DatelineCarolinaGamecock Offense Could Turn Around

By Erika Hayes

Posted: Monday April 5 2010, 1:30 P.M.

Gamecock fans have been waiting for head football Coach Steve Spurrier to put together a championship-winning team for five years now.

Critics often point to the offensive line as the problem, and senior offensive tackle Hutch Eckerson knows this better than most.

"We're right at the front of everything, and if we mess up or miss a block or assignment, it shows up huge and it's easy to point out," says Eckerson.

Eckerson also says many fans don't realize how unstable the assistant coaching staff has been. 

"We didn't even have a coach during our last bowl game against Connecticut," says Eckerson.

Since coming to play for the Gamecocks in 2006, Eckerson has had three different offensive line coaches.  The last coach, Eric Wolford, left at the end of the 2009 season to coach at his alma mater Youngstown State.

But fans might have something to look forward to during the 2010 season.  The Gamecocks added Shawn Elliott to the coaching staff in January.  He came from Appalachian State to coach the Gamecocks' offensive line.

Elliott attributes most of the Gamecocks' offensive problems to their lack of stability.

"You can't have a coach here for six or eight months.  You've got to have some guy that's going to stay here, they're going to understand his terminology, they're going to know how to relate to him.  Sometimes a coach is just as important off the field as he is on the field," says Elliott.

Elliott says he'll stick around for a while.  He plans to incorporate a running game scheme that the team will practice as much as possible.

"They need to know the ins and outs of blocking various defenses to give them confidence when we're going into the game that they've seen every single different defensive scheme," says Elliott.

The new coach says he doesn't want to watch game film from previous seasons.  He says he is more interested in what the players are doing during practice, and he's giving them a fresh start.

Eckerson says he likes Elliott's coaching style, and he's looking forward to the 2010 season.

"I'm hoping Coach Elliott will come in here and lead our guys to a championship, that's what we're trying to do around here," says Eckerson.

And many Gamecock fans are hoping the same.  Coach Elliott and his offensive line will get the chance to prove themselves this Saturday at the Garnet and Black spring game.  It will be at Williams Brice Stadium at 4 P.M.