The Feed Pail: Gamecock baseball releases schedule, and the coaching carousel spins on

Welcome back to the feed pail, where we take a look around the internet for some choice South Carolina Gamecocks tidbits and share it back here with you. For bonus content, I’ve included more on the ever-expanding hilarity of the Tennessee coaching search, along with other openings in the SEC.

Baseball announces 2018 schedule - Gamecocks Online

Mark your calendars for February 16, because that’s Opening Day for the Yardcocks under new skipper Mark Kingston. Highlighting the out of conference slate, South Carolina will travel to Charlotte twice this season — against Appalachian State and North Carolina — and of course has the annual series against Clemson. The Gamecocks will open SEC play against the defending national champion Florida Gators.

Athlon ranks South Carolina football Twitter account No. 1 in the country - Hale McGranahan, SEC Country

Some may view this as a small matter, but if you ask me, it’s a big deal. Branding in the social media age is incredibly important for all businesses and platforms, but maybe especially so when it comes to college sports. South Carolina is only a year removed from having a woefully inadequate (and sometimes even downright awful) presence online, which was only made worse by Clemson’s innovation in that area. Going from near rock bottom to national recognition so quickly is an incredible turnaround for South Carolina. As many Gamecock fans expected would be the case, the athletic department knocked it out of the park when it brought in video genius Justin King.

Jadeveon Clowney was right when he said 'don't sleep on me' - Sarah Barshop, ESPN

Here’s a nice piece acknowledging Clowney’s breakout season and what South Carolina fans already knew. With the absence of the injured J.J. Watt and laboring under high expectations, JD has risen to the challenge.

"I'm just trying to get better every year," Clowney said. "Every game, I'm trying to better myself. The way I play is to help the other guys around me. I just come out here with a competitive attitude. I just want to win. The competitive comes out of me when I'm out there on the field."

Tennessee, hire Les Miles and end this coach search debacle once and for all - Bill Bender, The Sporting News

It’s been quite the week for Tennessee. After walking back their attempted hire of Greg Schiano when the fan base (and even state politicians) went nuclear, the Vols next whiffed on Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy (who leveraged their interest for more money, as he’s been known to do) and then Purdue’s Jeff Brohm. Now they can add N.C. State’s Dave Doeren to the list, who also used Tennessee to help him work on his next deal. Who will the Vols publicly strike out out with next? The Sporting News suggests former LSU coach Les Miles is the man to save Tennessee from further embarrassment.

Tennessee clearly didn't have a succession plan for Butch Jones. That has been made clear on multiple occasions last week. There isn't a home-run hire out there, Miles at least is a stop-gap that can win big and at least set the next coach up for success when the Volunteers have a plan that isn't wrought with disaster.

FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher on radio show: 'No decision has been made anywhere' - Jordan Culver, Tallahassee Democrat

Fisher is still playing dumb about the rumors swirling around him and Texas A&M, but Florida State is allegedly putting pressure on him to decide sooner rather than later. Oregon’s Willie Taggart is part of all this, too, as the Seminoles could come calling if Fisher suddenly puts them on the market. The best part, though, was an FSU fan getting kicked out of Fisher’s weekly call-in show for daring to ask about the situation. This would have been incredible in a vacuum, but since the Tennessee coaching search exists, it’s just kind of amusing instead.

Things seem to have reached a boiling point Wednesday night during Fisher's weekly call-in show. A fan was forcibly removed from the audience after he questioned Fisher's loyalty to the program.

"I was going to answer the question," Fisher said. "I'll say this: I don't think they should have did what they did. The man asked a question, he deserved an answer and I would have gladly answered. I'm sorry we did that.

"I am loyal. We're busting our tail 16 hours a day and coaching this season for the best possible season these kids can have. No decision has been made anywhere."