SECMD22 Notebook: Tuesday highlights from Bama, MSU, USC & Vandy

ATLANTA — There is a certain amount of intrigue about South Carolina football this season.

The Gamecocks were 7-6 a year ago despite being forced to turn graduate assistant coach Zeb Noland into their starting quarterback.

The obvious question then is if South Carolina would have a winning record with a makeshift quarterback in its first year under coach Shane Beamer, what can the Gamecocks do with Oklahoma transfer Spencer Rattler directing the offense?

Beamer indicated on Tuesday at Southeastern Conference Media Days that he’s eager to find out.

“I don’t worry about Spencer,” said Beamer, who was an Oklahoma assistant coach in 2020 when Rattler was the starting quarterback. “There may be some outside pressure with him. He's been through the fire before. I saw firsthand how he handled it when he was at Oklahoma and started out 0-2. Never flinched. Continued to get better.”

Rattler passed for 3,031 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2020. Last season, he struggled and lost the starting job to Caleb Williams.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

South Carolina went 3-5 in conference play during Shane Beamer’s first season, which included a 44-14 loss to Texas A&M.

“There will be some ups, certainly some downs this season,” Beamer said. “But I have no worry about him from that standpoint and being able to handle it.

“We have to be great around Spencer. Players and coaches, play well and help him. With Spencer, nobody is asking him to go out there and be Superman. Just go be you. I’m confident that he will.”

Surrounding Rattler with greatness might be a problem.

South Carolina must replace 2021 leading rusher Kevin Harris, has a solid though unspectacular receiving corps and an offensive line that had difficulty run blocking and with pass protection.

Three in a row?

No college football program can claim three consecutive Heisman Trophy recipients.

Alabama (surprise) could do it this year. The Tide will have two contenders.

Crimson Tide receiver DeVonta Smith won the Heisman in 2020. Quarterback Bryce Young won it last season.

Young is back to try to join Ohio State’s Archie Griffin (1974-75) as the only two-time Heisman winner. But Young will have to beat Alabama All-American linebacker Will Anderson Jr., who last season led the nation with 17.5 sacks and 33.5 tackles for loss.

Anderson acknowledged that Young, who passed for 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns last season, should be the Heisman favorite. But he also admitted he thinks about winning.

“It’s something to think about, but we’ve got team goals we’ve got to take care of first,” Anderson said. “There’s nothing wrong with (wanting to win it) at all. It’s in there. But we’ve duties to handle first. Without a team, I wouldn’t be there.”

Young said he’d rather compete with Anderson for the Heisman than for a championship.

“I’m definitely happy that I don’t have to go against him on Saturdays,” Young said. “He’s definitely one of the best players in the country, but I feel like he didn’t get enough recognition last year. I definitely wish he would have been in New York with me. I’m hoping for that in the future.”

Fighting a losing battle

Even though Vanderbilt has posted just one Southeastern Conference victory in the last three seasons, second-year Commodores coach Clark Lea isn’t deterred.

“We're not fighting to win an SEC game. We're fighting to become a dominant force within the conference,” Lea said. “Obviously, winning in the SEC requires winning that first game, but when that happens, it's not going to be a huge celebration. We're going to celebrate everything at a high level, but we're going to shift focus quickly to the next opponent because that's what winning programs do.”

The Commodores haven’t won a conference game since defeating Missouri 21-14 on Oct. 19, 2019. They open SEC play against Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia. Their best chance to end the skid may be against Missouri on Oct. 22.

Politically correct Pirate?

Outspoken Mississippi State coach Mike Leach often has colorful opinions he’s willing to share.

However, he surprisingly took the politically correct approach when asked whether he sided with Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher or Alabama’s Nick Saban.

In May, Saban accused Fisher of buying his entire recruiting class via NIL. Fisher, who once coached under Saban, fired back and hinted Saban has violated recruiting rules in building his Alabama dynasty.

Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

The 2022 season will be Leach’s 22nd year as a head coach.

Instead of making a controversial statement, Leach played the role of Switzerland.

“I think they both kind of illustrate the frustration of how things are right now. It's not sustainable, so something's going to change,” Leach said of NIL. “Well, we haven't defined exactly what is an amateur, a student-athlete, as opposed to a professional. I think we need to do that. I think there are ways to do it.

“I think some football players, it may be in their best interest to remain a student-athlete, under that model, as opposed to professional and vice versa. I think that's got to be defined. Currently, college athletes have more privileges than anybody at any other professional level. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I don't think it stays the same because there are responsibilities that go along with being a professional.”

Sharpening up

Leach’s teams typically are among the national leaders in passing offense. In fact, last season Mississippi State averaged 378.3 yards to rank fourth in the nation.

Quarterback Will Rogers is back, so the Bulldogs' passing offense again projects to be among the most productive.

However, Leach voiced concerns about his receivers.

“I think we need to sharpen up at receivers. I think we need to kind of polish up our receiver play,” Leach said. “We have good guys that work hard. I have a sense of urgency, that type of thing. I just think we need to be sharper.”

The Bulldogs lost Makai Polk, who led them last season with 106 catches for 1,046 yards and nine touchdowns. Polk had 13 catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-22 victory over Texas A&M.

However, they still have Jaden Walley and Austin Williams, who both had more than 50 catches for 600 yards in 2021.

On Radio

In 2019, South Carolina senior defensive tackle Zacch Pickens was a five-star recruit out of T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson, SC.

There he met James Robert Kennedy, an intellectually disabled man who was the subject of the 2003 film “Radio.”

“My favorite memory is when he said, ‘We go back like four flats on a Cadillac,’” Pickens said. “That was the best memory I have with him, but he would be at every game. He would never miss a home game. He always broke the banner, and we miss Radio.”

Kennedy passed away in 2019 at the age of 72.