Spotlight #1: South Carolina WR Alshon Jeffery

Spotlight #2: South Carolina CB Stephon Gilmore 

1^st quarter

14:16: Jeffery with a nice block on the smaller cornerback on an outside run.

13:21: Jeffery thrown to deep, but he’s covered well by the cornerback and the ball is overthrown anyway.

12:32: Jeffery with the first down reception on 3^rd and 8. It wasn’t a great pass by quarterback Stephen Garcia, but Jeffery runs a nice route and makes a nice low catch.

11:10: Casey Hayward, a day 2 prospect at cornerback for Vandy, with the interception. Stephen Garcia is pressured and just throws it up there deep. There’s no receiver in the vicinity and Hayward makes the easy pick. A ridiculous decision by Garcia.

6:44: Devin Taylor, a potential high draft pick, is not fooled at all on the fake on an option play. He gets the ball 9 yard sack.

3:12: Alshon Jeffery gets inside position on Casey Heyward, but Stephen Garcia throws it to the outside. An inaccurate pass by Garcia, but Heyward gets his 2^nd pick on the night and returns it for 29 yards. Garcia sucks. Heyward is just taking advantage of that. I don’t blame Alshon Jeffery that much there. Garcia just threw it to the wrong spot while Jeffery had inside position and was breaking inside. There’s no way Garcia makes that decision if Jeffery’s route is to break back outside, so I don’t think Jeffery ran the wrong route.

2^nd quarter

11:59: Strip sack fumble on the Vanderbilt quarterback, it’s going the other way when the defender is stripped, and the ball rolls into the end zone where Melvin Ingram, a South Carolina defensive end/defensive tackle and a day 2 prospect falls on it for the touchdown. Ingram somehow has 3 defensive touchdowns on the year.

11:42: Gilmore hasn’t done a lot on this game yet because Vanderbilt has very rarely thrown downfield and when they have, they’ve avoided Gilmore. However, he has a nice ankle tackle on an outside run here.

10:00: The 6-7 Taylor bats down a pass at the line of scrimmage.

8:42: Melvin Ingram with a sack now. This South Carolina pass rush includes Devin Taylor and Malvin Ingram, both of whom figure to be high picks this year, and Jadeveon Clowney, who is a stud freshman who could be a very high pick in 2014 or later.

4:53: Melvin Ingram now with a batted ball at the line of scrimmage. This South Carolina defense is so good that Stephon Gilmore, who might even be their best defensive player, hasn’t had to do anything. Vanderbilt’s quarterback hasn’t had any chances to throw downfield.

4:09: The Vanderbilt quarterback finally decides to try throwing against Stephon Gilmore. Bad idea. Picked by Gilmore. He absolutely blanketed his man one on one and then muscled the ball out of his hands after a great late move.

3:59: Stephen Garcia just throws out one deep and Alshon Jeffery is able to find it and he would have made a big catch if it wasn’t for pass interference by Casey Heyward.

3:51: Jeffery with another catch, but this one is negated by a holding call on South Carolina’s offensive line. Jeffery can’t catch a break. He should have 2 more catches than he has and for big yardage too.

1:14: Melvin Ingram moves inside at defensive tackle on a nickel package and gets another sack despite an illegal formation by the offense.

 

3^rd quarter

4:41: Pass incomplete to Alshon Jeffery.

4:26: Pass incomplete to Alshon Jeffery. Stephen Garcia sucks.

0:28: Jeffery is able to reel this one in deep. Excellent play on 3^rd and 16.

4^th quarter

13:31: Garcia has another pass picked, this time by middle linebacker Chris Marve. Chris Marve is a day 2 prospect.

11:40: Garcia done. Conor Shaw is coming in. Maybe he’ll help Jeffery, who has 2 catches, but is playing a lot better than that.

11:17: Lattimore with a nice run. He’s not draft eligible as a true sophomore, but when he is, he’ll be the top running back prospect. He’s the best running back in the country. He has 72 yards on 16 carries, with 3 catches for 73 yards, and a score of each kind, rushing and receiving. The powerful 232 pound back has great explosion. He has 534 yards and 7 scores on 87 carries already through 3 games after 1197 yards and 17 touchdowns on 249 carries last year as a true freshman, winning NCAA freshman of the year.

0:00: Stephon Gilmore needed a good game tonight to reestablish himself as the 2^nd best cornerback in this draft class. He got it. I know Vanderbilt doesn’t have the best passing attack, but Gilmore was avoided almost the entire night and still managed to get a big pick. Another reason why Vanderbilt’s passing offense didn’t do anything tonight (72 yards) was their amazing defensive line. They got 6 sacks, countless other pressures, and forced two sacks. Devin Taylor had one of those sacks. Melvin Ingram had 2 and scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery. They figure to be high picks in 2011. Jadeveon Clowney, the true freshman, had another 2 sacks. He’s already at 4 on the season. Are we sure he’s a true freshman?

South Carolina’s defensive line also played well against the run, holding South Carolina to negative 1 yards rushing (6 sacks did have an impact there). Taylor, Ingram, and Clowney all did very well against the run, as did defensive tackle Travian Robertson. Robertson doesn’t have a sack this season, but he had 4 last year and he plays well against the run at 6-4 305. He’s a late round prospect who could be moving up.

As for South Carolina’s offense, that’s another story. Stephen Garcia sucks. He was 17 for 31 for 235 yards, 1 touchdown, and 4 picks and that doesn’t even say how bad he was. 1 of those picks was awful. He could have had another pick if not for a great play by Alshon Jeffery. Most of those yards were on short stuff and whenever he threw downfield it was either an overthrow or a pick. 52 yards came on one play, a dump off to Marcus Lattimore that the stud back took to the house. Speaking of Lattimore, he looks like the best back in the country. I won’t spotlight him until next year because he’s a true sophomore, but he’s awesome.

Because of South Carolina’s struggles at quarterback, Alshon Jeffery only had 2 catches for the 2^nd straight game. However, Garcia is simply incapable of throwing accurately downfield. That’s not Jeffery’s fault. Jeffery actually had 2 catches negated by penalties. He should have had 4 catches for roughly 70 yards, which is very impressive considering his quarterback. He bailed out Garcia when he just threw one up downfield. Jeffery showed great instincts finding the ball. Jeffery is also a good run blocker. After watching him and Justin Blackmon today, I’d rather have Jeffery, but it’s close. Jeffery is bigger and more fundamentally sound. He also had the better sophomore season in 2010.

Jeffery was covered by Casey Heyward, the Vanderbilt cornerback who projects as a day 2 pick. Heyward played pretty well. He wasn’t targeted often and he still managed 2 picks, but that’s because Stephen Garcia sucks. He held his own against Jeffery. Another one of Garcia’s picks was by Chris Marve, the Vanderbilt middle linebacker who also projects to be a day 2 pick. He played fairly well considering how good South Carolina’s running attack is.