Thawing out before spring football

With pitchers and catchers reporting this week, it can only mean one thing across the (foot)Ball Belt: Spring practice is less than a month away at most schools.

It’s that “dead time” for college football fanatics – the month or so between Signing Day and spring practice.

A couple of mid-morning links to help get you through another surprising cool day in the Midlands:

–Tom Dienhart of Rivals.com ranks USC’s Shawn Elliott as the top offensive line coach hired in the offseason. Dienhart calls Elliott, a Camden native who had spent his entire coaching career at Appalachian State, an “underrated hire” and mentioned the Mountaineers’ potent rushing attack.

(Incidentally, I was in Boone over the weekend. Elliott will be doing a lot less shoveling. Unlike Columbia, the snow in the mountains is not gone the next day.)

–In an interview with ESPN’s Shelley Smith, Southern Cal coach Lane Kiffin said his family received death threats the night he left Tennessee and that three Knoxville police officers had to be stationed outside his house.

–The Atlanta Journal-Constitution caught up with Gamecocks’ All-American LB Eric Norwood as the Atlanta-area native prepares for next week’s NFL Combine in Indy.

Though Norwood is viewed as a second- or third-rounder, former USC defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix predicted Norwood would be a great special teams player at the next level.

“He’ll be a guy who will play for an extended period of time because he can do so many things well,” Nix told the AJC. “An outstanding effort guy and he’ll make plays. He’ll show up on SportsCenter in the top plays.”

Updates on Hampton, Culliver & snow

A couple of late-afternoon tidbits as Snowmageddon finally arrives in Columbia …

–For anyone who didn’t see the post on gogamecocks, Victor Hampton has been re-assigned to an alternative school in Darlington. Hampton will be able to earn his diploma from Darlington High, which keeps him on track grades-wise to make it to USC this summer.

But he’s not entirely out of the woods. The former Charlotte Independence player has not yet made the necessary test score, although he recently re-took the SAT.

Then there is the matter of a transcript that includes stops at five different schools in two states. After the diploma mills/prep schools scandal in 2006, the SEC enacted legislation calling for schools to tighten their admission procedures.

Among the stipulations, the SEC told its schools that the transcripts of athletes who attended multiple high schools should be red-flagged and subject to further scrutiny.

Not saying Hampton won’t make it to USC; just saying he has a couple more hurdles to clear. …

–Spoke to Ellis Johnson yesterday after the board of trustees approved his new four-year, $2.8 million deal – worth $400,000 more than the package Tennessee offered him.

(Eric Hyman’s response on the escalating salaries for SEC defensive coordinators: “My wife said I should have stayed in coaching.”)

But Johnson wanted to talk more about the length of the deal than the dollar figures. With the extension, both Johnson and Steve Spurrier are under contract through the 2013 season. (Spurrier can retire at any time without penalty, although he collects a $1 million longevity bonus if he remains at USC through the ’12 season.)

And while Spurrier has been reluctant to label the Gamecocks contenders in the East next season, Johnson said he believes USC is on the verge of doing some big things. …

–Coaches always use spring practice to evaluate young players. But with four defensive starters coming off surgeries, Johnson will have no choice but to go with a youth movement this spring.

Johnson said free safety Chris Culliver had shoulder surgery following the season. It is the second shoulder procedure for Culliver, who was re-injured against Tennessee and seemed to be affected by it the rest of the season.

Defensive end Cliff Matthews also had shoulder surgery, while defensive tackle Travian Robertson and middle linebacker Rodney Paulk underwent knee surgeries during the fall.

Johnson said none of them would participate in spring practice, but would be ready for the season.

How confident is Johnson that Paulk will return to form after sitting out almost all of the past two seasons?

He plans to move Shaq Wilson, who took over in the middle after Paulk went down in the N.C. State opener, to Eric Norwood’s former spot at weakside backer.

Johnson said he also is excited about getting his first look at LB Toquavius Gilchrist, a JUCO transfer who enrolled at USC in January. …

All for now. Enjoy the snow.

Trustees approve Johnson deal, discuss facilities debt

Interesting board of trustees meeting today.

Besides the expected moves – the approval of contracts for football assistants Ellis Johnson and Shawn Elliott – there was some lively discussion concerning the debt USC is taking on as it moves forward with athletics director Eric Hyman’s master facilities plan.

First, the contracts:

–Johnson, the assistant head coach for defense, received the two-year extension and raise that had been widely reported. Johnson’s new 4-year deal is worth $700,000 a year, twice what he made previously.

ISP Sports, USC’s media rights-holder, is picking up the tab for the extra $350,000.

USC athletics director Eric Hyman said it was a “counter-offer” after another SEC school offered Johnson its defensive coordinator’s post. A source close to the football program said new Tennessee coach Derek Dooley offered Johnson a 3-year deal worth $800,000 annually to run the Vols’ defense.

Johnson’s buyout terms also changed. In the event he is fired without cause (i.e., Steve Spurrier leaves in the next two or three years), USC is required to offer Johnson a position in the athletics department at the same $700,000 compensation package.

If Johnson turns that down, USC would owe him only $350,000 per year for the remainder of his contract. If Johnson leaves, he would owe USC $700,000 per year, unless he takes a head-coaching position.

–Elliott received a 2-year deal. The former Appalachian State assistant receives $150,000 the first year; $165,000 the second.

His buyout is more standard for assistants: The school would owe him his salary for each year left; he would owe USC $25,000 per year.

As for the debt discussion, the executive committee approved $71 million in athletic revenue bonds for the next phase of facilities construction – the re-fitting of the Farmers Market (which USC takes ownership of this summer), and the new tennis facility, coaches/administrative building, parking garage and infrastructure at the Athletics Village Formerly Known as The Roost.

Longtime trustee Eddie Floyd cast the lone dissenting vote. Floyd said he was concerned about the escalating debt and also questioned whether all the projects would help recruiting – a central theme in Hyman’s facilities’ pitch.

Hyman pointed to USC’s increased revenue stream through the SEC’s new TV deals. USC expects to receive $17 million from the SEC this year.

The new bonds will take USC’s athletic debt to $136.7 million – under the school’s $200 million ceiling but pushing the limits of Hyman’s “comfort level.”

In other matters, Hyman said:

–Dodie Anderson, who gave between $5 million and $6 million for the new academic center that bears her name, has pledged an additional $1 million for new locker rooms – men’s and women’s – at Colonial Life Arena.

Hyman said Anderson wanted to do something for Darrin Horn’s and Dawn Staley’s programs.

–An outside PR agency determined that USC’s win over No. 1 Kentucky last month generated $588,447 in publicity for the Gamecocks. USC did not pay for the study.

–The fall GPA for the athletic department was 3.126.

USC released more details on fall grades Thursday afternoon. Thirteen of 17 teams eclipsed the 3.0 mark, while football (2.695), men’s soccer (3.484) and men’s track (3.205) achieved their highest GPAs on record.

–All of the Gamecocks’ head coaches are now members of the Gamecock Club.

Latest on Victor Hampton

Just posted an update on Victor Hampton’s situation to gogamecocks.

The USC signee, who was arrested for underage drinking Friday after taking brandy to Darlington High, likely faces re-assignment to Darlington’s alternative school as a result of his arrest.

He’ll have a disciplinary hearing in the next week or two.

If he gets shipped to the Darlington County Intervention School, he can still get his diploma from Darlington High, which is critical in staying on track to be eligible.

But Hampton has other hurdles to clear: He has yet to make the necessary test score to qualify.

The legal ramifications seem pretty clear cut: The 17-year-old Hampton has a bench trial set for Wednesday in Darlington city court. He could request a jury trial, which would push things back.

Or he could plead guilty, pay a fine, surrender his license and have the matter resolved.

Steve Spurrier has yet to comment on Hampton’s situation, and likely won’t this week. USC media relations director Steve Fink said Spurrier is out of the office.

Given his history, Spurrier would likely say USC planned to wait for the legal process to play out before making any decisions.

Taken alone, the underage drinking charge would not be a deal-breaker. Yes, Hampton exercised extremely poor judgment – as he admitted in a statement released last week through his mentor/attorney – in taking liquor to school. But it is not anything too egregious.

The issue for Hampton is what appears to be a pattern of behavior. The defensive back attended three schools before enrolling at Darlington last fall – and left all of them under shaky circumstances.

Hampton has one prior arrest – a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge from 2008 he says was dropped. He says most of his problems at his other schools involved fights or a general attitude problem with respect to coaches.

He had been doing well in Darlington before Friday’s incident, according to coaches and administrators at the school. Cheveron Scott, the Darlington lawyer with whom Hampton lives, encouraged Hampton to smile more often after he moved from Charlotte last summer.

Talking to folks at USC, it seems the school will stick with Hampton, assuming he makes his test score and keeps his nose clean the rest of the school year.

USC/Columbia connections in the Super Bowl

It didn’t take Ray Rychleski long to get a little face time in his first Super Bowl.

Rychleski, the former USC special teams coordinator who holds the same post for the Colts, was shown next to Colts coach Jim Caldwell and QB Peyton Manning singing the national anthem along with Carrie Underwood.

Rychleski’s special teams got off to a good start, holding the Saints inside the 25-yard line on Indy’s first three kickoffs. Rychleski, whose only season with the Gamecocks was 2008, did not have the benefit of being able to call on clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri, who has two Super Bowl-winning kicks to his credit.

But Vinatieri lost his spot to veteran Matt Stover when Vinatieri was injured in October. Though Vinatieri is now healthy, he was on the inactive list for the game.

Stover drilled his first field goal to put the Colts up 3-0.

Other than Rychleski, who still owns a townhouse in Five Points that three USC assistant strength coaches rent, there weren’t many other USC storylines in the game.

Former Gamecocks offensive lineman Jamar Nesbit, an NFL veteran who started for the Saints in previous seasons, was inactive. Na’Shan Goddard, another ex-USC offensive lineman, was in Miami on the Saints’ practice squad.

Goddard was an outgoing and engaging player when he played for the Gamecocks under Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier. He obviously hasn’t changed.

Goddard received his 15 minutes of fame in Miami during Tuesday’s media day when he jokingly bench-pressed a female reporter – a moment that was captured by an Associated Press photographer and published in a number of newspapers across the country.

There was a Columbia connection in the game. Saints starting center Jonathan Goodwin, who was featured in The State on Sunday, grew up in southeast Columbia and graduated from Lower Richland with Richard Seymour in 1997.

Former LR coach David Moore tried to get USC and just about every other big school interested in Goodwin, who played one season under Jim Grobe at Ohio University before transferring to Michigan, where his older brother played.

When Goodwin was weighing his transfer options, Moore called ex-USC assistant Buddy Pough, who was familiar with Goodwin from Pough’s days as Fairfield Central’s head coach. But Pough said Brad Scott was cool on Goodwin.

A couple years later Moore took Lance Laury, who wound up at USC and is still active with the Seattle Seahawks, on a recruiting trip to Clemson. Scott asked Moore where Goodwin was playing.

Moore pointed to a nearby TV, which was tuned to a Michigan-Notre Dame game.

After Moore told Scott that Goodwin was starting for the Wolverines, Moore said Scott laughed and told him, “That’s why I got fired.”