G.A. Mangus’ time at the University of South Carolina has been short, but Thursday he was 100 percent Gamecock.

In fact, Mangus, the Gamecocks’ quarterbacks coach who served as the guest speaker at the year’s final meeting of the Orangeburg Touchdown Club, shared a simple enough message — at South Carolina the focus is on having the Gamecocks’ younger players be 100 percent Gamecock.

“Right now, we are a young football team,” Mangus told the crowd. “We are the second-youngest Division I football team in the country. We have some great young players.”

One player singled out by Mangus was freshman defensive back Stephon Gilmore.

“(Gilmore) is truly one of the best I have ever seen,” Mangus said. “His attitude, his love of the Gamecocks. I’m a big believer that at the University of South Carolina, everything that we want to happen here will happen here. The way that it is going to happen is to have everybody in the locker room that is 100 percent Gamecock. That is where we are at, what we are looking for, and that’s what we have in our locker room. All our young players are 100 percent Gamecock.”

South Carolina State head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough gave his Bulldogs’ report prior to Mangus speaking. The Bulldogs (10-1) host North Carolina A&T Saturday in a game that has the head coach worried.

“Six or seven years ago, A&T came into our game in the exact same situation that we are going to be in Saturday,” Pough said. “They had already won the conference championship and we went up there and just beat the starch out of them. We beat them 49-9. That being the case, there are a couple guys there that were on that staff. I’m sure they would like nothing better than to come in here and do the same thing to us this year. We are a little bit scared, but I have our guys on their ‘Ps’ and ‘Qs’.”

Calhoun County quarterback Shamier Jeffery, who was 19 of 34 passing for 204 yards and two touchdowns, in his team’s 20-0 win over Bamberg-Ehrhardt was honored as the Offensive Player of the Week. The Calhoun County defense, which held B-E to 39 yards of offense in the second half, was honored as the Defensive Player of the Week.

T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder can be reached via e-mail at blinder@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5553.

 

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