South Carolina Football: The Good, Bad and Ugly from the Final Scrimmage

Jeremy Brevard-US PRESSWIRE

South Carolina's final scrimmage was packed with fans.  They showed up in droves to watch one of the highest rated teams in the country go at each other in preparation for their opening showdown against Vanderbilt. 

What did they see?

Some issues, and some very positive areas.  Let's get into it, shall we?

Good: Marcus Lattimore

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Marcus Lattimore looks like he's at 110 percent.  The incredible Gamecock defense had nothing for him.  He's popping off 10-yard runs again like he's never missed a day. 

He back, SEC. 

Bad: T.J. Gurley Headhunting

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They are on your team!  Gurley was destroying players last night.  He almost hurt Buster Anderson, which would have been a huge loss. 

It's great that freshman safety has a mean streak... but save it for the opposition.

Ugly: Offensive Line

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The offensive line was offensive.

I mean offensive. 

The linemen were doing an incredible job during the spring and summer practices, but on this particular date, the defensive linemen lived in the backfield. 

Two pieces of good news: 

1. The Carolina front four may be the best that they see all year.

2.  Luckily, South Carolina has mobile quarterbacks. 

Good: Freshmen Phenoms

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Jerrel Adams and Shaq Roland need to take a bow.  These guys are legitimately good.  Not just legitimately good for freshmen... these guys have the skills to be big-time SEC playmakers right now. 

Between Adams' insane size and speed and Roland's circus catches, these two gave the crowd plenty to cheer for. 

Bad: Drop City

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While the freshmen were good, some of the others struggled.  There were at least four well-thrown balls that slipped right through veterans hands. 

It may be time to put D.L. Moore on the third string.  He couldn't catch a cold. 

Ugly: Interceptions

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South Carolina only threw two interceptions in the game (both by never-used quarterback Seth Strickland), but there were at least three other potential interceptions dropped by defensive backs. 

The quarterbacks as a whole overthrew passes on numerous occasions.  The pressure from the defensive line was too much. 

Good: Gerald Dixon's Play

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Gerald Dixon, the South Pointe defensive end mostly known as "That Dude Who Played on the Other Side of the Line that had Clowney on it", played lights out in the game. 

Every time you turned around, there was No. 44 making a play in the backfield.  He made a serious statement about his ability to contribute this year. 

Bad: Connor Shaw's Performance

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Connor Shaw will still have a great year.  One scrimmage doesn't make the man.  However, this was by far his worst performance of the spring and summer. 

He held the ball for far too long, and took too many sacks or negative yard runs.  He will find his groove, but this wasn't a shining moment. 

Ugly: How Long?

Do we really have to wait two more weeks for the season to start?  This scrimmage wasn't bad. The defensive line is as incredible as advertised.  The defensive backs made plays and the receivers as a whole looked pretty good. 

All it did was stoke the fire for what promises to be a great year. 

So the real ugly part of the scrimmage is that it ends the media access to practice, and now, the waiting game begins. 

Talk about ugly.