It's not surprising to see that Alshon Jeffery and Stephon Gilmore are declaring for the NFL Draft, but that doesn't make their losses any easier to take. Jeffery, though his numbers were down from 2010, was still far and away the team's best receiver in 2011 and was particularly beastly in the team's Capital One Bowl win. Gilmore was an important player in the Gamecocks' tough secondary, and he had a career high four INTs this year despite missing a couple of games.

Both have yet to hire an agent, so they can change their minds and return to school if they do so before the January 15 deadline. They are the second and third SEC players to declare intentions to leave early after Mississippi State's Fletcher Cox. As of right now, it looks like all three are likely to be picked in the first two rounds of the draft.