HOOVER, Ala. – South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier’s opening statements at SEC Media Days was anything but conventional.
The veteran coach spent 10 minutes proposing changes to the NCAA and the college game on behalf of all 14 SEC head coaches before even mentioning his own program’s name.
These proposals included giving student athletes expense money (about $300 per game), having Notre Dame join a conference and developing a better, fairer scheduling system for the SEC.
“I can understand some teams have a lot tougher schedule year in and year out than other schools,” Spurrier said.  “For the sake of fairness, whatever is the best way to do it is the way we would like to do it as coaches.”
After losing a chunk of their defense to graduation and the NFL draft, the Gamecocks’ will rely heavily on the play-making ability of 2012 SEC Defensive Player of the Year junior defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
Spurrier claimed the All-American lineman ran a 4.46-second 40-yard dash at the end of summer practice.
“Obviously, Jadeveon Clowney is a disruptive player,” Spurrier said. “Every offense has to sort of change their blocking assignments to account for Jadeveon. He’s ready to go. If we’re going to have a good year, Jadeveon has to make a lot of big plays.”
Perhaps just as impressive as Clowney’s performance on the field has been his attitude off of it.
Clowney dismissed any speculation that he thought about sitting out the upcoming season to prepare for the NFL draft.
“I never considered that,” Clowney said. “When I came here as a freshman, I told myself I want to do three years. That was always my goal, to play three years before looking into the NFL Draft.”
South Carolina will likely use a combination of junior Connor Shaw and sophomore Dylan Thompson at the quarterback position.
The duo combined for 314 yards passing and four touchdowns in the Gamecocks victory against Michigan in the Outback Bowl.