I hope that the entire University of South Carolina Gamecock family will take a moment today to reflect on the sacrifices of all veterans - men and women, past and present, living and dead - who left their families, friends and homes and took up arms in the defense of our nation. Whether from South Carolina, or from our sister states and territories, we owe them all a solemn obligation of gratitude and respect.

Our debt to those who died while on active service in the military is even greater - it is no less than an obligation to remember and cherish their lives; it is no more than a solemn duty to honor them for having accepted an allegiance to an even higher form of duty - of a service that put them in harm's way, and which resulted in the sacrifice of their lives - all so that this great nation might remain free and independent, and be a beacon of light in a world that all too often is plunged into deep shadow and outright darkness.

This debt of memory and honor is the very essence of why we observe Memorial Day. It is a debt that eschews partisan rancor or political debate. It is a debt that crosses communities and color-lines. It unites the old and the young; the Southerner and the Northerner; the Easterner and the Westerner; and the civilian world with the military. Most profoundly, it levies a charge upon those of us who live to do right by those who laid down their lives - by enshrining for them a place on our hearts and minds, whether we knew them by name or not.

***

In keeping with this obligation, today GABA honors 1st Lieutenant Jason D. Mann, U.S.M.C., 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force, who died on active duty in Afghanistan's Helmand Province at the age of 29, on July 17, 2008, when a roof collapsed on him in a forward operating area.

Originally from Woodlynne, New Jersey, Lt. Mann enlisted with the Marine Corps in 1997 right after graduating from Collingswood High School in Collingswood, New Jersey. He was an Arabic linguist and reconnaissance professional, who reached the rank of Staff Sergeant before matriculating at the University of South Carolina as a finance and economics major.

While at Carolina, he met and fell in love with his future wife, Shannon - who also joined the Marines. Jason graduated from USC in 2005 with a B.S. degree in Business Administration, and reported to the USMC's Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia - where he was the honor graduate of his training class and also the recipient of the physical fitness award. Jason was commissioned a second lieutenant on May 6, 2005. After attending The Basic School, Infantry Officer's Course and the Ground Intelligence Officer Course, Mann reported to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines for duty as the battalion's assistant intelligence officer and later, the battalion's scout sniper platoon commander.

Jason and Shannon celebrated the birth of their first child, a daughter - Isabella - in 2006. There is a photo of him with Isabella here - which I warn you will pull very hard at your emotions.

Lt. Mann served a tour in Iraq (2006-2007) and took a deployment to Afghanistan in March, 2008. In June - just several weeks before his death - he rushed to a crashed helicopter and helped pull the pilot to safety despite fuel having spilled everywhere. On the date he lost his life, he was in his quarters at a forward operating area - in a building that British engineers were working to stabilize at the time of the roof collapse.

He last spoke to Shannon on July 6, 2008 when he called her on her cell phone while she and Isabella were visiting his brother's family.

He was supposed to have come home that October.

Lt. Mann was laid to rest at the Quantico National Military Cemetery. A memorial service was also held in his honor at Veterans Island, in Camden County, New Jersey.

I hope you will read more about Lt. Mann here and here. I never knew him, but I wish I had - and I imagine I'm not alone in that sentiment.

I never knew him. But I will do my best to remember him. And to thank him - and his family - for what he did for me and mine.

Over at Dawg Sports, our friend T. Kyle King has recently argued that it is time for the University of Georgia to add men's and women's lacrosse as varsity sports - which are both club-level squads at Athens.

I think Kyle makes a compelling case for Athenian LAX, but his post also forced me to consider an idea that's been rattling around in my head for a few months now - i.e., whether public universities which are (or soon will be) making huge profits from conference television deals should use some of those net proceeds to fund additional varsity sports. In other words, is there a moral obligation for leading universities like South Carolina to divert some of their football millions to fund additional, non-revenue sports?

I think the answer is definitively "yes" but the subject matter is big enough that it warrants being broken down into a two-part series. Thus, today in Part 1, we will examine some of the underlying facts that need to be taken into consideration in this discussion, and make the case for women's gymnastics and women's lacrosse to be added to the roll of USC varsity sports. In a future Part 2, we will consider men's cross-country and men's lacrosse, and debate some of the pros and cons for expanding the USC athletic department at this time - including how some of the arguments made by our hirsute canine friends in reply to Kyle's post apply (or do not apply) to Carolina.

Salient Facts

By way of preface, here are a few facts I think are relevant to the conversation:

• The University of South Carolina boasts one of the most profitable and most valuable football programs in the nation, and one of the top 20 most profitable athletic departments overall - with a 2011 reported net profit of $3,287,515 (though some have put the net profit as low as $762,726). A full database of South Carolina's 2011 athletic department revenue has been compiled by ESPN.
• The Southeastern Conference has one of the richest TV deals in college athletics - bringing in roughly $17.1 million per school last year. This distribution amount will certainly go only up when the league re-negotiates with CBS, and will likely reach stratospheric heights when the conference launches a true SEC network in 2014. Accordingly, the member institutions are on solid ground to expect SEC revenue distributions in the near future to surpass the Pac-12's expected $30m-per-school payout. That's a lot of cheddar that's going to be filling our coffers soon.
  
• Keep in mind that over the last five years, USC has spent (or committed to spend) a staggering $154 million on facilities (which goes in excess of $200m when deferred maintenance is calculated in) and which is no doubt artificially deflating our athletic department profitability- while simultaneously bringing our facilities into the top echelon of the league. What I'm trying to say here is that completion of the facilities upgrade will mean more discretionary revenue to our bottom line and we'll have very attractive facilities in comparison with some of our rivals.
  
• With the hiring of new men's basketball coach Frank Martin, Athletic Director Eric Hyman now has all of the coaches of our most visible programs locked into long-term contracts, including Steve Spurrier, Ray Tanner and Dawn Staley - not to mention all of the other sports, including Mark Berson (men's soccer), McGee Moody (swimming & diving), Curtis Frye (track & field), Beverly Smith (softball), Scott Swanson (volleyball), Shelly Smith (women's soccer), Boo Major (equestrian) and Kalan Anderson-Harris (women's golf) just to name some. The only USC coaching vacancy which still needs to be permanently filled is women's tennis following the death of Arlo Elkins.
  
• South Carolina fields eight varsity men's teams: (1) Baseball; (2) Basketball: (3) Football; (4) Golf; (5) Soccer: (6) Swimming & Diving; (7) Tennis; and (8) Track & Field. The SEC sponsors all of these sports except men's soccer (which only USC and UK play as members of Conference USA);
• South Carolina is the only SEC school not to compete in men's cross-country.
  
• For women, South Carolina sponsors nine varsity squads: (1) Basketball; (2) Cross-Country; (3) Equestrian; (4) Golf; (5) Soccer; (6) Swimming & Diving; (7); Tennis; (8) Track & Field; and (9) Volleyball. The SEC sponsors all of these sports as well.
  
• Half the SEC offers women's gymnastics (Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU and Missouri). South Carolina is among the seven schools which do not.
  
• Title IX compliance is a mind-numbingly complex area which is subject to different interpretations by different White House administrations. After thirty years, there is still a lot of controversy about this federal law. Neverthless - at least for the time-being - it appears that the SEC has adopted a league rule of offering at least two more women's sports than men's squads in order to be minimally compliant with Title IX. There's no way of telling, however, how long this strategem will be legally viable - and, of course, USC is not even compliant with the "two more" rule presently.
  

Keep reading Part 1 after The Jump where we argue in favor of Women's Gymnastics and Lacrosse

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Got that Mid-May "meh" feeling again? Does it seem like something of a yearly occurrence? Do you think it may have something to do with the way the Yardcocks deliver - or, more accurately, fail to deliver - at the SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover, Alabama around this team each year? If so, then you're not alone.

Call in the Hoover Blues, as our Chickens got smoked once again in the Yellowhammer State, losing to Florida 7-2 yesterday afternoon in the SEC Baseball Tournament.

Over at Gamecock Central, David Cloninger says the "Hoover swoon" is an eight-year thing.

In reality, though, our SEC tourney woes date all the way back to1998, when the league selected Regions Park (formerly Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and home of the Birmingham Barons minor league team) as the permanent host for the SEC's post-season showcase.

Over the ensuing fifteen years, the Diamond Cocks' annual pilgrimage to Central Alabama has mostly been a tale of recurrent misery punctuated by occasional flashes of mediocrity - with only a couple of exceptions (2002 and 2004) where we actually played well throughout. If you can stomach it, check out the [abbreviated] history of our Hoover Horrors after The Jump!

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This post continues our unit-by-unit examination of USC football coming out of 2012 spring practice. On offense, we've taken a look at the Quarterbacks and the Offensive Line, while on "D" we've checked out the Defensive Line, Cornerbacks and Spurs and Safeties - plus we've done a wrap-up on the Special Teams. Today, we're staying on the defensive side of the ball by turning our attention to the linebacker corps.

Last Season (and Before)

When Ellis Johnson was named the Gamecock's DC/LB coach in 2008, it seemed like a match made in heaven for the future prospects of USC linebackers. After all, E.J.'s resume boasted two very successful stints at Alabama as the Tide's OLB coach during 1990-1993 (including the '92 National Championship team) and as DC/OLB coach for 1997-2000 (including the '99 SEC Western Division Championship squad). During his tenure at Clemson as DC in '95 and '96, Johnson had helped reel in All-American and future NFL first-rounder LB Anthony Simmons, and also coached NFL 2nd rounder LB Patrick Sapp. Even at Mississippi State, where he served as the DC/LB coach from '04-'07 during the lean Sly Croome years, three Bulldog linebackers (Quinton Culberson, Jamar Chaney and K.J. Wright) would go on to make NFL rosters.

Considering the fact that when he arrived in Columbia Johnson inherited Eric Norwood and Jasper Brinkley the sky was the limit. E.J. proceeded to coach Norwood to consensus first-team All-SEC honors in 'both 08-'09 [and a consensus All-America selection in '09] and Brinkley to second-team All-SEC recognition in '08 after coming off an injury year. Thus, USC fans could be forgiven for believing that we'd begin seeing a steady progression of top-flight LBs enrolling at Carolina. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work out that way. Since Eric Norwood left Carolina, our linebacker play has been competent but mostly overshadowed by the stars on the defensive line and in the secondary. For example, Josh Dickerson was fifth on the team in total tackles in 2010, while Rodney Paulk and Shaq Wilson were third and fourth, respectively, in tackles for 2011. But neither Dickerson nor Paulk received NFL draft consideration, and none of them earned pre-season or post-season All-SEC accolades.

So far, there has been very little pre-sason buzz about USC's linebackers going in 2012, either. Most of the national writers don't even mention them. So what happened? And what can we expect going forward? Read more after the Jump!

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Gamecocksonline: Gamecocks Earn 7-0 Win Over Furman.

Cocky Country: Marzilli, Seddon Lead Gamecocks Over Paladins.

Gamecock Central: Marzilli laces Paladins again. Scott Hood posts Greiner, young players growing up.

Leftover Hotdog: The Gamecocks Pennant Race 2012.

The link parade continues after The Jump!

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Sportstalkgolive: Tevin Glass hopes to reschedule his visit with USC - plus some football recruiting notes, via Phil Kornblut.

Leftover Hotdog: 2012 Gamecocks Baseball Field Report: Arkansas Edition.

Team Speed Kills: SEC Baseball: South Carolina, LSU in Front as Teams Start Getting Eliminated.

Gamecock Central: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Arkansas and Trust leaves Price on the mound. Plus Scott Hood writes Look back, look ahead: Defense sparkles.

Life of a Gamecock: South Carolina Football Notes of Interest - 5/7. Am I the only one who thinks a trophy for the USC-Mizzou "Battle of Columbia" is a lame idea?

So Fried Sports: Power Ranking of SEC Football Stadiums.

Gamecocksonline: Gamecock Men's Golf Selected to NCAA Norman Regional and Gamecock Golf Holds Ribbon Cutting Ceremony For The Coop Practice Facility.

Get the Picture: The Senator filets your faithful correspondent - It’s a SEC conspiracy! Apparently, I failed fully to appreciate that the foremost factor in the SECs 2012 scheduling was that Georgia had to keep the Ole Miss game. Dontcha get it? They had to! Everything else (like the scheduled UGA-Bama game, or USC-MSU) all had to take a backseat to the requirement that Georgia play the Rebels in 2012! Now that I fully appreciate the sublime wisdom of how the league manipulated the 2012 schedule, I feel better. All joking aside, I don't mind suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune from Blutarsky - he's still a GABA fan favorite. He's also spot-on that the league should go to a nine game SEC sked, but that's a dead-letter in Birmingham for the time-being.

Gamecock Central: David Cloninger pens 'Win Anyway' - USC overcomes hot-hitting Hogs and Diamond Extras: Matthews hog-ties Arkansas. Plus - SEC Tournament Watch. Somewhere along the way I missed that 10 teams will be invited to Hoover this year. I liked it better with eight - and think the league should have kept it that way even with the addition of Mizzou and TAMU (but that was probably too much to ask).

Cocky Country: Hog Wild: Yardcocks Beat Arkansas In Crazy Rubber Game.

Post & Courier: South Carolina beats Arkansas 10-7 to win sixth straight series by Darryl Slater.

Arkansas Online: Gamecocks down Arkansas, win series. The Razorbacks are likely going to vent their frustration on the Auburn Tigers next weekend; meanwhile, the Cocks travel to Athens' Foley Field to challenge the surging Diamond Dawgs - after first hosting a mid-weeker against the Furman Paladins on Wednesday.

Andy Demetra: Having dubbed Grayson Greiner as "G-Gun," Andy likes the USC catcher for conference player of the week: "[o]ther players may have gaudier numbers on paper, but nobody had a more impactful SEC weekend than the G-Gun. SEC POW-worthy for sure." Andy's right - "6 RBI, 5 runners caught stealing, 2 clutch tags at the plate, the 1st HR off Stanek in 69.1 IP, & all 28 innings caught" is huge. I also love what Andy tweets about Forrest Koumas: "How impressive was Koumas? Misses a month, rubber match on the road, & he goes toe-to-toe with the SEC's preseason Pitcher of the Year."

David Cloninger: With apologies to Andy, David prefers "Grayson Gunner" as a nickname. I like 'em both, but it's G-Gun by a nose. The GC author also reminds us "[a]gain, what a day for Adam Matthews. Nobody deserved a great game more than him. He's had a tough year but has kept fighting." No doubt.

The links keep rolling after The Jump! Don't be shy! (UPDATE - Take a GABA Poll on who was the Player of the Week for the Yardcocks)

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Gamecock Central: Arkansas ends win streak, 7-6 and Diamond Extra: Get 'em on, get 'em over. We're still a game ahead of UK in the loss column.

Cocky Country: No Lucky No. 13: Gamecocks Fall To Arkansas.

Arkansas Online: Hot Hogs hold off South Carolina, even series.

Ron Morris: Martin rapidly spreading the word about USC. In praise of Frank (and, yes, you read that correctly).

Jug of Snyder Blog: The Cult of Frank: Why He Really Left. On the other hand, here is a healthy dose of spleen from a venomous K-Stater. Funny how the mainstream press in Kansas and Missouri, not to mention the majority of Wildcat fans and his players, seemed shocked and genuinely disappointed to see him go at the time. This guy, however, knows the truth - Frank Martin is a bad man - it was just hidden in plain view, all along, dontcha see?

Bolt Beat: Melvin Ingram Featured in Everything to Prove.

GoUpstate.com: USC's Lattimore causes a stir at Woffod frat party. The toast of the Terrier nation.

The Big Spur: Definition of a Gamecock - a behind-the-scenes look at the life of DeVonte Holloman (from Thursday but definitely worth the read!)

SI.com: Andy Staples files his 2012 Post-Spring Top 25 (from last Thursday also). Fair rating? Should we be ranked ahead of Georgia? What about Arkansas?

Athens Banner-Herald: This should make T. Kyle jump for joy - Georgia, Clemson raise fee to cancel 2013-14 series. On the other hand, if CU and UGA were truly traditional, long-standing rivals as they've been portrayed, then would they have to bother with draconian, dont-trust-you contractual penalties like this? In any event, I will be rooting for lots of sprained ankles and pulled hammies when these Land Grant chums do finally get around to meeting up again (nothing more serious than that, mind you).

Gamecocksonline: Gamecocks Rally To Stun Arkansas 8-6 In 10 Innings. Saturday's game is still scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET; TV - ESPN2.

Gamecock Central: Marz-elous: Marzilli's double tops Arkansas and Diamond Extra: Walker returns to lineup. Plus - Fish Story II - Reptar in Arkansas. It's all about the fish.

Cocky Country: Just Keep Swimming: "Fear The Fish" In Full Force As Yardcocks Rally.

Arkansas Online: Hogs squander lead, fall to South Carolina. We owed the Hogs this one after the way they handled us in both football and hoops.

Spur of the Moment Blog: USC baseball surging into the home stretch, with tough series still ahead.

Ron Morris: Superstars plus chemistry equals elite program. I think Ron's right - Tanner's program is now in that enviable strata where he fields an elite squad even during reloading/rebuilding years.

Sportstalkgolive: USC target 6-3 point guard Willie Moore of Cincinnati commits to Oregon - plus other recruiting notes from Phil Kornblut. Frank Martin's amazing recruiting run looks to have run out of steam after missing out on Moore and Sheldon Jeter; not to mention the fact that 6-8 Tevin Glass of Alpharetta, GA has missed his scheduled official visit this weekend - no word on why, yet.

Get The Picture Blog: Senator Blutarsky is Looking at those SEC East schedules and comes to the realization that - shockingly - UGA was awarded an easy schedule; the Senator assures us that we can take some solace, however, from this fact:

See? It's not just Georgia who lucked out. Of course, though, the point all along is that it's not luck why UGA is the only SEC East squad that has managed to avoid the "Alabama-Arkansas-LSU trifecta" in back-to-back years - i.e., 2011 and 2012. We can agree that last season (2011), it was by virtue of the natural course of the 5-1-2 rotation. But the 2012 schedule, however, was the creation of the league officials to suit their purposes in breaking Mizzou and Texas A&M into the league. In light of how well Georgia did in 2011 - and was projected to do in 2012 - the SEC should have kept Georgia-Alabama; it certainly would have been the marquee East-West cross-division game of the season, and would have balanced out the newly-created LSU-South Carolina game. Between the Dawgs and the Tide, however, somebody got a pass from the boys in Birmingham - arguably both, since the defending NC Tide shouldn't have received any breaks either. In fact, the front office guys could not have failed to notice that UGA will have only played one of the Alabama-Arkansas-LSU trifecta just three times from '09 to '12 [LSU and Arkie in 2009 and Arkie in 2010]. In the same period [2009-2012], however, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee have each turned the trick 6 times and Vandy 5; only lowly UK (3) has been sheltered as much as UGA - and never two years straight. Hence the inequity. Blutarsky is right, however, that should USC drop to Vandy, it will probably be lights-out on any hope the Cocks have of getting back to the SECCG on December 1.

Bleacher Report: South Carolina Recruiting: Gamecocks Should Look at Swansea LB Byron Johnson.

Gamecocksonline: Tough Loss Again for South Carolina Softball as Ole Miss Claims 1-0 Win.

Team Speed Kills: Cocknfire completes his series on the BCS - The BCS What If ... ?, Part III: Lessons Learned.

Gamecocksonline: South Carolina Heads to Arkansas for Weekend Series. First pitch is tonight at 8:00 p.m. E.T.; TV - ESPNU.

WIS.com: Gamecocks (and Reptar) hit the road to Arkansas. No chance the fish was being left behind. The guys landed safely yesterday afternoon - Andy Demetra congratulated Jordan Montgomery on making his first plane trip!

Post & Courier: South Carolina freshman Joey Pankake settling down at shortstop; Gamecocks take SEC win streak to Arkansas.

Anderson Independent-Mail: USC faces Arkansas without Holmes.

It's Link City after The Jump - with more baseball, basketball recruiting and football stuff. Trust me, you'll like it.

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Post & Courier: Little no more, South Carolina third baseman LB Dantzler enjoys big stage success.

Cocky Country: Thanks To Freshmen, Yardcocks Keep Rolling, Top Davidson.

Sportstalkgolive: Gamecocks call the Hogs after taking down Davidson (AUDIO) by Phil Kornblut.

Willie Smith of the Greenville News tweets: "Question asked in tonight's post USC/Davidson game by Ray Tanner. Can a fish survive in high altitudes?" It's all a matter of priorities.

Gamecock Central: Freshman lead the way over Davidson with video of the post-game presser.

Baseball America: Check out what BA's all-everything college baseball guru Aaron Fitt thinks about the Cocks being a national seed and a NCAA Tournament regional host - Stock Report: Week 11.

College Baseball Daily: These NCAA Tournament seeding projections are largely irrelevant at this point, but that being said, I like this regional situation better than what prior projections were giving us - CBD Column: 2012 NCAA Regional Projections (May 2nd).

Check out Hoops, Football, Draft and other links after The Jump!

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Gamecocksonline: South Carolina Hosts Davidson On Wednesday Night. First pitch 7:00 p.m.; TV - Fox Sports.

Sportstalkgolive: Mangus on road checking out quarterback targets and Finally we can analyze any team or conference attendance averages!

Bleacher Report: BCS Meetings: Steve Spurrier, Even While Joking, Speaks a Playoff Truth.

Gamecock Central: Spurrier, Sharpe earn $20,000 for USC - check out who won the Chik-Fil-A Golf Challenge (hint - not our 8th place dynamic duo), plus some good notes on Stephon Gilmore and some good Spurrier quotes to get you started on the day. In baseball, some bad news - Colby Holmes out for Arkansas, along with a retrospective on the baseball team's April turn-around - USC soars through crucial four series.

Darryl Slater: Tweets that the RPI of our remaining SEC baseball opponents are Arkansas 12, Georgia 46, LSU 7. Here's where the rubber is going to meet the road.

More links after The Jump!

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I think most USC fans would automatically agree with our estimable Gamecock Man, who in his recent post on mock 2013 NFL drafts had this to say about USC Senior defensive end Devin Taylor:

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Sportstalkgolive: USC moves up in all three major baseball polls.

College Baseball Insider: Gamecocks are now third in CBI's composite poll.

Perfect Game: Those gritty Gamecocks are back.

David Cloninger: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Alabama.

Leftover Hotdog: General Malaise's Gamecocks Baseball Field Report: Crimson Tide Edition is up.

Check out Hoops, Football, AJ1, Draft and Other links after The Jump.

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Gamecocksonline: Reitze Sets School Record, Named Top Individual Athlete at Penn Relays (from Friday). A huge honor!

Ron Morris: USC takes high road witn NCAA (from Sunday). All the snark you've come to expect from The State's senior sports columnist.

Gene Sapakoff: Spurrier, South Carolina Gamecocks football program can move on after NCAA accepts self-imposed penalties. Less snark than you've come to expect from Gene, however. While Sapakoff praises Eric Hyman for handling the investigation and the COI hearing with aplomb, let's not forget that it was the former USC compliance officials - who worked under Hyman - that fumbled in the first place with both the Whitney and SAM matters. Add some penalty strokes to Hyman's scorecard for having to clean up his own mess. Nevertheless, Hyman was masterful in getting us out of the trap; it could have been a much heavier blow.

Brad Senkiw: NFL draft a celebration of accomplishments.

Saturday Down South: Spring Breakout Players: SEC East and Complete 2012 NFL Draft Recap For SEC Fans.

O'burg Times & Democrat: Jeffery ready to start NFL career with Chicago Bears.

ESPN AFC West Blog: Ingram moves close to his mentor (from Friday).

NJ.com: 2012 NFL Draft: Jets select safety Antonio Allen, receiver Jordan White in seventh round (from Saturday).

Bleacher Report: NFL Draft Proves Rewarding for Several Gamecocks.

Gamecock Central: NFL Draft Wrapup: 6 Gamecocks Get the Call and SEC Tournament Watch.

Palmetto Recruiting: Sheldon Jeter now officially on commitment watch - can Frank Martin reel in the 6'6" F from Pennsylvania as our fifth hoops pledge of the spring signing period? It's between us, Vandy, Wisconsin and Penn State. We're also still waiting to hear from 6-3 PG Willie Moore of Cincinnati- he'll be choosing between us and Oregon.

Gamecocksonline: Great Senior Day Crowd Watches Gamecocks Drop 4-1 Decision to Auburn. It's been a tough season for Beverly Smith's softball squad.

What a difference a year makes.

Sure, it's a timeworn cliche. But when I think about Alshon Jeffery being selected in the mid-second round of the 2012 NFL Draft, as the 7th receiver drafted, it's a cliche that quickly comes to mind.

Last year at this time, every Gamecock fan took it is an irreducible article of faith that Alshon Jeffery would be a top 5 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft - possibly the number 1 overall depending on who picked first. Certainly, we all thought that he would be the number 1 wide receiver to be selected - with only Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State in the conversation as a possible rival for pride of place. After all, by the time the 2010 season went into the books, Jeffery statistically led all receivers in the SEC by a country mile - including 2011 NFL Draft first rounders A.J. Green (4th overall) and Julio Jones (6h overall) - with 88 receptions for 1,517 yards and nine touchdowns. Coming out of spring camp in 2011, everything looked even more promising for the young man from St. Matthews, South Carolina for what would be his third and sure-to-be-final season with the Gamecocks.

First, he would be catching balls from a fifth year RS Senior quarterback, Stephen Garcia, who loved to throw to him even when he was blanketed, and who had promised (no, guaranteed, even) that he would dedicate himself to the craft of being a better QB.

Second, he also could depend on All-SEC RB - and potential Heisman Trophy/Doak Walker Award candidate - Marcus Lattimore to establish the run. How could opposing teams roll a safety over the top, or drop into nickel or dime sets, and still hope to contain Marcus in the second level? Alshon was sure to get numerous one-on-one opportunities.

Finally, the 2011 schedule was extremely favorable for South Carolina. After the early game with the UGA Bulldogs, which would likely determine the East Division champion, the only truly elite opponent left on the calendar would be Arkansas. He would romp through the depleted defenses of Florida, Auburn and Tennessee, and feast on lesser SEC squads like Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State.

At this time last year, the rest of the CFB World and the SEC-watchers agreed that 2011 would crown Alshon's career. He was widely acclaimed as the best returning WR in the SEC for 2011 and it was said he was nearly impossible to contain in one-on-one. He was likely to break the century-mark in receptions - and surely a lock to reach double-digits in TD receptions. He was a tough guy who didn't miss games and seemed immune to the injury bug. He was not only going to break USC receiving records, but shatter them. The sky was the limit back in April, 2011.

What a difference a year makes.

So when Alshon was drafted on Friday night as the 45th overall pick - without any cameras on him, and with little fanfare, not to mention a healthy dose of criticism from the various talking heads at ESPN and the NFL Network, it's a fair question to ask "what happened?" Or, perhaps, more acerbically, to want to know "who is to blame" for his draft plummet. Let's take a look at the three men who bear the most culpability.

Read more after The Jump.

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