Junior left-hander second Gamecock with eligibility left to go pro this season
South Carolina pitcher Steven Neff will forego his remaining eligibility and sign a contract with the San Francisco Giants, according to multiple reports.
Neff, a junior left-hander, was a 41st-round selection of the defending World Series champions in last month's MLB First Year Player Draft. He went 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 12 appearances for the two-time defending College World Series champion Gamecocks this past season.
However, the Lancaster native made most of his impact in 2011 as a position player. When injuries decimated the USC lineup, Neff converted from a pitcher to an outfielder and designated hitter. He quickly emerged as a power threat at the plate, bashing 12 extra base hits, five of which were home runs, and compiling a .563 slugging percentage in just 71 plate appearances.
Neff is the second USC player with eligibility left to go pro this offseason. Shortstop Peter Mooney recently signed with Toronto after one season at USC.
Another honor for Tanner: USC coach Ray Tanner picked up his second National Coach of the Year award last week, receiving the honor from the American Baseball Coaches Association. The ABCA award is the second such Tanner has received, joining Collegiate Baseball Weekly's national coach award. It is Tanner's third national coach of the year award in his career.
More accolades for football team: Nine Gamecocks were named to the SEC coaches' preseason teams, and three players were named to three more preseason watch lists over the past week.
Marcus Lattimore, Alshon Jeffery, Devin Taylor and Stephon Gilmore were named to the coaches' first team. Stephen Garcia, Rokevious Watkins and Melvin Ingram were named to the second team. Travian Robertson and Kyle Nunn were third-team honorees.
As for watch lists, Aynor native T.J. Johnson was named to the watch list for the Rimington Trophy (nation's top center). Lattimore is on the list for the Doak Walker Award (nation's best tailback), and he joins Jeffery on the Walter Camp watch list (nation's most outstanding player).
Gamecocks lead First-Year Academic Honor Roll: For the fourth straight year, USC had the most first-year student-athletes on the SEC's annual academic honor roll. To be eligible, per the SEC, each student-athlete must "have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or above at the nominating institution, be on scholarship or a letter winner, have completed 24 semester hours of nonremedial credit at the nominating institution and have been a member of the varsity team for the sport's entire NCAA Championship segment."
The two-time College World Series champion baseball team had four honorees (Greg Brodzinski, Patrick Harrington, Erik Payne and Drake Thomason), as did the football team (Patrick Fish, Nick Jones, Ronald Patrick and Dylan Thompson). Men's basketball had three (Bruce Ellington, RJ Slawson and Eric Smith). The men's track squad led all male teams with 10 honorees.