The Daily Feed: May 1, 2012

Sportstalkgolive: USC moves up in all three major baseball polls.

College Baseball Insider: Gamecocks are now third in CBI's composite poll.

Perfect Game: Those gritty Gamecocks are back.

David Cloninger: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Alabama.

Leftover Hotdog: General Malaise's Gamecocks Baseball Field Report: Crimson Tide Edition is up.

Check out Hoops, Football, AJ1, Draft and Other links after The Jump.

Palmetto Recruiting: In hoops recruiting news, Sheldon Jeter decision set for Thursday.

Gamecocksonline: Gamecock Spotlight: Frank Martin (Part 3). Also - Caleb Sturgeon Named to SEC Men's Golf All-Freshman Team and Gamecock Women's Golf Receives Bid to NCAA East Regional.

Bleacher Report: South Carolina Gamecock Marty Markett: From Walk-on to the NFL and Recapping the Nine New NFL-Bound Gamecocks - both by Alex Roberts; plus - NFL Draft Proves Rewarding for Several Gamecocks, by Flounder.

BuffaloBills.com: Gilmore wears family proudly.

Spur of the Moment Blog: Bears GM Phil Emery, who drafted Alshon Jeffery, says he doesn't think Jeffery is lazy at all (from Sunday).

ESPN Draft blog: Jeffri Chadiha lists AJ1 as a bad draft marriage. Same old, same old (non) analysis if you ask me.

Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears: Jay Cutler: Chicago Bears QB Is Smiling with WR Alshon Jeffery Coming to Town. A generally positive article, but once again the "Diva" tag comes out of nowhere.

Boston Herald: This Sunday column by David Pompeii sheds some further light on some of the negative perceptions surrounding AJ1- Alshon Jeffery a controversial pick for Bears. This is the first I heard about poor interviews and looking "soft" at the Combine; had he done well at the Combine (or - better - had a 2011 season on statistical par with 2010), however, both would have mattered about as much as Maurice Claiborne's "4" on the Wonderlic - i.e., not at all.

Team Speed Kills: In response to my recent on post on who bears the fault for AJ1 slipping from a sure-bet first rounder in 2011 to a mid-second rounder in 2012, Cocknfire says Sprints blames Alshon Jeffery for Alshon Jeffery's Draft Fall. Stephen Garcia Didn't Help. I think Cocknfire raises valid points - particularly that AJ1 could have worked on his weight (especially when the season appeared to be going south) and his route-running. But Alshon was the same player in 2011 as he was in 2010 - the difference was his QB1 melted down, QB2 was a greenhorn (talented and gutsy, aye, but still green) and # 21 was lost for the season in Game 7. Change those things, and the good money is that his 2011 numbers would almost certainly have tracked 2010 stats [all things being equal]. Insofar as the decision to skip the Combine drills, if his agent said "don't do it" then can we really expect Alshon to ignore his advice and do them anyway as Cocknfire posits? Alshon is putting his full trust and faith in Eugene Parker; it's a confidential, professional and fiduciary relationship - and one where Parker is almost certainly telling Alshon to "do exactly what I say." I think it's unavailing to argue that a 21 year old hoping for a big payday and a bright NFL future should have - or could have - bucked the advice of his "super" agent who has been representing guys in the NFL Draft since Alshon was in elementary school.

Gamecock Central: Kiper explains why Allen fell in the draft Even though he ran faster at USC's Pro Day, it was the +4.6/40 at the Combine. Lesson - don't run at the Combine. But don't skip the drills, either.

Scott Hood: Contrition was indeed best policy.

Brad Senkiw: USC’s handling of NCAA a case to be studied for decades.

Mr. SEC: Derek D-Day Dooley looks on the bright side - Dooley Says Staff Exodus At UT Was "A Good Correction For Me." Meanwhile, over at GoVolsExtra.com, Dooley explains that the team's 2.08 GPA is now under control, and was merely the result of not having a good work 'dynamic.' Or something like that. In any event, Dooley's selling Tony Barnhardt on the idea that he can fix it this year - Still smarting from brutal 2011, Dooley says Vols are on right track. Honestly, I'm not taking vicarious pleasure in seeing the Vols struggle. Oh, ok - not really.

Athlon: 10 Teams That May End the SEC's National Title Streak. It will eventually happen one day, but I don't see any of these guys turning the trick with the possible exception of Southern Cal.

CBS Sports: Channel your inner Jim Mora. Bowl Projections?! Bowl projections?! We're consigned to the Outback, while Clemmy gets a repeat trip to the Orange Bowl - but will the Scarlet Knights be as gentle on 'em as were the Mountaineers?