WABronco
11-17-2006, 12:46 AM
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/sports/colleges/university_of_south_carolina/16014954.htm
Signing day is three months away, but USC might have picked up its two biggest commitments this week.
Record-setting receiver Sidney Rice and fifth-year tight end Andy Boyd told Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier they intend to return next season. The news excited Spurrier, who suggested Tuesday he might ratchet up the 2007 goals to include playing for the SEC championship.
“That was encouraging. We’re starting to have some guys around here that say, ‘Hey, I want to play here at South Carolina as long as I can,’ ” Spurrier said. “So that was some of the best news I’d heard in a long time.”
Rice, an all-SEC pick in 2005, has told reporters since the preseason that he intended to play three seasons in college. But before this week, Spurrier had not posed the question to Rice, a redshirt sophomore who is eligible to enter the 2007 NFL draft because he is three years removed from high school.
“I didn’t know which way he was leaning. And I’d never heard him quite just say it, ‘I’m coming back,’ ” Spurrier said. “And that’s what he told me (Monday) night.”
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Rice is No. 1 all time among USC receivers with 20 touchdown catches and likely would break all the school’s receiving records if he played another season. Though his production has slipped a bit from last season, several online draft analysts rate Rice among the top five receiving prospects.
Rice told The State last week that he did not plan to seek an evaluation from the NFL’s underclassmen advisory committee.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, a whole lot of fun next year,” Rice said.
But USC senior Syvelle Newton is not convinced.
“I can’t see Sidney coming back,” Newton said. “Sidney tells me every day he’s coming back, and I told him if he comes back me and him are going to have to go in the back and fight. ... But I could see why he would want to come back, to help the team and go out and prove what South Carolina can do.
“If coach Spurrier gets him back, I can see them doing big things.”
That was what convinced the injury-plagued Boyd to use the sixth year of eligibility the NCAA granted him. Leaving the locker room following Saturday’s 17-16 loss at Florida, Boyd told his mother he had made up his mind.
“Just being out there and being that close to winning down there and having such a good team effort,” Boyd said, “that definitely convinced me to come back.”
Spurrier watched last year as defensive backs Johnathan Joseph and Ko Simpson left early for the NFL draft. He was disappointed when players who had exhausted their eligibility quit school and began working out for the draft rather than finish their degrees.
Despite a three-game losing streak that matches the second longest of his career, Spurrier said he is picking up a different vibe from his team this year. Though the Gamecocks are 5-5, they have dropped four games to top-15 teams by a total of 21 points.
“We’ve played 10 games, and some of our guys can sense that we’re maybe a few players away from really competing for the SEC championship,” Spurrier said. “And maybe we need to up our goals next year, rather than just win six. Maybe having our goals a little higher may give us a little impetus to win some of these games we’re not quite winning.”
USC’s goals in Spurrier’s first two seasons were to finish with a winning record and go to a bowl game. But if he can find “about five to seven new starters that can really play,” Spurrier said an SEC title might be part of the offseason conversation.
Boyd was in the dinner line Monday night when he told Spurrier he wanted to play a sixth season because he thought the Gamecocks could do something special.
“I said I believe it, too,” Spurrier said. “We’ve got a dang chance here next year.”
Could be just early posturing...but definitely not encouraging.
Signing day is three months away, but USC might have picked up its two biggest commitments this week.
Record-setting receiver Sidney Rice and fifth-year tight end Andy Boyd told Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier they intend to return next season. The news excited Spurrier, who suggested Tuesday he might ratchet up the 2007 goals to include playing for the SEC championship.
“That was encouraging. We’re starting to have some guys around here that say, ‘Hey, I want to play here at South Carolina as long as I can,’ ” Spurrier said. “So that was some of the best news I’d heard in a long time.”
Rice, an all-SEC pick in 2005, has told reporters since the preseason that he intended to play three seasons in college. But before this week, Spurrier had not posed the question to Rice, a redshirt sophomore who is eligible to enter the 2007 NFL draft because he is three years removed from high school.
“I didn’t know which way he was leaning. And I’d never heard him quite just say it, ‘I’m coming back,’ ” Spurrier said. “And that’s what he told me (Monday) night.”
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Rice is No. 1 all time among USC receivers with 20 touchdown catches and likely would break all the school’s receiving records if he played another season. Though his production has slipped a bit from last season, several online draft analysts rate Rice among the top five receiving prospects.
Rice told The State last week that he did not plan to seek an evaluation from the NFL’s underclassmen advisory committee.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, a whole lot of fun next year,” Rice said.
But USC senior Syvelle Newton is not convinced.
“I can’t see Sidney coming back,” Newton said. “Sidney tells me every day he’s coming back, and I told him if he comes back me and him are going to have to go in the back and fight. ... But I could see why he would want to come back, to help the team and go out and prove what South Carolina can do.
“If coach Spurrier gets him back, I can see them doing big things.”
That was what convinced the injury-plagued Boyd to use the sixth year of eligibility the NCAA granted him. Leaving the locker room following Saturday’s 17-16 loss at Florida, Boyd told his mother he had made up his mind.
“Just being out there and being that close to winning down there and having such a good team effort,” Boyd said, “that definitely convinced me to come back.”
Spurrier watched last year as defensive backs Johnathan Joseph and Ko Simpson left early for the NFL draft. He was disappointed when players who had exhausted their eligibility quit school and began working out for the draft rather than finish their degrees.
Despite a three-game losing streak that matches the second longest of his career, Spurrier said he is picking up a different vibe from his team this year. Though the Gamecocks are 5-5, they have dropped four games to top-15 teams by a total of 21 points.
“We’ve played 10 games, and some of our guys can sense that we’re maybe a few players away from really competing for the SEC championship,” Spurrier said. “And maybe we need to up our goals next year, rather than just win six. Maybe having our goals a little higher may give us a little impetus to win some of these games we’re not quite winning.”
USC’s goals in Spurrier’s first two seasons were to finish with a winning record and go to a bowl game. But if he can find “about five to seven new starters that can really play,” Spurrier said an SEC title might be part of the offseason conversation.
Boyd was in the dinner line Monday night when he told Spurrier he wanted to play a sixth season because he thought the Gamecocks could do something special.
“I said I believe it, too,” Spurrier said. “We’ve got a dang chance here next year.”
Could be just early posturing...but definitely not encouraging.