{"id":3578,"date":"2016-11-10T11:43:50","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T16:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordoncollegefootball.com\/?p=3578"},"modified":"2017-05-22T00:02:35","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T04:02:35","slug":"3578","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2016\/11\/10\/3578\/","title":{"rendered":"King on the Corner"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Carolina<\/strong> is not known for a grand football history.\u00a0 Aside from some big wins here and there over the years, the Gamecocks<\/strong> are more known for their loyal fans than their winning football tradition. The one thing South Carolina can hang their hat on is producing talented defensive backs on a regular basis.\u00a0 Being strong at the corner position has been a staple of Gamecock football for many years.\u00a0 Jamarcus King<\/strong> is trying to prove he deserves a mention among those former Gamecock greats in the secondary.<\/p>\n

King has been a key in the secondary this year.\u00a0 He is currently sixth on the team in tackles with 36. \u00a0He leads the team in both interceptions, with 3, and pass break-ups, with 8. King has also forced a fumble and has three tackles for a loss.<\/p>\n

Two Seasons Of Despair<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Gamecocks built the success of three straight 11 win seasons on the foundation of a suffocating defense.\u00a0 In Steve Spurrier\u2019s<\/strong> final two seasons, that foundation crumbled. \u00a0The defense was routinely gashed by opponents.\u00a0 Fans and observers alike complained about the scheme and the effort.\u00a0 The defense was frustrating to understand, and the drop off was sudden and glaring.\u00a0 It was common place to see the Gamecocks defensive backs line up eight to ten yards off the line of scrimmage. \u00a0Soft coverage even in short yardage situations was common place.<\/p>\n

South Carolina was 10-14 over those two lost seasons.\u00a0 They also ranked near the bottom of the SEC<\/strong> in most defensive categories.\u00a0 The soft coverage led to a less aggressive nature surrounding the once fierce Gamecock defense. \u00a0Allowing opponents to easily eat up yardage, and never stepping up to pressure receivers and shrink passing windows.<\/p>\n

The Coach Boom Factor<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Coach Will Muschamp<\/strong> has been known as a great defensive mind throughout his coaching career. \u00a0He is also known for his aggressive, in your face style of defense. \u00a0His presence alone led fans to believe that there would be marked improvement on that side of the ball.\u00a0 That has proven true through nine games this year.\u00a0 The tackling and effort have both improved. \u00a0More importantly the attitude of the defense is now that of and aggressive mindset. \u00a0Nowhere is that more noticeable than in the secondary.<\/p>\n

King on the Corner<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

JaMarcus King arrived at South Carolina after a brief stint at Coffeyville Community College<\/strong>.\u00a0 He was a four star prospect coming out when he committed to South Carolina this past February. \u00a0King\u00a0arrived in August for\u00a0fall camp, and\u00a0forcing him\u00a0to be a quick study\u00a0on the new defense.\u00a0 He quickly established himself as a top option in the secondary.<\/p>\n

He earned a starting corner back position for the opener at Vanderbilt<\/strong>, and hasn\u2019t relinquished it since. \u00a0Listed at 6\u20191\u201d 170lbs, which is a good height for a defensive back,\u00a0it was still not clear how he would handle the physicality of the SEC.\u00a0 He has improved as the season has gone on with his tackling and aggressiveness. \u00a0His strength coming in was his coverage skills.\u00a0 King has not only picked off three passes, but he has also shown the ability to deflect passes before the opponent can haul it in.<\/p>\n

King had\u00a0a five tackle, two interception performance in the upset over Tennessee<\/strong>,\u00a0earning him SEC Defensive Player of the Week<\/strong> <\/em>honors.\u00a0 His deflection skills were on display against Missouri.\u00a0 Timing the play perfectly and knocking the pass to the ground on three different occasions. \u00a0Although he is not the biggest cornerback, he uses his length and athleticism very well. \u00a0Improving on his physicality will continue to be a focus of both King and the coaching staff going forward.<\/p>\n

Not a One Man Show<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

King may be the standout so far in the secondary, he is certainly not doing it alone.\u00a0\u00a0Chris Lammons<\/strong> and Rashad Fenton<\/strong> have also shown their mettle this season occupying the corner position for the Gamecocks.\u00a0 Lammons also has three interceptions, tied with King for the team lead. He has also forced a fumble on his one sack this season, and has recovered two more fumbles. \u00a0Fenton has one interception and four passes broken up on the year. \u00a0All three players have at least one interception inside the five yard line. \u00a0Taking the ball away from your opponent is always a big deal, but doing it when they are so close to scoring makes it a bit more special.<\/p>\n

Growing and Improving<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

While Coach Mushcamp will admit his team is not where he ultimately wants them on defense, the results this year are positive.\u00a0 South Carolina has yet to allow a team to top 30 points in a game.\u00a0 This is after allowing right at 30 points per game over the last two seasons.\u00a0 The defense clad in garnet and black has\u00a0also been very opportunistic, on top of\u00a0keeping it\u2019s opponents scores down.\u00a0 They have 20 takeaways on the season and lead the SEC in turnover differential at plus nine.<\/p>\n

South Carolina’s defensive back tradition is both deep and productive.\u00a0 Ranging from current NFL\u00a0corners like Stephon Gilmore<\/strong> and\u00a0Jonathon Joseph<\/strong>, to former stars like Sheldon Brown<\/strong>, Andre Goodman<\/strong>, and Terry Cousin<\/strong>.\u00a0 Jamarcus King is working towards joining these former Gamecocks playing on Sundays. \u00a0Combined with his knack for playmaking,\u00a0a continued improvement in physicality and tackling could get him there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Carolina is not known for a grand football history.\u00a0 Aside from some big wins here and there over the years, the Gamecocks are more known for their loyal fans than their winning football tradition. The one thing South Carolina can hang their hat on is producing talented defensive backs on a regular basis.\u00a0 Being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":394,"featured_media":3592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[518,974,975,20,80,81],"class_list":["post-3578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","tag-chris-lammons","tag-jamarcus-king","tag-rashad-fenton","tag-sec","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-will-muschamp"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/394"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}