June 29, 2012

The University of South Carolina football team placed two of its players on the preseason All-America team as selected by Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook, it was announced today.

Junior running back Marcus Lattimore and sophomore defensive end Jadeveon Clowney were named to the 26-player team as chosen by the acclaimed national publication.

Lattimore, a 6-0, 218-pounder from Duncan, S.C., is expected to be back at full strength in the fall after suffering a season-ending knee injury last year. After just two seasons with the Garnet & Black, he ranks 14th in school history with 2,015 rushing yards, is tied for third with 27 rushing touchdowns and is third with 30 touchdowns scored. He owns eight career 100-yard rushing games and has started all 20 games in which he has appeared in his career.

Clowney, a 6-6, 256-pounder from Rock Hill, S.C., was named the SEC Freshman of the Year by the league’s coaches and the SEC Defensive Freshman of the Year by Rivals.com in 2011. He also was named second-team All-SEC and was a member of the All-Freshman team according to the SEC coaches. He earned first-team Freshman All-America honors by FWAA, Sporting News, FoxSportsNext.com, Rivals.com, CollegeFootballNews.com, CBSSports.com and Phil Steele and was named honorable mention All-American by SI.com. Clowney was credited with 36 tackles, was eighth in the SEC with 8.0 sacks, the only freshman in the top 10, and logged 12.0 tackles for loss. In addition, he tied for fourth in the SEC and tied for eighth in the country with five forced fumbles.

The Gamecocks are coming off a school-record 11-win season in which they ranked ninth in the country in the final Associated Press poll.