Position changes for next season

[FinchMcCrunkNasty]

You tell me, which position changes would you like to see happen next season?

Changes I would love to see going into next year...

*Whoever wins the QB battle have a scrambler to come in on special situations to compliment him like Tebow was used last year (No reason we can't do that with Garcia, Spearman and Hillary all having tons of experience at the QB position)
*Mark Barnes to Safety
*Chris Culliver to DB and moved to Punt Return
*Kenny McKinley added on Kickoffs
*Joe Hills/Jarred Cook used as hybrid motion TE/WR like Rendrick Taylor is used at Clemson
*Captain added on Kickoffs
*Mathews moved back to DE
*Ingram moved to LOLB or ROLB to compliment Jasper only in running situations

I feel like we need to move Culliver and Barnes especially if next year we are looking at Kenny, Moe Brown, Freddie Brown, Joe Hills, Jarred Cook, Wesyle Saunders, Jason Barnes, Matt Clements, Deion Lecorn and the possible addition of Charles Whitlock, T.J. Lawerence and Tommy Streeter all at the WR/TE position.

[Click]

You tell me, which position changes would you like to see happen next season?

Changes I would love to see going into next year...

*Whoever wins the QB battle have a scrambler to come in on special situations to compliment him like Tebow was used last year (No reason we can't do that with Garcia, Spearman and Hillary all having tons of experience at the QB position)
*Mark Barnes to Safety
*Chris Culliver to DB and moved to Punt Return
*Kenny McKinley added on Kickoffs
*Joe Hills/Jarred Cook used as hybrid motion TE/WR like Rendrick Taylor is used at Clemson
*Captain added on Kickoffs
*Mathews moved back to DE
*Ingram moved to LOLB or ROLB to compliment Jasper only in running situations

I feel like we need to move Culliver and Barnes especially if next year we are looking at Kenny, Moe Brown, Freddie Brown, Joe Hills, Jarred Cook, Wesyle Saunders, Jason Barnes, Matt Clements, Deion Lecorn and the possible addition of Charles Whitlock, T.J. Lawerence and Tommy Streeter all at the WR/TE position.


Good post. I agree with you on most, but would like to see Captain keep returning punts, unless Culliver proves to be better in practice.

[sc455]

imo using culliver was not the best decision. At least he finally tried, in the 12th game to go around the end. he ran a couple back to the 40 and thats it..looking back, he would have been better served to redshirt...with jordin, robertson, norwood, williams and pepper available at de it might be good to put mathews at lb next to jasper. we need playmakers at that position who can shed some blocks

[MBSpur]

with culliver's speed he is best served at WR, think about it... i would much rather see him burning DBs than in coverage and stuff, and he could play both ways, thats always a possibility

[Click]

with culliver's speed he is best served at WR, think about it... i would much rather see him burning DBs than in coverage and stuff, and he could play both ways, thats always a possibility


The only problem is that he can't burn DB's when he has had such a problem getting the routes down in practice... hence why he never played much except on special teams. His natural position is on D.. this is where he earned those 5 stars Rivals gave him last year, not that stars really mean anything but just saying.

[SNEEZ]

Kenrick Ellis to FB on short ydg plays...LoL

Culliver at RB/WR

[CoverTwo]

Culliver earned thos 5 stars based on offers, speed, and his performance on OFFENSE in the All-Star game.

Here are my choices:

1. Emmanuel Cook OLB
2. Mark Barnes FS
3. Cliff Matthews DE
4. Clifton Geathers OT

[Gamecock History]

We need playmakers and more depth on defense.

Move Chirs Culliver to DB, Mark Barnes to Safety, L.J.P. to DT, Pat DiMarco to OLB/SS, Jonathan Williams to DE, and E.Cook to LB. Leave Cliff Matthews at OLB, maybe even move Travian Robertson to OLB. We have to stop the run and those guys are not big enough yet to be DE.

[psychwr2]

i think one of the reasons why Chris never really developed this year as a receiver is because he was used on kickoff returns. obviously he was a slow learner about the routs, but that's understandable. let him get a full college off-season to develope and work as a receiver.

leave Jared Cook at TE and give Joe Hills a chance to play before you judge where he should be put.

[CoverTwo]

I think Robertson will be fine at DE after 1 more offseason in the weightroom..he added a ton of muscle his first year...You could be right about Matthews but a lot of people thought he would do alot better when he got his cast off..but he disappeared the past 3 games.

I dont think LJP should be moved...yet. I think he has a chance to be special at guard, and the coaches think he can be a great one once he learns to just play instead of thinking of assignments.

I dont think Clark Gaston can man the fullback spot better than Dimarco.

[Click]

Culliver earned thos 5 stars based on offers, speed, and his performance on OFFENSE in the All-Star game.

Here are my choices:

1. Emmanuel Cook OLB
2. Mark Barnes FS
3. Cliff Matthews DE
4. Clifton Geathers OT


Yea, what he did on the field all season as a high school DB meant nothing.

[thedude0486]

Moving our all-sec saftey to OLB with jap coming back and the depth we already have at that position is probobly the worst idea i have ever heard IMO

[crowcutta]

you can blame the blocking but culliver looked a lot better on returns starting the season than he did down the stretch. kenny returning kickoffs is a bad idea, 1st of all because i dont think his talents are best suited there, and we have guys who can give you the same production there who arent as valuable.
culliver may end up being a db but i think we're definitely going to force the wr position on him this spring and see how he responds.
mark barnes to safety makes sense with stewart and cook basically our only returners at safety. mark barnes and antonio allen backing them up. i think joe hills will stay exclusively at wr. jared cook has kinda been in a hybrid role all year. matthews at de, yeah. i could see us using one of our other big linebackers, ingram or dustin lindsey, at one of the other outside backer spots with jasper back in the middle. of maybe with a strict 4-3 paulk and sapp man the outside spots.

[crowcutta]

yeah emmanuel cook is a lot more dangerous at strong safety than at linebacker. asking him to absorb blocks from linemen is too much. and he's made big plays in the passing game, int's, big hits in the secondary, let him freelance from the safety position.

[Ga_Gamecock]

You tell me, which position changes would you like to see happen next season?

Changes I would love to see going into next year...

*Whoever wins the QB battle have a scrambler to come in on special situations to compliment him like Tebow was used last year (No reason we can't do that with Garcia, Spearman and Hillary all having tons of experience at the QB position)
*Mark Barnes to Safety
*Chris Culliver to DB and moved to Punt Return
*Kenny McKinley added on Kickoffs
*Joe Hills/Jarred Cook used as hybrid motion TE/WR like Rendrick Taylor is used at Clemson
*Captain added on Kickoffs
*Mathews moved back to DE
*Ingram moved to LOLB or ROLB to compliment Jasper only in running situations

I feel like we need to move Culliver and Barnes especially if next year we are looking at Kenny, Moe Brown, Freddie Brown, Joe Hills, Jarred Cook, Wesyle Saunders, Jason Barnes, Matt Clements, Deion Lecorn and the possible addition of Charles Whitlock, T.J. Lawerence and Tommy Streeter all at the WR/TE position.









Most of the guys on this list are either finishing up a limited freshman year of college play or havent seen the field yet ....

IMO its too early to make decisions on moving guys.

Garcia will push for the start next year, but Hillary - if he lands at QB - is 2 or 3 years removed from seeing the field ... Spearman will be a CB i think ...maybe a slot guy. But these are guys who havent even signed an LOI -waay too early to start moving these guys.

M Barnes to D already? He hasnt even played a dozen offensive snaps

I think Hills will be a sidney like target at WR - no move to TE

Saunders and Cook will shine at TE, but i agree that i would like for us to use them like UT used to use Witten in the close slot position ...

[Gamecock Scott]

More than likely, Whitlock will be a DB in college, not a WR.

[bgallup]

I would love to see E. Cook as a OLB. With Paulk, Cook, and Jasper as our LB's we would have the best group on the SEC.

Barnes will likely move to saftey. Not sure about anything else.

[bigmuthafooka]

here mine

Stephen Garcia-QB

[COCK PIT]

I think our starting linebackers next year will be:
Jasper MLB
Melvin or Dustin OLB
Cliff OLB

That is the size we need at linebacker. Paulk, Sapp etc simply cannot absorb the blocks. Those guys could be third down backers.

[McNasty]

i like the idea of putting M. Barnes at S because we'll have so many WRs next year.

keep E Cook where he is, he's one of the best S's in the SEC, if not THE best.

keep Ingram at MLB so that we can keep training him to be Jasper's replacement after next year.

keep Matthews OLB, with Dusty on the other side, with Rodney splitting time with them both.

Culliver keep on KOR, but MAYBE switch to DB, we have a lot of them too. either that or use him as our Percy Harvin.

Kenrick to G, maybe?

everyone else stay the same.

[87Cock09]

Kenrick Ellis to G?? He better not go anywhere he's our best DT, he will start there.

[gotrice?]

I would like to see Culliver moved to his natural position which is safety. He recorded 160 tackles at that position. If you put his speed at safety opposite of Cook opponents will be forced to play underneath instead of over the top which I hope will be alot harder with the return of Jasper along with the infusion of some very fast LBs, if they play, like Shaq and Bowens to really shrink the field for opponents. Almost everything else I would like to keep as is because you can never have too much depth at DT or WR.

[Gamecockfanatic4]

Why would we move Culliver off Kickoff return? sounds pretty stupid to me he did a pretty good job back there this year and I think he will only get better

[garnet812]

Agreed about keeping E Cook at safety. Part of the reason we were so terrible at stopping the run was because of our undersized LBs getting blown off the ball. We need E Cook at safety because he's the closest thing to a sure tackler we have plus he would make guys fear going over the middle.

[IHateOrange]

Why would we move Culliver off Kickoff return? sounds pretty stupid to me he did a pretty good job back there this year and I think he will only get better

He did very little on Kick returns this year. Not saying he was bad or won't get better, but running straight at people and cutting flips does not impress me.

[IHateOrange]

Agreed about keeping E Cook at safety. Part of the reason we were so terrible at stopping the run was because of our undersized LBs getting blown off the ball. We need E Cook at safety because he's the closest thing to a sure tackler we have plus he would make guys fear going over the middle.

E. Cook ALMOST knocked McFadden out. Oh how different that game would of been had he been lights out.

[cockyguitarist]

You people forget, our special teams the second half of this season straight up sucked. Culliver is only a damn freshman and made the best out of the blocking that he could. I can see the arguments for him to move back to the defensive side as hes had a year to do so and not produced but hes a damn true freshman trying to play in the sec. I think in the spring it will be decided whether or not he stays on the offensive side or not, if he does; he will be damn dangerous. I think Barnes will be moved to safety, which is actually funny cause hes one of the only two freshmen to have gotten a touchdown this year (if i believe correctly, LeCorn has the others) but we need depth moreso at safety a lot more than WR. I would like to see Matthews possibly back at DE next year as he was one of the top pass rushers in the nation but who knows what the hell will happen in this offseason.

[sc455]

yeah emmanuel cook is a lot more dangerous at strong safety than at linebacker. asking him to absorb blocks from linemen is too much. and he's made big plays in the passing game, int's, big hits in the secondary, let him freelance from the safety position. word

[sc455]

He did very little on Kick returns this year. Not saying he was bad or won't get better, but running straight at people and cutting flips does not impress me. i got roasted on here in week 5 for sayi ng the same thing..i got roasted for questioning steve spurrier. i was right then and as it turns out, i am still right. I guess i just am able to take of the garnet glasses.

[JAYBEZ]

He did very little on Kick returns this year. Not saying he was bad or won't get better, but running straight at people and cutting flips does not impress me.

Do you realize that Culliver finished 8th in the SEC in return yards AND recorded the 2nd most yards by a kick returner in school history?

Imagine what he could do if he got a block or two.

[deenerbug]

Do you realize that Culliver finished 8th in the SEC in return yards AND recorded the 2nd most yards by a kick returner in school history?

Imagine what he could do if he got a block or two.

I agree.

[Blitzer]

Agreed about keeping E Cook at safety. Part of the reason we were so terrible at stopping the run was because of our undersized LBs getting blown off the ball. We need E Cook at safety because he's the closest thing to a sure tackler we have plus he would make guys fear going over the middle. I wouldn't say we have undersized LBs, but I would say the linebackers got blocked too many times by OL because our DL didn't tie up enough blockers. Anytime the OL are matched up on LBs they should be able to block them effectively. I think we will see more position changes there. We started changing things aroung after the LSU game by putting Pepper at DE to give us more size across the front- then he got hurt. I think next season Pepper and Hall will both play DE and not just in a 3 man front. We will probably use 2 speed rush ends on passing downs, but we obviously have to change our philosophy against the run. I think it will be Peppers\Hall, Ladi, Ellis, Norwood across the front.

[2000grad]

Keep Culliver as a kick returner. He had one of the highest amount of return yards in a season in school history.

[87Cock09]

Do you realize that Culliver finished 8th in the SEC in return yards AND recorded the 2nd most yards by a kick returner in school history?

Imagine what he could do if he got a block or two.

Stat skewed big time by the new rule that moved kickoffs back, virtually eliminating touchbacks and therefore increasing return yardage bigtime. 8th in the SEC doesn't impress me much at all. However, I don't think anyone could have done any better, blocking was definetely horrible

[Hopefultiger]

You guys have lot's of talented guys who can learn to play just about anywhere. There are 2 issues I've seen with your defense that kind of work against each other.

1. You want your best players on the field and in a position to make plays for you as much as possible.

2. You've got to have some depth at every position. No matter how good a guy is, he gets tired (and not as good) during the course of the game. Expecially when your defense is on the field lots. When guys start getting tired, that's when they get hurt.

#2 is going to be an issue for you especially early. People are going to try and run right at you. Until you find a way to stop the run, that's what you are going to see. If someone shows that they can pound you early and get you tired in the 1st half, it's going to be a tough year, good 2ndary or not. So before you start moving folks around, make sure you have at least 1 person behind each starter that can step up and play.

[FinchMcCrunkNasty]

I would like to see Culliver moved to his natural position which is safety. He recorded 160 tackles at that position. If you put his speed at safety opposite of Cook opponents will be forced to play underneath instead of over the top which I hope will be alot harder with the return of Jasper along with the infusion of some very fast LBs, if they play, like Shaq and Bowens to really shrink the field for opponents. Almost everything else I would like to keep as is because you can never have too much depth at DT or WR.
with culliver's speed i can't see why putting him at safety makes sense, even though he was a beast in high school. he is way to fast to play at a position where speed doesn't matter as much. he translates to a SHUTDOWN CORNER. HELL, PUT HIM AT KICKOFF/PUNT RETURNER NEXT YEAR, DB AND WR! TURN THIS KID INTO A TRUE TWO WAY PLAYER!

[GoCocks2391]

Do you realize that Culliver finished 8th in the SEC in return yards AND recorded the 2nd most yards by a kick returner in school history?

Imagine what he could do if he got a block or two.


I wish he was 12th in kickoff return yards because that would mean we wouldn't be giving up so many points to where he gets kick to alot

[gotrice?]

with culliver's speed i can't see why putting him at safety makes sense, even though he was a beast in high school. he is way to fast to play at a position where speed doesn't matter as much. he translates to a SHUTDOWN CORNER. HELL, PUT HIM AT KICKOFF/PUNT RETURNER NEXT YEAR, DB AND WR! TURN THIS KID INTO A TRUE TWO WAY PLAYER!

Actually speed does matter a good bit at safety. It takes a good safety and turns him elite. Look at players like Bob Sanders and Ed Reed in the NFL. One uses his extrordinary speed to be a great coverage safety and make it harder to go over the top to recievers without Reed being there to break it up or make an interception. Bob Sanders uses his speed to get up to the line of scrimmage in an insanely quick way that provides amazing help in run support. If you would like a college example look at Laron Landry. I mean look at how big of an impact Cook's speed makes at safety, and he runs in the 4.4s, he is our Bob Sanders type who can get up to the LOS very quickly. You put Culliver back there with Cook and Culliver can act as the Reed type when he learns the position and really prevent us from being beaten deep. Culliver is an extrmely solid tackler and obviously has some pretty decent hands since Spurrier wanted him at reciever. He translates into an Ed Reed type safety once he learns the position and I personally would love that on our team because we have a few very good CBs that will take the field next year in Jamire Williams, Addison Williams, and Akeem Auguste.

[jaydogg843]

If we want to win a national champ. Beecher is going to have to start.

[Cockholio]

I'm going to get busted up for this, but I'd like to see us get the ball in Emanuel Cook's hands somehow. He was an excellent runner in high school and possesses Cory Boyd's kind of toughness. Maybe for punt returns or even let him carry it out of the backfield a few times.

[Ga_Gamecock]

Kenrick Ellis to G?? He better not go anywhere he's our best DT, he will start there.


Thank you.

if i hear KG to gurad again i think i might puke ... he was the best thing we had on the line the last few games

[Blitzer]

What about swapping Batchelor with Sorensen? Batchelor was originally a tackle and Sorensen really has started to struggle with the outside speed rush. If we move him to guard we'd have more size (and attitude) on the inside instantly.

[Cockfucius]

Most highly anticipated and badly needed position change is my position, at the end of our games, to wit:

Jumping up and down bellowing a Rick Flair-like "Whooooo" instead of sitting there with my head in my hands looking at the floor, saying, "Egad, we stunk again today."

[scgolfer67]

1. E. Cook- will be a safety and thats all. He is to good at his position to move him else where.

2. Jared .C.- will remain at T.E but i do like the idea of a slot WR close to the line.

3. Joe Hills- is gonna be a GREAT wideout for us. I was at practice last year when he dove for the ball and landed in the bushes. he came out hurt holding the ball. This kid is a gamer and his quickness is unreal on the field.

4. Mark Barnes- should be a safety.....i saw him play three times in High School and he covered well and was a ball hawk. He is not afraid to lay the wood to anyone. he has a long body and arms which could benefit us when playing tall WRs. He has great hands i mean he caught a td this year. plus we need the depth at safety.

5. Chris Culliver- he is a great ATH but i dunno really where he belongs right now and he doesn't eithier hence the lack of playing time. I think if we can use him in the offense and he can be productive in some sort of way then we should use him there. We should wait and see after spring ball to judge this one. Let leave him returning kickoffs but place better blockers in front of him to open holes and also special team coaches teach him how to read the coverage and gaps.

6. akeem agustee- I read that this kid is explosive in prep school. he is returning punts and kicks there. maybe give this kid a try at punt returns to give captain that time to rest and game plan with the defense during the game. Captain is great at punt returns don't get me wrong but let him be a defencive specalist and akeem handle punts

7. K. Ellis- this "man" is a DT all the way. we played well against the run when given the chance. he has struggled with weight but hopefully he'll get that under control. He will start at DT next year. Write it down.


I also think we need to divide up the kicking responsablities b/c succop can but should not have to do it all. We have a good kicker coming in and spencer lawing can punt and kick pretty well.

I dunno what to do about the O-line but i do know we need to decide that now so they can practice to getter, live together and eat together and all that crap to gel and become one.

Stephen G is gonna be the man....players tell me he is unstopable on the scout team against the 1st team D. I can't wait to see him during spring ball i just hope he stays out of trouble and has studied that play book.

Linebackers will be fine after jap returns with matthews on one side and dustin or sapp on the other

[McNasty]

by the way, i have a bad feeling about Dusty for one reason...

i know he just had surgery and is in a HUGE brace (i have a class with him and will see him at 8 am tomorrow). what worries me is that he seems to be struggling with it. he seems to be limping more than he should be. i think it's just because of the cold, and i hope it is. i'm just worried.

but if he does come back at full speed and strength he'll be in the runnings to start at OLB.

[87Cock09]

What about swapping Batchelor with Sorensen? Batchelor was originally a tackle and Sorensen really has started to struggle with the outside speed rush. If we move him to guard we'd have more size (and attitude) on the inside instantly.

I've been wondering about this for a long time. Sorenson looked horrible most times this year, I wish we would throw Batchelor over there at T and see what he can do. Then Thind, Brown, JeanePierre could play guard.

[Blitzer]

I've been wondering about this for a long time. Sorenson looked horrible most times this year, I wish we would throw Batchelor over there at T and see what he can do. Then Thind, Brown, JeanePierre could play guard.
Didn't Brown graduate?

[87Cock09]

Seaver Brown, played well at times at G he will be a sophomore next year

[CaptainCrunch]

What about moving Moe Brown to CB? A lot of people were talking about that earlier in the season when Moe was dropping a lot of passes.

[Click]

Culliver to DB
J. Cook back to WR
Mike Davis to FB.... he can block and catch, reminds me of some NFL FB's
MarK Barnes to safety
Batchelor back to OT
N. Prochak to either LB or H-back, anywhere to get him in the game

[bgallup]

I think Moe Brown proven he can be relied on somewhat the last couple games. I think he has tons of potential at WR. He seems to be able to catch the ball now.

[roosterrizk1]

Look for Hutch Eckerson to battle Sorenson for the RT position. People may forget this but Hutch played as a TF but RS so, going into his third year will be a RS Sophmore. I am sure we could have used him this year but in the big picture this was huge. He is now 6'6" and has alot more muscle and runs about 300lbs. I look for him to really really push Sorenson as Hutch is much more athletic than Justin.

[FinchMcCrunkNasty]

Look for Hutch Eckerson to battle Sorenson for the RT position. People may forget this but Hutch played as a TF but RS so, going into his third year will be a RS Sophmore. I am sure we could have used him this year but in the big picture this was huge. He is now 6'6" and has alot more muscle and runs about 300lbs. I look for him to really really push Sorenson as Hutch is much more athletic than Justin.
i'm right there with you on that one..I ran into Sorenson last night in 5 points, he is much more concerned with drinking than protecting his quarterback, there isn't a week that goes by that i don't see him drinking somewhere down there

[garnet812]

Culliver to DB
J. Cook back to WR
Mike Davis to FB.... he can block and catch, reminds me of some NFL FB's
MarK Barnes to safety
Batchelor back to OT
N. Prochak to either LB or H-back, anywhere to get him in the game
Are you joking? That would be such a waste of his running talent. You can maybe line him up at the FB position a few times per game to get some carries, but he's in no way a pure FB.. proof: the Clemson game when he let a dude run right by him on special teams.

[Championshipcock]

I would love to see E. Cook as a OLB. With Paulk, Cook, and Jasper as our LB's we would have the best group on the SEC.

Barnes will likely move to saftey. Not sure about anything else.

I'd like to see us play some good defense before we start claiming to have the best of anything on defense. Before the start of last season I read so much hype about our front seven that I am a little burned out on that kind of talk.

[cocky2007]

I always kind of wondered why there were musical chairs among the guards while Sorenson continually got beat at tackle and still got to play. I guess the coaches thought that nobody else could do better.