than just blood stains in the parking lot of a grocery store. He left not just physical scars, but also emotional and psychological ones too. He also opened old wounds in the American political spectrum. Not even a day went by with people attempted to politicize the event. Many blamed former Alaska governor and Tea Party star Sarah Palin for her map using alleged crosshairs over Congressional districts. Others blamed the books Laughner read, or the powerful, violent political rhetoric our politicians have been using lately. I'm no Palin defender, but even I'll come to her defense saying I don't think she would want someone to shoot and kill someone. The map at the time was a powerful message at the time, but in hindsight, it was probably in poor taste to be targets on districts. Others wanted to blame the Tea Party, th...

Whew. I'm back ladies and gents. After a long, hard semester of school and a holiday season, I finally have time and energy to get back. So, with the cordiality out of the way, let's get down to season wrap ups for football. Clemson The Tigers had a rough year, but are you really surprised? A year after making it to the ACC title game, Clemson followed it up with a 6-7 record, and going .500 in conference. The losses of RB C.J. Spiller and WR Jacoby Ford really hurt the offense. RB Andre Ellington looked to be heading to an All ACC selection, until an injury sidelined him for the rest of the season, leaving Jaimie Harper to carry the load. The lack of the big-play WR also hurt. WR DeAndre Hopkins showed potential, but he couldn't carry a passing attack led by the subpar QB Kyle Parker. Defensively, the Tigers were strong. Led by DE DaQuan Bowers and DB DeAndre McDaniel, the defense kept Clemson in every game. Clemson had strong line play on both sides of the ball, but Cle...

The South Carolina Gamecocks are just days away from opening up fall camp in preparation of the 2010 season...well, they've been preparing all summer with workouts just like other teams, but that is beside the point. So, today I'll do my best to navigate the schedule and give you an idea of how I think this Gamecock season will fair. vs. Southern Miss Carolina will kickoff the season with their game against Southern Miss. The Eagles aren't an easy opponent. They are historically strong on defense, and they have installed a spread offense. Southern Miss is coming off a 7-5 season, but they could easily have gone 10-3, losing three games by less than a touchdown. The Gamecocks should win. But it won't be a cakewalk. Gamecocks 27 Southern Miss 14 vs Georgia Carolina then opens SEC play with border-rival Georgia. The Bulldogs are in a little bit of a flux. Head coach Mark Richt is on the hot seat, they are installing a 3-4 defense and they are bringing in an inexperien...

Expansion. We nearly had it. Colorado knocked over the first domino, which looked like it would set off a chain reaction and change the landscape of football. Then we get to Texas and expansion was stopped...for now at least. The new Pac 10 (currently with 11 teams) is a program away from having a championship game...and it looks like Utah will be the final piece of that puzzle. If Utah joins, I'd say the best way to split em up would be a pseudo North-South alignment. In one division, have Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford and Cal. In the other, place USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado. And where will the title game be played??? LA of course. Now, to the Big 10 (which now has 12 teams) acquired Nebraska, and will have a 12 team league in 2011. For this conference, I see an East-West schism. In one division, I see Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois and Northwestern. In the other, I see Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Pe...

Now that the ACC and SEC have been predicted, we move on to an overview of the rest of the NCAA Division I-A (FBS). Big East It will again be an interesting year in the Big East (and could be one of the last years for the Big East barring expansion). Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida are bringing in new coaches while West Virginia and Pittsburgh will be lead by stellar runningbacks. Really, the only team that doesn't look as if it will be the least bit competitive is Syracuse (wait for basketball season Orangemen). I still have a lot of questions for Louisville, UConn, Cincy, South Florida and West Virginia. Rutgers will be an interesting team to watch with QB Tom Savage and WR Mohammed Sanu. They will be a tough D, but I'm not sure if they have the best D in the Big East. The top team in my opinion, is Pittsburgh. They have an All-American caliber RB in Dion Lewis, a decent passing game, and a hard-nosed defense. Questions are at QB, but Lewis can compensate for that. P...

Last time we focused on the ACC, picking how the season might play out, as well as All Conference first and second team. Today, we shift our focus to the SEC. West Will start off with the easy division to pick. No surprise, I'm going with Alabama. The Crimson Tide look to have a dominant offense headed by a huge, athletic offensive line and a 1-2 punch at runningback with Heisman winner Mark Ingram and sophomore Trent Richardson. They also have Julio Jones at receiver, just in case you were wondering if they had any other weapons, along with consistent play from their tightends. The only question for Alabama is defense, were they lost a few key guys, such as Terrance Cody, Javier Arenas, and Rolando McClain, but they do get LB Dont'a Hightower back. Everyone else will be playing for second, and I think that honor goes to either Auburn or Arkansas. I would throw LSU in the mix, but their QB situation and questions on defense are too big for me to overlook. Ole Miss lost almost e...