Steve Spurrier reads the paper, perhaps too much.

Let’s pause for a moment and look at the facts: Centered around a multitude of factors, it’s easy to project South Carolina toward the bottom of the SEC’s Eastern Division this season.

The Gamecocks will play a first-year quarterback following four years of stability at the position, they’ll tackle one of the league’s toughest schedules and their perceived lack of overall talent defensively could result in a similar demise on that side of the football.

But it’s not even August and they’ve already heard enough, especially their Head Ball Coach following what he deemed a bowl win-salvaged season last fall.

Wednesday’s outburst in response to a litany of age-related retirement speculation pieces this offseason culminating with the opinion ‘Spurrier’s on the descent” from the AJC’s Mark Bradley forced his hand.

No more playing nice. It was time to call out the enemies.

Spurrier’s used to taking up for himself, his players and most importantly, his program against what he considers hate speech toward the regime. He did it several times at Florida, poked his finger in the eye of North Carolina (on its home field) during his brief stint at Duke and singled out local columnist Ron Morris during the 2013 season for a “poaching” remark in reference to Bruce Ellington.

As we all know, when the Head Ball Coach feels he has lost control, he makes it public that he’s still very much in control.

Wednesday’s unscheduled presser was a bit strange in its timing, however. For weeks, months even, Spurrier’s taken all retirement-related questions and has answered them honestly, as far as I can tell. He has repeatedly dismissed last season as disappointing and instead blamed the perception on 33 victories over the previous three years.

At times, Spurrier’s been detrimental to his own cause, which has filtered speculation about his future in Columbia.

His “give me two or three more (years)” response to The State back in December ranked at the top of his most damaging remarks during a season filled with head-scratching comments and he’s admitted as much several times since.

It negatively impacted South Carolina’s 2015 signing class, a group once ranked inside the Top 10 nationally heading down the stretch.

Now, Spurrier’s letting everyone know that he’s still got at least a half-decade left with the Gamecocks and that this year’s team is “better than people think.” He’s promoting a product that doesn’t carry the same weight it had, say, during the 2012 and ’13 seasons.

What did you expect, Spurrier to sit back and watch as the Gamecocks’ hype continues to dwindle?

Staying relevant in college football is vital to recruiting success and the HBC is continuing the damage control mantra that’s followed him since December.

His comments may come across as whiny, but he’s just sticking up for his team.

South Carolina’s players are taking the lack of respect and national notoriety in stride and seemed confident last week in Hoover and via social media.

Remember Terrell Owens’ now infamous public backing of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo? Spurrier’s doing the same for himself and his team, without the tears.