Gamecock Nation Morning Links

The Gamecocks didn’t practice yesterday, but they did attend Fan Fest at Colonial Life arena.

There, GreenvilleOnline.com’s Bart Wright caught up with some fans who remembered a time not too long ago when they went to games just hoping not to get embarassed:

“’We would go to the game hoping we would have a chance, hoping to make it competitive and there was a little part of you that wanted to believe you would pull off an upset; mostly, I remember going to games hoping not to be embarrassed… At the end of the year when we played Clemson it was kind of the same thing,’ Grant said”

Kendric Salley, a freshman running back who was supposed to have a monster senior season in high school a year ago got injured before those expectations could be met. Now, Salley is trying to meet those expections as a Gamecock.

“Salley still went more than 1,100 yards on the season and scored 21  touchdowns while playing through the injury, but he didn’t get to put the  exclamation point on his high school career that many would have expected. Now, he’s looking to make up for that for the Gamecocks, beginning with fall  practice. Salley said that his knee was improving, but the road to recovery  isn’t complete.”

Scott Hood of Gamecocks Central says Bruce Ellington is “happy pulling double duty” at South Carolina.

“Despite stepping away from football for more than a year, Ellington was USC’s fifth-leading receiver (17 receptions for 211 yards) and top kickoff returner (23.1 yards per return) in 2011 and he hopes to improve those statistics during his red-shirt sophomore season (he’s a junior in basketball).”

From the Twitterverse:

And of course, a morning of Gamecock links wouldn’t be complete without a video to get the blood flowing (the fun starts around the 30 second mark).