addressing some of whats been posted about Sidney Rice;
Sidney would be a rising (red shirt) Junior at SC, not a senior. he had an amazing redshirt freshman season in 2005. he made at least a dozen insane, acrobatic, oronde gadsden/ oj mcduffie/ chris chambers highlight reel type catches as a freshman. at times he was unstoppable. he played bigger than his 6'2 202 pounds, and had an uncanny ability to change direction in the air and adjust to the ball.
he came in this fall 15 pounds heavier, and much more muscled, but from the Georgia game on something was not the same.
part of it was that he got alot more respect from defensive coordinators and was double teamed often, BUT no one who watched the Game****s week-in-and-week-out can deny (like i did) that Sidney regressed this past season.
he had two huge statistical games against Florida International and Middle Tennessee. otherwise, he didnt show up this season until our rivalry game against Clemson, againt Arkansas in a shootout where Carolina was playing from behind, and in the Liberty Bowl, which was a shootout, against Houston. part of that can also be explained by QB play, but he wasnt the same player.
top it all off with him stating adamantly since November that he was coming back for his junior season, and making a point to do so in the media. this included an public announcement with Steve Spurrier after a meeting he requested with the coach.
remind you of anyone Dolphin fans know???
here is a link to his stats for the season;
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=169717
note his stats versus;
wofford: 7-151-0 TD
florida atl; 9-151 5 TD (yes 5)
Middle Tenn; 6-90 2 TD
now his conference games against SEC opponents;
UGA; 3-31
Auburn; 4-48
Tenn; 3-52
Florida; 7-72
Carolina lost to UGA by 18, Auburn by 7, Florida by 1 point, and Tennessee by 7. Sidney was a nonfactor in those games. and disappeared for great stretches during those games.
to be fair, he had good games against Clemson and Arkansas, and was big in the Liberty Bowl against Houston. but take out his stats wofford, MTSU, and FAU and his season wasnt too special.
he is making a mistake coming out after his sophomore season mistake in my opinion. kenny mckinley ( the WR opposite sidney) is now a full fledged threat and the double teams would decrease because mckinley will burn you if you dont respect him, and sidney would have been primed for a monster season with senior QB who can sling it.
