LITTLE ROCK — The seventh in a series previewing SEC football teams.

These are heady days for the South Carolina football program.

Eight years after hiring SEC football icon Steve Spurrier, the Gamecocks followed up an appearance in the 2010 SEC Championship Game with the school’s first 11-victory season.

Spurrier said he likes the direction of his program, with tailback Marcus Lattimore returning from knee surgery and plenty of parts to a defense that ranked No. 3 nationally last season back in place.

“We’ve got a good team,” Spurrier said at SEC media days. “Our teams are getting better. We’ve recruited better guys, got an excellent group of assistant coaches ... and [we’ve] built the facilities up to the best in the conference.”

South Carolina swept all its SEC East rivals last year and has defeated Florida, Georgia and Tennessee in back-to-back seasons for the first time, all of which makes Spurrier, the SEC’s king of quips, all the more feisty.

Spurrier suggested that only division records should count toward the SEC title now that the league has expanded to 14 teams - an idea that gained no traction - and he took a jab at Georgia’s league schedule by suggesting at SEC media days that if he was in charge of scheduling Georgia would be playing LSU and his Gamecocks would take on Ole Miss.

The Gamecocks finished last year in the top 10 of The Associated Press poll (9) and BCS rankings (9) for the first time in school history, and Spurrier has the team believing it belongs.

“I think it’s safe to mention our name when you mention the top teams in the SEC,” receiver Ace Sanders said.

“We want to win the SEC, and that’s a big goal,” quarterback Connor Shaw said. “We have high expectations. We have the confidence that this could be the team to do it.”

Lattimore, the national freshman of the year after rushing for 1,197 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2010, required major knee surgery after sustaining an injury in Week 7 at Mississippi State.

Spurrier said Lattimore’s recovery has exceeded his expectations.

“The doctors can do wonderful things now with those knee surgeries,” he said. “Marcus rehabbed it beautifully, done everything they asked and probably a little bit more.”

Lattimore’s return should take some burden off Shaw, who got hot down the stretch as the Gamecocks won seven of their final eight games. It also could cause Spurrier to back away from his aggressive play-calling nature.

“If we can’t throw it very well, we’re not going to try to,” he said. “With Marcus Lattimore coming back full speed, plus a bunch of other guys ... whatever we need to do to try to win games is what we have to do.”

Shaw, a coach’s son, understands what is required of him.

“Play within my ability, take care of the ball, manage the game and just be smart,” he said.

Shaw passed for 1,448 yards and 14 touchdowns, with 6 interceptions, and completed 65.4 percent of his passes.

He said his target areas in the off season were “my intangibles in the passing game ... my pocket presence, ball placement, getting the ball out faster.”

Defensively, ends Devin Taylor and Jadeveon Clowney and a senior-laden linebacking corps give coordinator Lorenzo Ward, the former Arkansas assistant, a great starting point.

“I think our defense is one of the best in the nation, not just in the SEC,” safety D.J. Swearinger said.

South Carolina must improve on its record against the SEC West to have a shot at the league title. While the Gamecocks defeated defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Alabama in 2010, they have lost their past five games to Arkansas and Auburn.

The Razorbacks have outscored South Carolina 85-48 in their past two meetings, and that includes two defensive scores for the Gamecocks.

“Arkansas, they played well against us,” Spurrier said. “They’ve had our number. They’ve beaten us pretty good.”

NEXT Mississippi State

About Gamecocks LAST YEAR 11-2, 6-2 (second) in SEC East RETURNING STARTERS Offense 7, defense 6, specialists 0 SURE THING Defensive ends UNSURE THINGS Receivers, special teams OFFENSIVE MVP Running back Marcus Lattimore DEFENSIVE MVP End Devin Taylor

SEC TITLE SCENARIO If Marcus Lattimore returns to form as a game-changing back it should make the passing game with Connor Shaw and a decent receiving corps all the more efficient. And that would make the Gamecocks a quality contender in the SEC East. However, South Carolina plays both Arkansas and LSU from the West, a tougher schedule than SEC East favorite Georgia.

Sports, Pages 15 on 07/24/2012