15 wins in a row at Williams-Brice!
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basketball takes center stage November 6, 2013 • Volume 35 • Issue 32
2 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
Return home sweet for Gamecocks in 34-16 win over Bulldogs by brian hand bhand@spursandfeathers.com COLUMBIA, S.C. - The 14th-ranked Gamecocks utilized strong defensive play and a 17-point third quarter to pick up their school record-tying 15th straight win at WilliamsBrice Stadium in a 34-16 victory over Mississippi State. The victory came before a Homecoming crowd of 82,111 at Williams-Brice Stadium. South Carolina (7-2, 5-2 SEC) has now claimed seven straight wins over Mississippi State (4-4, 1-3 SEC). The 15 straight wins inside the friendly confines of Williams-Brice Stadium ties the 15 consecutive wins complied by the Gamecocks from 1978-80. “It was a very good win for our team,” noted South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier, who is now 8-2 all-time against the Bulldogs. “To get 15 in a row at home … obviously our offense sputtered, it wasn’t a really good day for our offense. I think we need to get back and get a little more physical in practice. It seemed like we were a little too soft and we didn’t do too much. Fortunately our defense was there and we got some turnovers and we were able to capitalize and score some touchdowns and only have to kick a couple of field goals.” South Carolina closed out the game with just 307 total yards of offense on 54 plays, while Mississippi State ended its loss to the Gamecocks with 385 yards of total offense on 78 plays. The lack of yardage for the Gamecocks in the game proved to not be an issue as five turnovers garnered by the Gamecock defense led to 20 of South Carolina’s 34 points. “We’re a pretty good team and it was neat to see our defense rise up and do some very good playing here today,” Spurrier said. After forcing the Gamecocks into a three and out on their first offensive possession of the game, Mississippi State then mounted a 9-play, 60-yard drive that took just over five minutes to take an early 7-0 lead. The culmination of the scoring drive by the Bulldogs came when quarterback Dak Prescott scored on a one-yard keeper on a speed option. The Gamecocks would not let the Bulldogs hold on to the advantage for long as they proceeded to go on a five-play, 71-yard drive to even the game at 7-all with 6:23 to play in the first quarter. Mike Davis rushed twice for 32 yards on the scoring drive, but the touchdown was picked up through the air with Connor Shaw finding a wide open Shaq Roland for a 14-yard touchdown reception. A couple possessions later after an interception by Skai Moore garnered the Gamecocks great field position at their own 46-yard line, South Carolina would go ahead for the first
time in the game when Shaw once again connected with Roland, who on an out route deftly spun around his defender and then ran untouched for a 43-yard touchdown. Shortly thereafter, Prescott would be intercepted by the Gamecocks again with T.J. Holloman utilizing the tip drill well to give the Gamecocks opportune field position at the Mississippi State 25-yard line. Elliott Fry would then give the Gamecocks a 10-point lead at 17-7 after a career-long 44-yard field goal. Mississippi State would pull to within seven points at 17-10 with 4:15 left in the second quarter when Evan Sobiesk connected on a 38-yard field goal. The field goal was the first of Sobiesk’s career. The two teams would enter halftime with the score still 17-10 in favor of the Gamecocks. Mississippi State received the kick to start the second half, but the South Carolina defense would make sure that the Gamecock offense would get the ball anyway with Chaz Sutton forcing a fumble by Prescott and Golightly then picking up the loose football for 24 more yards to give the Gamecocks the football at the Bulldog 23-yard line. Four plays later, Shaw found Damiere Byrd for a six-yard touchdown and a 24-10 Gamecock advantage. South Carolina added to its lead on its next offensive possession. Davis was the star of the drive as he passed 1,000 yards rushing on the 2013 season on the drive. Davis’ 52 yards rushing on the Gamecock scoring drive included a 43-yard scamper on the second play of the drive. Davis’ long run put the Gamecocks in position for Shaw to eventually find Jerell Adams for a four-yard touchdown and a 31-10 advantage. After a Chaz Elder interception on Mississippi State’s next offensive possession, South Carolina utilized a Fry 37-yard field goal to pull ahead by 24 points at 34-10. Mississippi State from there would add a
season. Davis with the 128 yards rushing against Mississippi State now has seven 100-yard or more rushing games on the year. He has accounted for 115 or more all-purpose yards in every Gamecock game this season. Shaw only completed 10 passes in the game, but four of his 10 completions went for touchdowns. The four touchdown passes for Shaw in the game tied his career high. Shaw in total was 10-for-20 with 147 yards passing. Shaw’s four touchdown passes in the win over Mississippi State allowed him to move into second all-time in school history in passing touchdowns with 50. Shaw (23 wins; 14-0 at home) also now needs just one more win to tie Gamecock legend Todd Ellis (24) for the most photo by allen sharpe wins as a Gamecock starting quarterback. touchdown in the fourth quarter, but it would Victor Hampton led the Gamecocks in the not nearly be enough as the Gamecocks easily win with eight tackles. He also had one fumble held on for the 18-point victory. recovery. Davis concluded South Carolina’s victory Prescott finished the loss for Mississippi with 128 yards rushing on 15 carries. He also State with 78 yards rushing and 235 yards had 26 yards receiving on two receptions. passing. He was 28-for-43 with three intercepDavis with his 128 yards rushing in the game tions in total. became the eighth Gamecock in school hisSouth Carolina will next try and secure its tory to claim 1,000 or more yards in a single 16th consecutive home win in an SEC East season. He now has 1,058 yards rushing on the showdown with Florida on Saturday, Nov. 16.
Spurs & Feathers • 3
November 6, 2013
Spurs & Feathers Published by Aiken Communications, Inc.
Contact Us: 218 Richland Ave. W. Aiken, SC 29801 (803) 335-1399 To subscribe: Please call 800-559-2311; annual subscription price is $50 Scott B. Hunter Publisher & President Aiken Communications, Inc. Tim O’Briant General Manager tobriant@spursandfeathers.com (803) 335-1400 Ext. 500 Brian Hand Executive Editor bhand@spursandfeathers.com (803) 335-1399 Ext. 506
What’s Inside? - Table of Contents Mississippi State postgame notes/quotes.............6 Basketball exhibitions....................................................8 Baseball fall wrap-up......................................................9 Women’s golf closes strong fall...............................11 All Sports Reunion reception...................................12 Men’s tennis earns highest ranking after fall competition under Goffi..........................14 Softball goes undefeated in fall..............................15 Recruiting roundup.....................................................16 Operations allows Gamecock fans to enjoy teams, experience............................................18 Women’s soccer completes successful regular sesason...........................................5 Men’s soccer coach Mark Berson earns milestone 450th victory.............................................20 Swimming & diving hosts LSU.................................22
City Chapter Days announced for Gamecock basketball The University of South Carolina Athletics Department, along with The Gamecock Club and My Carolina Alumni Association, have partnered in creating several City Chapter Days throughout the 2013-14 basketball season for both the Gamecock men’s and women’s teams. The City Chapter Days will give Gamecock Club and Alumni Chapters a game at Colonial Life Arena that is dedicated specifically to their respective members and local business. During each game different chapter leaders and business owners will be recognized for their contributions and support of Gamecock Athletics. Below are the dates for this season: Nov. 8, 2013 - Women’s Basketball vs. Charleston Southern 7 p.m. Charleston Night Nov. 9, 2013 - Men’s Basketball vs. Longwood at 1 p.m. Florence & Myrtle Beach Day Nov. 24, 2013 - Men’s Basketball vs. Florida International at 1 p.m. Atlanta, Augusta & Aiken Day Jan. 11, 2014 - Men’s Basketball vs. LSU at 1:30 p.m. Charlotte, York & Rock Hill Day
Mike Kucharski Reporter mike@spursandfeathers.com (803) 335-1399 Ext. 507
Sand volleyball gets their new home....................23
Jan. 18, 2014 - Men’s Basketball vs. Ole Miss at 4:30 p.m. Greenville Day
“Inside the Chart” with Andy Demetra.................25
Ed Girardeau Contributing Editor ed@spursandfeathers.com (803) 335-1399 Ext. 501
South Carolina-Florida rosters.......................... 26-27
Jan. 29, 2014 - Men’s Basketball vs. Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Irmo Night
Upcoming Events: Gamecock Club........................28
Feb. 5, 2014 - Men’s Basketball vs. Auburn at 7 p.m. Richland County Night
Dee Taylor Advertising Director (803) 644-2371
Depth charts..................................................................29
Feb. 12, 2014 - Men’s Basketball vs. Vanderbilt at 8 p.m. Lexington Night
Kathy Boyette Advertising Sales Manager (803) 644-2349 kboyette@spursandfeathers.com Matt Socha Graphic Designer Postal Information: Spurs & Feathers (ISSN 074454368) is published weekly by Aiken Communications, 326 Rutland Drive, Aiken, South Carolina 29801. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is pending at Aiken, SC. POSTMASTER: please send address changes to Spurs & Feathers, 326 Rutland Drive, Aiken, SC 29801.
Ed Girardeau column..................................................31
Feb. 15, 2014 - Men’s Basketball vs. Alabama at 8 p.m. Spartanburg Night Feb. 22, 2014 - Men’s Basketball vs. Georgia at 1:30 p.m. Charleston Day Feb. 27, 2014 - Women’s Basketball vs. Georgia 7 p.m. Gamecock Club and My Carolina Alumni Association Appreciation Night March 4 2014 - Men’s Basketball vs. Florida at 7 p.m. Gamecock Club and My Carolina Alumni Association Appreciation Night Discounted tickets are available for all groups (15 tickets or more) and start at only $4 each for women’s games and $10 each for men’s games. For more information please visit GamecocksOnline.com/Tickets or call the Basketball Group Sales Team at 803-777-8850.
4 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
Schedule affords opportunity for week of contemplation of little things The schedule affords an opportunity for a week of contemplation of the little things and what they mean to the Gamecocks, so let’s not squander the moment while considering the contingencies ahead. For starters, a few things we should all be able to agree upon: This may not the best team Steve Spurrier has Bart Wright coached at South Caro- Contributing lina, but if it is a group Writer that wants to challenge that presumption, it surely has the opportunities to go where no Gamecocks team has gone, with a break or two along the way. For as well as it has played at times, this team hasn’t yet played a complete football game in all three phases. That doesn’t mean we’re looking for perfection. It suggests that if the offense can click with both the passing and running games at the same time – often, it has been one or the other – and the defense and special teams can rise to the occasion on a more consistent basis, this is a season that can end a lot better than most would imagine. The nagging injuries that have slowed Jadeveon Clowney, the inconsistency in the kicking game across the board – punting, punt returns, kickoff and kickoff returns – and the issues in the back end of a defense that went through a major personnel transition, despite all that, the Gamecocks are not far off from what they hoped for. Put it this way – would a Texas A&M victory at Missouri on the last week of conference play (Nov. 30), be considered a major upset by anyone? Not if they saw last year’s game at College Station when the Aggies scored on their first six possessions and took a 42-7 lead into halftime of an eventual 59-29 win. Carolina’s hopes to play for a championship rely on numerous things, but most importantly one more defeat being handed to the Tigers at either Kentucky (this week) or Mississippi – remote but not impossible – on Nov. 23. If not, it comes down to the A&M game at the end of the season. All that is dependent on a Carolina win in two weeks at home against Florida, a team the Gamecocks have beaten in two of their
last three meetings. This is not a desperate situation, but it is one that demands the Gamecocks find a way to play their best at the end of the season, when it counts most and that should be possible for a team like this that hasn’t been ravaged by as many injuries as has a lot of squads this time of year. Clowney should be more than ready after a week off, quarterback Connor Shaw will have that much more time to recover from his bruises and Spurrier will spend time tweaking the offensive gadgets that make this team go. We might see an assortment of personnel packages that will give the Florida defense concerns. Mississippi State did a good job against Carolina’s offense most of the game the other day, but the Bulldogs seemed out of place in a few significant plays. Coaching staffs coach against personnel packages more than individual players, so when they study game film they analyze which plays are most likely to be run out of certain groups of personnel. So, with a 24-10 lead, when the Gamecocks lined up in 11 personnel – that’s one back (the first number) and one tight end (second number) – Mississippi State’s defense seemed surprised by the 43-yard run by Mike Davis that occurred on the play. Quickly, Carolina lined up in 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends) and appeared to catch the Bulldogs looking for something else when Shaw passed 30 yards to Davis out of the backfield. Out of 22 personnel (two backs, two tight ends), which often indicates a run, Shaw threw a scoring pass to Damiere Byrd, it was 31-10 and the game was pretty much decided. Point is, Spurrier is as good as it gets at knowing what you see on tape, developing tendencies in those various personnel groupings and then destroying what you’ve learned with a little imagination here and there. And that’s what the Gamecocks need for the final three games, a little imagination like they get from the coach and a little photo by allen sharpe upswing in execution here and there. NoMike Davis hit the 1,000-yard threshold for the season against Mississippi State. He is body’s asking for major upgrades, just a just the eighth player in school history to eclipse the milestone. There have been 10 little more. seasons in South Carolina history with a 1,000-yard rusher, as George Rogers did it With a beneficial result along the way dethree times in his career. In addition, Davis, who has rushed for over 100 yards in seven livered to Missouri, just a little more might games this season, has surpassed 115 all-purpose yards in each game of the season. be all they need.
Spurs & Feathers • 5
November 6, 2013
What Mississippi State has to say Mississippi State Head Coach Dan Mullen Opening Statement “Obviously, it’s a very disappointing day when we get 11 more first downs than them. We had a lot better pass completion, more yards and more plays. The difference was we turned the ball over five times and your percentage of winning after doing that on the road in the SEC is very low. Besides that, we did a lot of good things. We did a great job on third down against one of the best defenses in the league. Our defense came out and played very well, but we had a couple of critical breakdowns and were put in some tough situations. We did a lot of things to win, but give South Carolina credit. They didn’t make mistakes and they made the plays; and we made mistakes and didn’t make enough plays.” On the turnover to start the second half … “It was huge. It was a 17-10 game, we’ve got good field position and we feel good about ourselves. We have the opportunity to take the ball down and tie the game up. They made a mistake on the kickoff, but we came back and made another mistake and gave them the ball. Turnovers were the story of the game.” On South Carolina’s program and the atmosphere during today’s game … “You look at what they’ve done and what Coach Spurrier has been able to do here. It’s an early kickoff and it’s a sold-out stadium, not an empty seat in the house all the way through the fourth quarter. Their fans are making noise and cheering their team on. They’ve established and built a program here and it’s something that we’re trying to catch up to. It takes everyone to be involved to build a program and they’ve got everyone involved. We need to have the same atmosphere as they do right here, week-in and week-out, for all four quarters and create a hostile environment. It forces other teams into making mistakes and that’s how you win at home and become a contender in the SEC.” On team’s preparation for the game and how turnovers changed the game … “I thought we had a great week of practice and had great preparation. It’s an early kickoff and sometimes you’re worried as a coach if you’re going to have to get your team up and going. We had a 7 a.m. wake-up time, but our guys were ready to go. You look at the game and we did some really good things. I think if you flip the turnover ratio
and they have five turnovers and we have zero, we could’ve won this game.” Mississippi State Players Dak Prescott • Quarterback • Sophomore On identifying what went wrong today and how to fix it … “Everybody doing their job. Everyone making the block, everybody doing the right route, being big on a catch, just the little things we have to fix and it starts with me. We are going to get that right.” On how momentum shifted from Mississippi State early in the game to South Carolina … “We went down there and scored and that’s how the game should have went the whole game. We didn’t execute. The first dive should have been like the rest of the game.” On how he feels after taking numerous hits … “The loss hurts more than all of it but I’m alright.” Benardrick McKinney • Linebacker • Sophomore On offense turnover putting the defense with their back against the walls … “To be a great defense, no matter what situation you are in, you have to make big plays and stop them even if the offense turns it over and they are on the one-yard line. Defense has got to make a big play to get the offense back on the field.” On Coach Mullen saying it was the coaches’ fault the sack being followed up by a long South Carolina play … “I never blame anything on anybody. I feel like that the defense should have made the plays even if the coaches put us in a bad position.” Cedric Jiles • Cornerback • Redshirt Freshman On if he is frustrated seeing players break through the coverage … “It isn’t frustrating really. It’s more of ‘let me get my stuff together and don’t get beat.’” On quick turnaround due to the offense turnovers … “You have got to be ready to play and stop the offense every down and make the changes. You’ve got to make a play and get the offense back on the field.” (compiled by Mike Kucharski off South Carolina Athletics Media Relations reports)
photo by allen sharpe
6 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
South Carolina-Mississippi State postgame notes/quotes south carolina athletics media relations General • No. 14/16 South Carolina’s 34-16 victory over Mississippi State is the seventhstraight Gamecock win in the series. The last setback came in 1999 in a 17-0 defeat in Starkville, Miss. South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier is now 8-2 all-time against the Bulldogs. • Today’s result extends the Gamecocks’ home winning streak to 15, tying the school record set from 1978-80. The win is also the 38th in a four-year period, which matches the school record set by last year’s senior class. • Senior quarterback Connor Shaw now has 23 career wins as starting quarterback for the Gamecocks, including a 140 mark at home. Only Todd Ellis (24) has more in school history. Shaw is 23-5 as a starter for the Garnet & Black. Offense • With a seven-yard run in the third quarter, sophomore tailback Mike Davis hit the 1,000-yard threshold for the season. He is just the eighth player in school history to eclipse the milestone. There have been 10 seasons in South Carolina history with a 1,000-yard rusher, as George Rogers did it three times in his career. • Davis finished the day with 128 yards. It is his seventh 100-yard game of the year, which is third all-time at South Carolina. In addition, Davis has surpassed 115 all-purpose yards in each game of the season. • Shaw matched a career-high with four touchdown passes in today’s contest. The performance moves him into second place all-time at South Carolina in passing touchdowns with 50. Only Steve Taneyhill (62) is ahead of him. • With a pair of first-quarter touchdowns, sophomore wide receiver Shaq Roland posted the first multi-touchdown game of his career. Roland entered the game with just two career scores. • Junior wide receiver Damiere Byrd has now scored a touchdown in four games this season and seven games in his career. • With his 24-yard reception, sophomore tailback Shon Carson set a new careerhigh in receiving yards. • Four of the Gamecocks’ six scoring drives were under two minutes. Defense • Freshman linebacker Skai Moore earned his first-career start and posted his firstcareer interception in the first quarter • Freshman linebacker T.J. Holloman’s second-quarter interception is the second
cial. We did have one good drive in the third quarter about 85 yards when Mike [Davis] had his one long run. I think Mike went over 1,000 yards today with that long run. Pharaoh [Cooper] had a few runs in there. Turnovers were crucial and Mike Davis did have another excellent game. We gave President Pastides a game ball. He’s been here for all 15 of those wins at home and he’s one of the best presidents in the nation and we’re lucky to have him here. It was neat to have him in the locker room to give him a game ball.” Lorenzo Ward • Defensive Coordinator On Mississippi State’s turnovers “We didn’t have a lot of turnovers this season. I think as you get better on defense and guys understand what they are doing, we play faster and when you play faster you can be more physical.” Connor Shaw • QB • Senior
photo by jenny dilworth
of his career after corralling one at UCF earlier this season • Senior defensive end Chaz Sutton forced a fumble for the third time in his career. His last forced fumble came against Kentucky last season. • Freshman safety Chaz Elder captured his first-career interception in the third quarter. • Junior cornerback Victor Hampton set a new career-high with three pass breakups. • The five turnovers South Carolina collected are the most since getting four at UCF earlier this year. The Gamecocks’ three interceptions ties a season high, also set at UCF. Special Teams • Freshman Elliott Fry hit a career-long 44-yard field goal, besting his previous top mark of 41 yards against Kentucky earlier this season. He added a second field goal, this time a 36-yarder, in the third quarter for the 34-10 lead. Head Coach Steve Spurrier Opening Statement “It was a very good win for our team. To get 15 in a row at home, maybe the best in the country, well Michigan but I think they play Ohio State there this year. It was a good win. Obviously our offense sputtered, it wasn’t a re-
ally good day for our offense. I think we need to go back and get a little more physical in practice. It seemed like we were a little too soft and we didn’t do too much. Fortunately our defense was there and got some turnovers and we were able to capitalize and score some touchdowns and only have to kick a couple of field goals. Really good play by Elliott Fry, he made both of his [field goals]. Our punter, Tyler Hull, he caught them and got them out. I think we played with zero turnovers, that’s one thing our offense did well was take care of the ball. We couldn’t run it very well and we couldn’t throw it very well at times. We hit a few touchdown passes fortunately but third downs we were pretty sorry and overall we were very sorry. Mississippi State had a good plan and they got the best of our offense today but it is a team sport. Our special teams played well and our defense played very well and got all of those turnovers that sort of set up. We only had 54 plays and 300 yards and they stopped us. Give those guys credit, they were a little bit better than us in that area but still we won the game and sometimes you need to win that way. We’re a pretty good team and it was neat to see our defense rise up and do some very good playing here today.” On how big the turnovers were “I think we scored on all of them, usually touchdowns but we did have a couple field goals that we had to kick. They were very cru-
On playing at home “Our players love to play at home, there’s no place like it. Our fanbase is the best in the country and I think we’ve proven that with 15 wins at home.” Shaq Roland • WR • Sophomore On his first of two touchdown catches “The first touchdown was a man coverage and it was an option route for me. I didn’t see anyone inside so I broke it off inside and made the catch. It was a great pass.” Jadeveon Clowney • DE • Junior On seeing the defense grow throughout the season “We all depend on each other. Everybody’s got an assignment out there to do, regardless of who makes plays or not. I’m not going to make a lot of plays, they might not make a lot of plays, but everybody around the ball gets to the ball and we just stick together.” On what it means to win 15 straight at home “It’s big. We tied [the record] and in two weeks we are coming in here to break it. We’re looking forward to that, having the most wins in South Carolina history at home. We won’t let this streak end against Florida.” Mike Davis • TB • Sophomore On reaching 1000 yards “Going over a thousand yards, it means a lot. I’m proud of myself and I am glad I was able to be the eighth person (to do that). It’s a great feeling.”
Spurs & Feathers • 7
November 6, 2013
South Carolina Gamecocks
2013
football Schedule
Standings Team
SEC
Pct. Overall
Pct. Home Away Neutral Streak
4 - 1
.800
8 - 1
.889
5-1
3-0
0-0
W1
South Carolina 5 - 2
.714
7 - 2
.778
4-0
3-2
0-0
W2
Georgia
4 - 2
.667
5 - 3
.625
3-1
1-2
1-0
W1
09/28/13 .... at UCF..............................Orlando, Fla. ................W, 28-25
Florida
3 - 3
.500
4 - 4
.500
3-0
1-3
0-1
L3
10/05/13 .... vs. Kentucky.....................Columbia, S.C. ............W, 35-28
Tennessee
1 - 4
.200
4 - 5
.444
4-1
0-4
0-0
L2
Vanderbilt
1 - 4
.200
4 - 4
.500
3-2
1-2
0-0
L1
Kentucky
0 - 4
.000
2 - 6
.250
2-3
0-2
0-1
W1
08/29/13..... vs. North Carolina ............Columbia, S.C. ............W, 27-10
Eastern
09/07/13 .... at #11 Georgia..................Athens, Ga. ..................L, 41-30
Missouri
09/14/13 .... vs. Vanderbilt....................Columbia, S.C. ............W, 35-25
10/12/13 .... at Arkansas.......................Fayetteville, Ark. ............W, 52-7 10/19/13 .... at Tennessee....................Knoxville, Tenn. ............L, 23-21
Western
10/26/13 .... at #5 Missouri...................Columbia, Mo. .. W, 27-24 (2OT)
Alabama
5 - 0
1.000
8 - 0
1.000
5-0
2-0
1-0
W8
Auburn
4 - 1
.800
8 - 1
.889
6-0
2-1
0-0
W5
LSU
3 - 2
.600
7 - 2
.778
5-0
1-2
1-0
W1
11/16/13 ..... vs. Florida.........................Columbia, S.C. ................... TBA
Texas A&M
3 - 2
.600
7 - 2
.778
5-2
2-0
0-0
W2
11/23/13 ..... vs. Coastal Carolina..........Columbia, S.C. ................ 1 p.m.
Ole Miss
2 - 3
.400
5 - 3
.625
3-1
2-2
0-0
W2
Mississippi St.
1 - 3
.250
4 - 4
.500
4-1
0-2
0-1
L1
Arkansas
0 - 5
.000
3 - 6
.333
3-3
0-3
0-0
L6
11/02/13 ..... vs. Mississippi State.........Columbia, S.C. ............W, 34-16
11/30/13 ..... vs. Clemson......................Columbia, S.C. ................... TBA
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8 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
Exhibition victory over USC Aiken shows resolve by brian hand bhand@spursandfeathers.com
A Brenton Williams 3-pointer with a little under seven minutes to play was the catalyst of a strong final stretch for South Carolina that saw the Gamecocks pull away for an 84-72 exhibition victory over USC Aiken at Colonial Life Arena. The Williams trey snapped a 17-3 run by the Pacers that had pulled them to within three points. South Carolina head coach Frank Martin pointed out that a game that featured a 21-point lead for the Gamecocks as well as the Gamecocks having to hold off the Pacers down the stretch is exactly what they needed. “That game doesn’t count on my record, our NCAA resumé or whatever, but we have to learn from that,” noted Martin. “I think we had Brenton and a bunch of freshmen running around out there … it was a great moment for them to take ownership and learn. We didn’t handle it real good, but then Brent jumps up and makes a shot. Sometimes you run great offense and you don’t score and sometimes the offense doesn’t go the way you plan it and you do score. That was one of those moments, but give Brent credit.” Martin continued by saying that despite the run he never really considered calling a timeout due it being a learning moment.
“You have to understand how to manage a negative moment to figure out a way to make it a positive moment,” Martin remarked. “Basketball is a game of runs and if you can ever stay away from whatever we gave up … if you can ever stay away from those kind of runs, you will be okay. The whole idea is you want your runs to be 12-to-two or 12-to-three and you want their runs to be seven-to-four. If you can try to stop the bleeding whenever they’re on a run, you’re probably going to end up winning the game and we don’t understand that yet. That was good for our guys to have to go through that moment there.” The two teams battled back and forth over the course of the first five minutes with USC Aiken clinging to a 9-7 advantage with 15:03 left in the opening half of action. The Gamecocks would then go on an 8-1 run to pull on top by five at 15-10 with a little over 10 minutes to play in the first half. Exerting their size and athleticism, South Carolina pushed their lead to double digits over the next five minutes, owning a 33-16 lead with right at five minutes until intermission. The lead had been pushed to as many as 20 points at 38-18 with 3:14 remaining in the inaugural half of play. Carolina entered halftime with a 44-27 lead. The first few minutes of the second half were all Gamecocks, but the 17-3 run by USC Aiken over a four-minute span from
11:49-7:46 pulled the Pacers to within three at 65-62. A minute later with the Gamecocks still leading by three points, 67-64, Williams knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Gamecocks the lead at 70-64 with 6:45 to play in the contest. The Gamecocks from there would not let the Pacers any closer, eventually emerging with the 12-point victory. Four Gamecocks finished in double figures with Michael Carrera leading the way with 14 points and five rebounds. Carrera shot 4-for5 from the field in the game. He was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Laimonas Chatkevicus obtained a doubledouble for the Gamecocks in the game with 11 rebounds and 10 points. He also had a block. Sindarius Thornwell closed out his afternoon with 12 points (8-of-10 at free throw line), while Williams had 10 points. Williams was 7-for-8 from the free throw line in addition to the dagger three. Duane Notice led South Carolina with six assists in the win over the Pacers. He also poured in eight points. Two Pacers concluded their efforts in double figures with Paul Larsen claiming 15 points and nine boards and Ronald Zimmerman finishing with 13 points. South Carolina shot 49 percent (24-for-49) from the field as a team in the game. USC Aiken ended its loss to the Gamecocks shooting
30.3 percent from the floor as a team. USC Aiken head coach Vince Alexander was happy with his team’s effort against the Gamecocks. “I told them to stop fouling number one and two just keep competing because I felt like if we continue to compete - certainly we’re not a Carolina, we’re not at that level - but I think we’ve got some guys that can play and some guys that can compete. We’re not that bad of a team. I just told them to compete and take pride,” Alexander noted. The Pacers, who played in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in the 2012-13 season, lost in overtime to South Carolina’s SEC counterpart Ole Miss in overtime just two days before tangling with the Gamecocks. Alexander was quick to point out that the difference between the Gamecocks and the Rebels is South Carolina’s defensive tenacity. Williams agreed with Alexander, pointing out “we definitely feel the same way because that’s Frank’s motive is defense. Thats what he feeds off of. He said we played pretty good defense until we started to lose a little bit of the lead. Losing guys and guys getting open shots. USC Aiken connected all of them to bring the lead back down so that’s what we’ve got to learn from.” South Carolina will open its regular season at home against Longwood at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9.
Gamecocks obtain big exhibition win over North Greenville by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com
The 21st-ranked South Carolina women’s basketball team was able to pull away with a 24-0 run in a little more than eight minutes in the first half to cruise to a 96-35 victory over North Greenville. The Gamecocks had five players with double-digit scoring totals led by strong play in the post. Elem Ibiam and Alaina Coates each chipped in 20 points in a combined 18-for-24 performance from the floor. South Carolina scored their first 32 points in the paint and went 13-for-20 from the floor to start the game. Head coach Dawn Staley said they made a concerted effort to get the ball inside to take advantage of their size. The Gamecocks also held a 49-26 advantage on the glass and they scored 78 of their 96 points in the exhibition game in the paint. “We have been working extremely hard at getting the ball inside. Elem has been doing great in practice, so just being able to create some space for her and take high percentage shots. Alaina has been doing the same,” Staley said. “We wanted to make sure that we made a conscious effort to get the ball inside.” Aleighsa Welch chipped in with a near triple-double, tallying 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Welch was 7-for-8 from the field and 1-for-1 from the free throw line. “We’ve been trying to go with the big lineup and allowing
photo by allen sharpe
Tiffany Mitchell finished with 19 points in the win over NGU. her to play a little bit on the perimeter is good,” Staley said of Welch. “I think she looked good. I feel real comfortable
putting her out there and giving us a different look. We’ll definitely need her athleticism and speed.” Tiffany Mitchell scored 19 points and Khadijah Sessions had 10 points and four assists to close out the Gamecocks in double figures. Staley said the team needs to be more efficient and know where the shots are coming from which led to the Gamecocks shooting 60 percent (42-for-70) from the field for the game. She said that the percentage could have been even higher if they had not missed layups in the first half. The Gamecocks went 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the foul line and the Crusaders were 7-for-13 (53.8 percent). From 3-point land, South Carolina was 1-for-5 (20 percent) to North Greenville’s 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) performance. South Carolina has been known as a defensive team under Staley’s guidance and they showed that by holding North Greenville to 35 points on 24.1 percent (13-for-54) shooting. Staley still thought that they could have played better defensively and that they still have room to improve. “I thought we gave up too many points - 25 points in the second half - against North Greenville. We’re not going to look the same; we’re going to be a lot different, but the effort has to be there. We have to make sure that we make people take tough shots,” Staley said. The Gamecocks will move on from the exhibition victory and look to improve leading into the season opener as they next open the regular season by hosting Charleston Southern on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Colonial Life Arena.
Spurs & Feathers • 9
November 6, 2013
Gamecock baseball wraps up fall practice sessions by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com The Gamecock baseball team wrapped up their fall practice sessions last weekend with the Garnet and Black World Series and head coach Chad Holbrook discussed what he learned about the team last Monday. “We had a good fall. I don’t know if we answered all of the questions that we wanted to have answered … but we saw some really good play from some position players, our young pitchers were very, very impressive for the most part and I think some of the older guys have improved,” Holbrook said. “We feel good about where we are. We didn’t have any real major injuries which is always a concern in the fall.” Of the older players, Holbrook said that Tanner English had a good fall and drew a lot of walks. Holbrook also said that it was good to see Max Schrock back out on the field and he played well in his limited time after a long layoff. Holbrook said that the jobs of closer and third starter are yet to be determined, competition will continue and they will be decided closer to the season. Holbrook did say that based off of the Garnet and Black World Series, Cody Mincey was very impressive late in games and has an inside track on the closer role. “He had a swing-and-miss slider and he competed. I think his velocity was up to about 92 miles per hour for the first time all fall and he’s an older guy. You like to have an older guy at the end of the game,” Holbrook noted. “I would say that Cody has a good chance to get some meaningful outs at the end of the game, but we can match you up too … so it might be a little bit of a bullpen-by-committee when we get cranked up.” The top two starters’ fall sessions were both positive for Holbrook. He said that Jordan Montgomery has worked very hard, even though he has not been pitching and he thinks fans will see an improved Montgomery this spring. Jack Wynkoop has gotten stronger physically, raised his velocity and performed well against middle-of-the-lineup competition according to Holbrook. “We feel very comfortable with Jack. We think he’s going to keep us in the game. We feel very comfortable with Jordan. We think Jordan is one of the best Friday night guys in the country, so we feel very good about those two guys,” Holbrook commented. The injury to Joey Pankake’s elbow this fall makes it less likely that he will pitch this spring according to Holbrook. He said that Pankake is still a constant threat in the middle of the lineup as well. “Joey is too important to us from a position player standpoint. I’ve still got to get him
comfortable in a position … I feel comfortable putting him somewhere, but I’ve got to make sure that he is comfortable and we’re consistent in where we put him on a day-today basis,” Holbrook explained. “Barring Joey really begging me to pitch him, I don’t know if it’s going to be worth the risk based on what has happened this fall.” Kyle Martin had a great fall and showed Holbrook that he is a legitimate middle-ofthe-lineup presence. He said that he feels that Martin may have been the player of the fall in the field, on the mound and at the plate. Holbrook is happy with the multitude of talented options that he has at many positions, including the middle infield spots. He said that he has four players that could play in the those spots and that he has told them all to be ready to play at second base, shortstop or third base this spring. Another thing that pleased Holbrook this fall was that Grayson Greiner made it through the sessions healthy. He said that Greiner is the closest thing to an irreplaceable player on the team. Holbrook added that he feels that Greiner has a chance to be an All-American and he may be the best catcher in the country. Holbrook said that he feels that it will be hard to cut down the roster with all the talent and effort that he has seen thus far from the team and this makes it less likely that any players from the football team will be on the spring roster. “They’ve given me everything they can and it’s very hard for me to pass on one of those guys that have been here every single day in the fall and deserved a spot,” Holbrook said. “It’s hard to open this thing back up in January and let someone come beat them out in a two week period. “I’m going to have a very difficult time with that … I’m not going to close the door on them, but at the same time I’ve got to be fair to those guys that have been here this fall,” Holbrook explained. Many newcomers have performed well this fall according to Holbrook and he said that the competition they have brought to the team has been good for everyone. Holbrook is pleased with the mix of youth and experience that he saw this fall with great effort and talent shown from the whole roster. Overall, Holbrook said that he likes the team, but there are still some questions that will need to be answered if the Gamecocks are going to make another trip to Omaha this summer. “I think we have some questions that we have to answer and I don’t think we’re there yet … but I do like our team. We’re athletic and we’ve got some strength in there,” Holbrook said. “We feel good about our team, but there are some important questions to be answered.”
photo by allen sharpe
10 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
Spurs & Feathers • 11
November 6, 2013
photo by SOuth carolina athletics media relations
The 14th-ranked South Carolina women’s golf team opens the spring portion of its 2013-14 schedule at the Florida State Match-Up, which will be held in Tallahassee, Fla. (2/14-16)
Gamecocks have strong starting position following solid fall schedule by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com
for them to improve and take the next step to compete on an elite level. Dreher put together a strong fall, positing two top-10 finishes in The 14th-ranked South Carolina’s women’s the four events. golf team had a consistent and solid fall that “Offseason is the time when you actually they hope will provide a starting point for a get better because you can work on long-term successful spring competition season leading things, core things in your swing, mentally or to another postseason run. short game. You can work on things that you The Gamecocks were able to finish sixth, wouldn’t have time to do in the season besecond, tied for fifth and fourth in their four cause you go from playing to qualifying and events this fall. Each tournament saw at least back around,” Dreher commented. “You don’t one Gamecock finish in the top-10 individureally have the time to do the work. I really ally as well. think offseason is the time when you have to Head coach Kalen Harris said that she felt step up and make a difference.” this was the best fall the team has had since Harris has no doubt that they will be able she has been at Carolina. She was pleased that to improve because the team has an excelthey were able to contend in a couple events lent work ethic and a great amount of talent. with top-tier competition. Harris also said that the break will be good “The depth of our team was extremely because the schedule has been rigorous for the good. We basically had the rotation of the team so far and they will be able to get some same six players in there … basically everyrest, get caught up on school work, spend time body out of those six contributed and did a with friends and then be ready to really get very good job,” Harris said. “I think that we things going when they get back after winter had a lot of positives, but we have a lot of break. things that we need to address this winter in The challenging schedule was a tool that order to get to the next level.” Harris used to learn more about the team and Harris said that she was unsure of where the help them to gain experience. Gamecocks would end up being ranked fol“That’s something that I do on purpose. I lowing the fall competition, but she thought like to put us in the highest level of competithat this would be the best ranking that they tion possible to kind of see where we fall have had after the fall portion in her time at … there are some top-five teams out there South Carolina. that are on a little bit of a different level than “I saw a big jump from last year in where everybody else and that shows us where we we are and our starting point this year is toneed to get to,” Harris explained. “It serves as tally different than where we’ve been in years a motivation for the offseason. past … that’s a positive but we have some “It also breeds us confidence too; we tied things that we can address in the offseason Alabama at North Carolina. It lets them know that can get us that one step higher to separate that they’re right there … I think the competiourselves,” Harris continued. tion that we see week-in and week-out in the Junior Justine Dreher echoed her coach and tournaments that we’re able to play is very said that she feels the offseason is a good time important to our development in pushing us
forward and to our improvement,” Harris continued. Senior Samantha Swinehart said that competing against the best teams in the nation helps them to become better and improve confidence as well. Swinehart was able to post two top-10 finishes as well, led by a tie for second place at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate. “I think it’s really good that we play against the top teams in the country because we do get to see what is out there, especially at the last tournament. We see where they are and where we are,” Swinehart said. “It’s very encouraging. I think our team can be really strong this year and we have the potential to have a great spring.” The team is a very-tight knit group that gets along well according to Harris, Dreher and Swinehart. Harris said that they work hard to bring each other up and give support while still competing for spots. She added that they handle the situation very maturely and continue to put the team’s interests before their own. “We have a good group of girls that really get along, so the team chemistry is great,” Swinehart confirmed. The teams goals are still basically the same as they were before the season according to Harris. She said that they have process goals that will build toward the results that they would like to see in competition. “We just want to keep competing for championships and if we keep achieving our process goals, the winning will take care of itself. Of course we want to win, but as long as we keep putting ourselves in contention we know that things will fall into place,” Harris said. “You’ve got to have a little luck on your side and keep putting yourself in position and good things are going to happen.”
Dreher echoed Harris saying that the team needs to focus on how they will compete rather than what they want to do. “You say ‘how am I going to be great?’ rather than ‘what do I want to do?’ because you can’t really control what score your going to play, what scoring average you’re going to have or if you’re going to win or lose. It’s not just up to us, it’s also up to other teams,” Dreher explained. “I think that it’s very important that we know how we’re going to practice and how we’re going to work.” Overall, Harris said that she was pleased with the fall portion of the schedule and is looking forward to see how far this talented team can go. “I just think we need to keep building onto that momentum moving into the spring and see what we can do. It’s a great starting point for us,” Harris concluded.
12 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
photo by allen sharpe
South Carolina Athletics Director Ray Tanner talks with the 160 former Gamecocks and 300 people in total in attendance at the All Sports Reunion reception on Friday, Nov. 1.
All Sports Reunion reception draws large crowd by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com
Pastides asked the group if there were any Gamecocks in attendance and received a rousing cheer. He then called out sport-byThe South Carolina Athletics Department, sport to see who was in attendance; he found Gamecock Club and Association of Letformer athletes from track and field, soccer, termen combined to honor former studentswimming and diving, volleyball, basketathletes from all sports over Homecoming ball, football, golf and baseball. Weekend starting with a reception on Friday, Tanner thanked the group for their comNov. 1. mitment to South Carolina in helping take The rainy weather moved the event indoors the Athletics Department to the level it is at to the Dodie Anderson Academic Enrichnow. He called them the foundation for their ment Center, but that did not dampen the time and investment to get the program to evening as over 160 former Gamecocks and where it is today. 300 total people with guests made for the “I’m a living example. I came here in the largest showing in the event’s history. summer of 1996 … we didn’t have real nice South Carolina President Dr. Harris Pasfacilities, but what we had was former athtides, Association of Lettermen current letes that had done a great job to build some President Gary Gregor and Athletics Direc- history and tradition,” Tanner said. “They tor Ray Tanner addressed the assembled gave us the opportunity to come behind and group of diverse former South Carolina roll out some great things. That is you, all of student-athletes. you have done great things for the program.”
Tanner honored a couple of former athletes who played in the 1940s. They were Pat Vella and Clarence Sanders, former football players from 1949 and 1940, respectively. He also made special mention of the members of the 1967-68 men’s tennis team that went undefeated. Both Vella and Sanders noted how special it was to see the support of the group that came out for the reception. Vella added that it is great to be able to come to an event with so many former Gamecock athletes all together. USC Association of Lettermen 2012 board member Courtney Leavitt (football, 199699) said this was by far the best turnout of any reunion that had been done. “It’s great to see the turnout that we had here tonight. It’s nice to see so many come from sports outside of football, basketball and baseball as well,” Leavitt said. “The
Lettermen’s Association is about 90 percent of those three sports, so it’s nice to kind of bridge the gap and get everyone back together here.” University South Carolina Athletics Hall of Famer Shelia Foster (women’s basketball, 1979-82) said that it was great to see such a turnout at the event. “It’s great to be back with the old Gamecock family. It’s always nice to get together with the old crowd and catch up. This turnout is great and it’s great to see the support here tonight,” Foster commented. Rick Sanford (football, 1975-78) credited the work of Tanner for bringing all the former athletes back to the South Carolina family. “It’s great to be able to have everyone together and celebrate. It has been a long time coming and it is special to see everyone be able to be here,” Sanford said.
November 6, 2013
Spurs & Feathers • 13
Starting Five with Duane Notice south carolina athletics media relations
think sets you apart from others on the court? My physicality; I like to play physical during the game. I’m a team player and I 1. You played last year for St. Thomas like to do the little things to win and I like to More School in Oakdale, Conn., but you listen to my coach. are from Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada. 4. What aspect of your game are you What made coming down south to play working on the most as you prepare for for the Gamecocks so exciting? The reyour freshman season to get underway? cruitment. The staff saw me late in my final My point guard skills. At St. Thomas More year at prep school and the commitment they I was playing at the two and I haven’t played showed to recruiting me and the vision they point guard for several years. I’ve worked showed for the South Carolina program. on making better reads and pushing the ball. 2. Everybody kind of mentioned you as a It has been an adjustment because I played combo guard with plenty of scoring abil- international basketball with Team Canada, ity during your recruitment. How do you so it is different playing in the United States see your game? It is hard for me to gauge with different rules and different philosomy game because I feel I am my biggest phies of the game. I’ve also worked on my critic. I can’t really put myself into one posi- shot. It is more consistent. I’m just trying to tion. I like to pass the ball and look for my get better everyday. teammates, play defense and I like to score 5. What player do you model your game when the pressure is on. It depends on the after the most? I look up to Steve Nash; he situation. is a great mentor to me. Guys like Cory Jo3. You averaged 17 points, eight reseph in the NBA, Kevin Pangos at Gonzaga bounds and five assists last year for St. I like to model my game after. Just teamThomas More. Obviously you bring a mates that I’ve had. I like to take something great deal to the table, but what do you from every one I play against or see.
photo by allen sharpe
14 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
Gamecocks serve up successful fall, hope to return a strong spring by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com The University of South Carolina men’s tennis team competed well against some of the best competition in the nation this fall and finished their early season schedule ranked 18th in the nation. “On paper it might seem a little bit odd because the quantity of wins weren’t there, but I feel like the quality wins were. That’s part of the scheduling that we did this year,” head coach Josh Goffi said. “We weren’t going out and playing middle-tier tournaments like we have in the past in the fall to gain a little confidence; put some things we have been working on into play and have success at it. “We’re far enough along in the development now in this team that it is important to see where they are against the toughest competition. Some of the things stood up under the toughest competition and some of the things didn’t with each guy. That was the main goal in what we were looking for this fall,” Goffi continued. The team competed maturely according to Goffi, which is something that he had not seen in past falls. He said that the team was technically sound for the most part, but the fall was able to reveal some of the things that the team needs to work on going forward into the spring portion of the schedule. Goffi said that he is happy with the team’s progression and is looking forward to continued training. “Now we’re really tearing into it. We kind of just trained through the tournaments; we didn’t really peak or settle down. I don’t really care about the results in the fall. It’s more just a mirror test for our guys to see where they’re at in their progression. Let’s get back to work when we get back to the courts on Monday. So all-in-all everything is right where it needs to be,” Goffi said. Goffi is confident in his doubles pairings after seeing some strong performances from his team this fall. Chip Cox, Kyle Koch, Thiago Pinheiro and Tsevtan Mihov have shown that they will be strong anchors out of the first and second positions. “Kyle and Chip are a great fit emotionally together, but as far as their games go, we’re having to adjust a few things on the court when they play doubles,” Goffi commented. “That is something that is difficult for a lot of players because they typically just do what they do out there. They’ve made some great adjustments and they are a very good team. “With Thiago and Tsvetan, they’re great tennis players and they’re good doubles players. They’re two of our best competitors, so you put those two guys on the court in a competitive environment and it’s going to be tough to beat them,” Goffi continued. “Our three spot
photo by travis bell/sideline carolina
Thiago Pinheiro and the Gamecocks have positioned themselves well for a strong spring. is going to be really tough. I think we’re going to have two tough guys down there if all things work out … we’re going to be winning some doubles points for sure.” The Gamecocks should be strong on the singles front as well; the team has experienced returning players and two freshmen that are making good progression in their transition to competing at the college level. “We’ve kind of let Andrew Schaffer go ahead and just play for this first part. We wanted to see what made him the 10th blue-chip in the country and really get into his game a little bit. I’ve known Sam (Swank) for a long time and know where he is in his progression a little bit more than Andrew,” Goffi said. “So with Sam we went immediately to the ground and got him on his progression as soon as possible because his high end is huge. He is mak-
ing big strides. Day-by-day he is getting there and he has been really close with some of the best competitors in the country. He’s only a tenth of where he will be by the time his career is done here, so I’m very excited by him. “Andrew has proven that he can win, but he’s also met his limit and that is what we needed to see … he has to cut some of that fat out of his game that he was able to get away with in juniors. He’s working on that and, most importantly, he believes it now,” Goffi continued. Goffi said that the returners have all been progressing well and their talent levels will make the Gamecocks a very difficult matchup for other teams. Mihov, Pinheiro, Koch and Cox have all had strong falls and Goffi noted that Andrew Adams is coming back from hip surgery. Adams looks to be on track to compete this spring, which will only strengthen
the top of the lineup. With the skill level and expectations coming out of the fall, Goffi said that this season will provide a different kind of challenge that a team has not faced in his time leading the Gamecocks. “The key for us this year is not being comfortable … we’re ranked at 18 going into the season and that’s new for us going into a season. There’s a target now. We went into last season ranked 41st and that’s a big difference,” Goffi explained. “We went into last season with a chip on our shoulder and we needed to go out and prove that we were good and deserved to win. Now we need to prove that we are that good. “It’s about not getting comfortable when we’re in the lead or having a good season. Our guys will always fight when they’re down, if we’re having a rough start to the year they will shine through. There is no doubt in that; that’s just who they are, that’s who we recruited and that’s how we run our program. This is a different scenario this year and I think we’re going to start off pretty well, but we need to go through that pressure. It’s taking care of the details … everything has to be done on a professional level. If we do that I think that we’ll have a good year,” Goffi commented. Goffi said that his team has done what he wanted to see this year and the atmosphere and chemistry around the team is excellent, which he said sets up for a strong spring season. “We’ve really gotten to work a lot and there haven’t been any distractions getting into the team or any teammates causing those distractions. The culture is set; we are in the culture that we want to be in and it’s proving that it’s working. We’re right where we want to be and I think that we’re going to catapult in the spring pretty well,” Goffi said.
November 6, 2013
Spurs & Feathers • 15
Softball completes successful fall session by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com
“My biggest positive I think from the fall was the performance of Lakyn Shull. She didn’t get as much time on the mound last The Gamecock softball team was able to go year, but she made some huge strides. She undefeated in fall competition, but more im- came in several situations this fall and reportantly to the coaching staff was the prog- ally performed well. She threw a good mix ress that the team made from the beginning of pitches and she was in some tight, basesof practices to where the team ended up. loaded situations that she worked her way out “Certainly I’m pleased that we went unde- of,” Smith explained. feated in the fall because that’s something Working to figure out the batting order was that we haven’t done here, but they don’t another aspect of the team that Smith was hand out any rings in the fall, so I’m not con- able to experiment with during the fall. She cerned about our win-loss record in the fall. said that they must replace last year’s AllI was certainly pleased that our girls played American leadoff hitter and shortstop Samie well. We scored runs, we pitched well and Garcia which is no easy task. we faced all different types of competition “We played with the lineup a bit. For some so I was glad that we finished up the fall so of those returners, they found themselves in strong,” head coach Beverly Smith said. different spots. We’re trying to get a little bit Smith said that she was pleased with the of a rhythm to see who flows together well, way that the team was able to pick up wins in but I thought our returning players have done multiple ways. Some games they were able a super job,” Smith said. to score a lot of runs, some games were deSmith said that there are still some quescided by pitching in one run games and they tions to be answered about the team, but she had multiple walk-off wins in extra innings. feels that there is enough talent and team They were able to come back against North chemistry to make for an exciting team to Carolina in their fall opener in a game that watch this spring. She added that this has the Gamecocks did not lead until their final been a fantastic fall and she cannot rememat-bat. ber a better one in her time leading the “The games were an opportunity for us to Gamecocks. just put into play what we worked on. I al“There is no question we’ve got a lot of ways say that playing in games makes plan- work to do, but I think that we’re further ning practice the next week so much easier along this fall than we have been since I’ve for us,” Smith said. “It gave us an opportubeen here at South Carolina. I’m really proud nity to see the girls in live situations against of where we are right now. This team is fosome opponents and I was really pleased cused, determined and they thrive on getting with what we saw. better every day. So we certainly have plenty “I was glad that we did so well because of work to do, but we’re really excited about everybody had an opportunity to play so we where we are and where we’re headed,” had a good chance to evaluate our team and Smith said. see what we have. That was my main goal, Smith added that the teams’ determination just to test the team, let some of these young will help as they dial back into individual players play and see what we’ve got,” Smith practice sessions. It gives them a chance to continued. step back and work on what they need to Smith was pleased with the performance improve individually to help the team for the of the many new players - the roster has spring when the wins and losses do matter. eight freshmen and a transfer - especially The team has talked about goals for the with their response in stressful situations. spring and with the squad that they have, Freshman pitcher Nickie Blue was able to the team is thinking about more than just pitch her way out of a tie game against North competing in the SEC. They have already beCarolina and started the first game of the fall gun talking about the possibility of winning campaign. championships. Smith noted that Blue came in and per“The team has verbalized that. They have formed well this fall, as did all of the pitchsaid ‘we want to be SEC champs, be in the ers. She noted that she has seen improveSEC tournament and win it here in front of ments from both of there returning pitchers. our fans.’ Obviously the ultimate goal is to “I think I’ve seen big improvements with win the National Championship. So they’re Julie (Sarratt) as well,” Smith commented. talking about it and that’s exciting to have “She really worked on developing the risethat championship chatter going on here. It ball this year and we threw it a lot this fall. I was a great fall and I think it showed a lot think she really developed some confidence about our team. We’re going to be a fun team with that. to watch this spring,” Smith concluded.
photo by allen sharpe
16 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
South Carolina Gamecocks
Recruiting roundup by phil kornblut
Former USC commitment DB Wesley Green of Lithonia, GA is now looking at USC, Clemson, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama according to his coach. Cortez Allen said Green will take official visits to USC, Georgia, Tennessee and Ole Miss. He also will visit Clemson and Alabama with one Phil Kornblut getting the final official visit. No Contributing dates have been set. Writer Green’s last visit was to Georgia for the LSU game. He’s also been to USC this season and plans to be at the Clemson-USC game. Green committed to USC in June and de-committed in September and his coach says he’s taking things much slower this time. “He’s going back and allowing the process to take its course,” Allen said. “There’s an interest in all those schools. He wants to get on campus and get around the guys and see what the feel is.” Senior DE Dante Sawyer of Suwanee, GA will be at USC Saturday for the Mississippi State game. He has been to Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia for games this season. Sawyer said he’s down to USC, Tennessee, Auburn and Missouri. He has all of his official visits remaining and he plans to take them before deciding. He does not claim a favorite right now but said USC is “up there.” Sawyer is not sure when he’ll make his decision. OL Jordan Prestwood of Arizona Western JC made an official visit to Florida State over the weekend. He also plans to take official visits to USC, Ole Miss, Auburn and Oklahoma.
Juniors
DE Arden Key of Lithonia, GA, a former USC commitment, was scheduled for an unofficial visit to LSU Saturday. Key continues to garner offers with Florida and Alabama two of the newest. Some of his
other offers are USC, Clemson, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, Ole Miss, North Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, Southern Cal, Virginia Tech, Washington and LSU. There will no rush to judgment this time for Key who committed to USC in June and de-committed in September. “One thing I’ve talked to Arden about is playing football right now,” said his coach Cortez Allen. “He’s got so much time ahead of him. I’m trying to keep him grounded. It’s tough on these kids. Arden is a big, old baby and I don’t want him to get caught up in the pressure and the hype.” Allen says USC is still very much in play for Key and teammate Wesley Green. “They both are still excited about South Carolina but they are talking to guys and looking at different things,” he said. Key visited USC for a game earlier this season and could return for the Clemson-USC game. DL Albert Huggins of OrangeburgWilkinson made his first game day visit of the season when he went up to Clemson for the Florida State game. Huggins plans to get to other games with USC, North Carolina and NC State three targets. Huggins has not added any new offers to his list which is comprised of USC, Clemson, Florida State, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisville, Georgia, NC State, North Carolina, Auburn and SC State. He does not have favorites and doesn’t have a timetable for a decision. DB Mark Fields Jr. of Cornelius, NC made his second visit this season to Clemson for the Florida State game. “Of the offers I have right now my top two I’d have to say are Clemson and South Carolina,” said Fields who also has offers from Ohio State, Tennessee, North Carolina, NC State, SC State and Charlotte. He has also been to USC for a game and is going to the Alabama-LSU game noting that Alabama has been recruiting him hard. He plans to get to USC for the Mississippi State or Florida game and hopes to go back to Clemson for another game. Is there a favorite for Fields between the two rivals? “No sir, they are the same to me,” he said. Junior WR Markeyvious Adams of Greenwood visited Clemson for the Florida
and 6 rebounds per game. The USC women gained a pair of commitments for the 2014 class. 5-6 PG Bianca Cuevas of Brooklyn, NY is ESPN’s HoopGurlz #8 point guard in the class nationally and the #44 player overall. Here is there evaluation of Cuevas from July: Electrifying lead guard with court savvy; flourishes in uptempo game, relying on the Basketball News flashy play vs. the fundamental decision; 6-8 Dante Buford of Jacksonville, FL interior passer, tempo changer, reads presmade official visits to Miami and Oklasure; flamboyant finisher with inconsistent homa last week and will take his final results; playground creator. official visit to USC this weekend. “He’s 6-0 Doniya Cliney of Newark, NJ, acgot his scores so he’s qualified and we’re cording to ProspectsNation.com, is the just waiting to see what he does,” Buford’s 13th ranked guard in the 2014 class and the coach Rex Morgan said. “They’re looking 105th ranked prospect overall. In 30 games forward to having him on campus officially last season Cliney averaged 10 points, 3 and I think he’ll have a better feel for it.” rebounds and 2 assists per game. She shot Buford, who is a Simpsonville native, has 43% from the floor and 60% from the foul been unofficially to USC. He is expected to line. Dawn Staley now has three commitannounce his decision soon after his visit ments for the 2014 class. to USC. 6-6 junior PJ Dozier of Spring Valley is one of the top players in the country in the Baseball News junior class despite the fact he will miss Baseball America 2013 the season while recovering from knee surgery. After offers from all over the country, recruiting rankings: 1. Florida Dozier has his list down to 13 schools ac2. Texas cording to his father Perry Dozier, a former 3. South Carolina USC player who is the coach at Spring Valley. That list is USC, Clemson, North Caro- 4. Oklahoma State 5. Oregon State lina, NC State, Louisville, Georgetown, 6. Miami Michigan, Kansas, Ohio State, Indiana, 7. Oregon Baylor, Mississippi State and Florida. The 8. Mississippi Doziers visited North Carolina recently 9. Mississippi State to watch practice. “Coach Williams has 10. Oklahoma been down several times to see him,” Perry 11. Nebraska Dozier said. Dozier might take a visit to 12. Cal State Fullerton Georgetown as well. He has been to USC 13. Auburn and Clemson and both are real players for 14. Virginia him. “He likes both of them,” his father said. “He loves the guys over at Clemson as 15. Tennessee 16. Clemson well as South Carolina. Of course, he’d like 17. Texas Christian to be close to home but his selection will be 18. Florida State more geared towards what will be the best 19. Louisville fit for him.” Dozier will layout his five of20. Vanderbilt ficial visits in December. Coaches from all 21. Georgia of the 13 have been in to see him. Dozier is 22. Loyola Marymount doing extremely well in his rehab accord23. Tulane ing to his father. “Roll the ball out there 24. Southern California and he could do tremendously well.” Last 25. Kentucky season Dozier averaged 18 points, 7 assists
State game, his second visit to Clemson this season. He has also been to games at Appalachian State, Georgia and Georgia Tech and is planning to attend USC’s game Saturday. Showing interest in Adams are Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Florida State and Tennessee.
November 6, 2013
Spurs & Feathers • 17
Junior Gamecock Club Halloween Party a treat for all ages by brian hand bhand@spursandfeathers.com
Gamecock Club members. At the Ndoki Lodge, Junior Gamecock Club members were treated to a special hot dog The annual Junior Gamecock Club Hallowdinner. There was also a DJ inside the Ndoki een Party was held at Riverbanks Zoo & GarLodge spinning dance music for everyone to den on Monday, Oct. 28. dance to and enjoy. The event was free for Junior Gamecock Club If all of that was not enough, there was also a members. Each Junior Gamecock Club memmysterious maze, a magician, a haunted carouber also received two adult tickets. sel and a place to make s’mores. In addition to The special yearly event was held as part of the dance party at Ndoki Lodge there was also Riverbanks Zoo & Garden’s “Boo at the Zoo a large dance party for “Boo at the Zoo” attendHalloween Spooktacular.” The event lasted ees just inside the gates of Riverbanks Zoo & from 6-9 p.m. and over 900 people attended Garden. There was even an area called “Franone of the perks of being a Junior Gamecock kenstein’s Foam Zone” where foam rained Club member. down on anyone willing to get wet and soapy. Once inside Riverbanks Zoo & Garden, JuThe annual Junior Gamecock Club Hallownior Gamecock Club members were able to see een Party is just one of the many perks availall the animals, while also obtaining candy and able for members. To learn more about joining other surprises at different stations that were the Junior Gamecock Club, please visit www. scattered throughout the zoo. South Carolina gamecocksonline.com/sports/c-gamecockclub/ student-athletes, Cocky, the Carolina Girls and juniorgamecockclub.html. Gamecock cheerleaders were also there to help Note: The Junior Gamecock Club is only for hand out candy and spend time with the Junior fans who are 13 years of age and younger.
18 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
Getting the Gamecocks out on the diamond by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com
falls under my job … you’re pretty much in constant contact with your bus companies, in constant contact with your hotels,” Lusk said. The work of Director of Baseball Opera“I think the biggest fear for all operations tions Tyson Lusk helps allow the Gamecock folks is somehow something on the road baseball team to focus on baseball alone and doesn’t go well. put a successful team on the diamond. “Either the bus is late, or the bus isn’t there Lusk is intricately involved with the travel or the hotel rooms aren’t ready … so the bigand logistics for the baseball team, but he gest thing is you have to stay on top of those also works with many other departments things, anticipate and be flexible if some sort from South Carolina, whether that is athletics of situation does arise,” Lusk said. media relations, sports marketing and opBeing on the road is difficult because there posing team’s directors of operations, just to may not be as many courses of action that name a few. you can take to rectify a situation as you One of the main jobs that Lusk had to start could at home, but he said there are plenty on as soon as the 2014 schedule was released of responsibilities when playing at home as is to arrange all of the travel for the Gamewell. cocks’ road trips. “I think it’s a little easier at home, but South carolina athletics media relations “Dealing with the hotels, the bus, the char- you’re always going to have things come up Tyson Lusk, Director of Baseball Operations. ter flights, per diem and that kind of thing which is part of the attraction of working in
college athletics. There’s no real dull moment and every day is different … at home there are a lot more factors because you’re dealing with a lot more folks than just your team,” Lusk explained. “There’s a lot more responsibilities for the players and coaches at home than there is on the road, which is a good thing. “As the home team we’re also trying to host the visitors, make sure they know where they’re supposed to go and assist with any needs they have. On the road it’s kind of reversed where they’re responsible for you and try to make sure that you have everything that you need,” Lusk continued. Lusk also coordinates with the equipment staff and grounds crew to prepare for practices and games. He said that much of his Please see lusk, Page 31
Gamecock fan experience is enhanced by facilities and operations staff by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com
is wrong it could affect anything from fundraising to the teams they are preparing the facilities for or even causing calls to the AthGamecock fans get the opportunity to letics Director’s office. cheer on their teams in great facilities and the Davis said their responsibility is getting the work of the operations and facilities staffs games to their beginning and once the games helps to create the excellent environment. start, they can manage what happens durAssociate Athletics Director for Operaing the game. He added that the staffs put in tions and Facilities Jeff Davis coordinates the monumental efforts just to get to the games’ facility services, sports turf and landscapbeginning. ing and operations and event management The capital projects, such as building Carodivisions of South Carolina Athletics. These lina Stadium or the work on the Athletics three groups collectively help to get everyVillage, are also challenges for Davis as he thing ready for gamedays. works closely with Chief Operating Officer Davis said that he has outstanding staff in Kevin O’Connell. Davis said that it has been each of those three divisions which allows great to see the work done through the dehim to do his job. He added that it is a team partment to allow South Carolina to compete effort between himself, his administrative in the SEC on a facility level. assistant Nancy Wheeler who keeps him “It has really been very rewarding to be organized and the Assistant Athletics Direc- involved with the magnitude of projects tors for each division. The three Assistant we’ve had … that’s one of the things about ADs who provide great leadership and work our business is we see the end result and that closely with Davis are Duane Grooms for is what drives us and keeps us going,” Davis facilities services, Clark Cox for sports turf commented. and landscaping and Shawn Burke for operaDavis said that his main focus is on creattions and event management. ing a great experience for Gamecock fans “It’s a collective effort and they’ve got when they attend an event. He noted that great staff working with those three people. they understand that more calls and emails Everybody pitches in and does a great job,” will pertain to an issue that needs to be taken Davis explained. “I’ve always maintained the care of than will be complimentary, but they philosophy that you’re only as good as the understand that fact. He said they can use people that work with you and work for you. these to help improve the fan experience by I strongly believe that.” minimizing those issues the best they can. These three groups are part of the founda“The fans are the lifeblood to support tion for the operations of the athletics staff the Athletics Department and the studentbecause they must prepare everything for athletes and we want them to have a great fan gamedays. If there is an issue on their end, experience. We want to make sure the venue then that can trickle down into other parts is ready and the presentation is such that they of the department. Davis said if something notice what is going on in the game and not
necessarily the environment around them,” Davis said. “We want them to be absorbed in what is going on in the game.” Once kickoff comes, Davis only gets to watch some of the game because he spends much of the game either in command or going around the stadium and observing different facets of operations. He said that it is somewhat of a relief once the games actually start, but he and his team continue to work to deliver an excellent experience to Gamecock fans. The most hectic time of the year for Davis and his team is leading up to the first home football game, but it is also very busy when seasons overlap, such as football and basketball. The month of November can be very taxing on Davis and his staff, but he said their commitment helps make these busy times run smoothly. Davis previously worked at the University of Houston and East Carolina and he is now in his 30th year of working in college athletics, 13 of those at South Carolina. He said that there are many similarities in the jobs, but working for South Carolina in the SEC is an incredible opportunity. “Being here at South Carolina and in the SEC, there is no comparison in regards to the level of financial support and the competitiveness that you have,” Davis noted. “A lot of similarities, but it’s just on a grander scale in the SEC.” The people he works with and the relationships they develop are the most rewarding parts of Davis’ job. He said that you cannot be successful unless everyone is on the same page and working as a team. “I think probably the best part of the job
south carolina athletics media relations
Jeff Davis, Associate Athletics Director for Operations and Facilities. is building relationships with people, particularly the people you work with … just developing those relationships and knowing that you can count on them to assist in your operation,” Davis said. “The second prong of that would be seeing the finished product. That’s a reward to see that things look great, we got it done and a win helps morale obviously. “You can’t do that without good, dependable and committed people and that is what we have, not only in the three divisions that I oversee, but in the Athletics Department as a whole. Everybody is doing their job and doing it well. I am very fortunate to be here,” Davis added.
Spurs & Feathers • 19
November 6, 2013
photo by allen sharpe
South Carolina women’s soccer closed out its 2013 regular season with a 15-2-2 record overall. The Gamecocks were 8-2-1 in league play and 10-0 at home during the regular season.
Women’s soccer regular season success builds confidence for postseason by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com
week and put ourselves in good position seed-wise. “It has also given us the chance to host The 10th-ranked University of South (NCAA tournament games) at home. Carolina women’s soccer team completed There is a lot more to play for and a lot a stellar regular season with a comeback that we’ve accomplished already. The fact 2-1 victory over Kentucky at Stone Stathat we’ve done that well at home has givdium on Senior Night on Oct. 31. en us the confidence to go into the NCAAs South Carolina was able to compile a knowing that we have a chance to host perfect 10-0 record at home during the more games this year,” Smith said. regular season and secured the program’s The Gamecocks will be the third seed best regular season winning percentage at in the SEC tournament and open against .842 by going 15-2-2 overall. Head coach the No. 6 seed Georgia. Florida and Texas Shelley Smith said that the season and A&M were SEC regular season co-chamthe win are very rewarding for this year’s pions with 9-2-0 records, while South senior class. Carolina finished 8-2-1 in SEC play. “It’s quite an accomplishment. They’ve Georgia was one of the two teams to done a tremendous job all year and consis- defeat the Gamecocks in conference play, tently performed on the road and at home, but Smith said that they are a different but especially at home,” Smith said. “It team now then when they dropped their does mean a lot to the senior group and SEC opener in Athens, Ga., 2-0, on Sept. the entire team, but especially the seniors 20. who took it upon themselves to lead the “We’ve played well against everyone in team coming into this year. the conference and we’re facing a team “They really committed to being their that we’ve already faced this year … it’s best and it took a lot of work starting right actually even more motivating for our after the season ended last year. They team to go in and play a team they are dismade a commitment to come back and appointed in their loss during the season,” really work hard so it is gratifying to see Smith noted. “We get a second chance and that pay off with the results they’ve had,” that’s a great position to be in going into Smith continued. the tournament. Smith said that they are thrilled with “We’ve learned a lot about ourselves the body of work that the team has cresince we played Georgia, so we’ll be an ated this season, but they know there is improved team facing them. If you get still work to be done. She said they feel past that first round, I think we have a that they have set themselves up in a good good shot at getting to the championship,” position for postseason play, which is the Smith said. goal of the regular season. Smith said the SEC is so competitive this “That is something that you’re pushing year that any team can beat another on any toward and it is quite an accomplishment. given day and she expects the same from The fortunate part is we have done trethe conference tournament. She added that mendously well and we’re basically one they must bring their “A-game” to win and goal away from being overall conference if they do, then there is a good chance for champions,” Smith noted. “That’s disapthem to take home an SEC Championship. pointing, but at the same time we have a Smith said that the team has been in so chance of getting the championship next many different situations, including hav-
ing to come from behind to win multiple times, that they feel that they can handle anything that happens. They have managed to pick up the results needed to keep their special season going and Smith expects more of the same from the experienced squad. “The players don’t give up. They believe they can win games and that’s half the battle … they play all 90 minutes. That’s been a theme all year and been a big part
of our success that we haven’t stopped playing,” Smith said. “You go through that kind of schedule, then you are battle tested and it does prepare you well for postseason play. “We know we can play with anybody. We’re playing a great brand of soccer plus the intensity and physicality you need to play in the SEC. I think we can match up well with most teams in the country,” Smith concluded.
20 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
photo by allen sharpe
Mark Berson (standing) picked up his 450th win at the helm of the South Carolina men’s soccer program in a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory over No. 25 New Mexico on Saturday, Oct. 26.
Milestone victory testament to Berson, players and assistants by brian hand bhand@spursandfeathers.com South Carolina men’s soccer head coach Mark Berson picked up his 450th victory at the helm of the Gamecocks on Saturday, Oct. 26. The milestone victory for the coaching legend was the furthest thing from his mind that evening though as South Carolina most importantly procured a thrilling 1-0 overtime win over No. 25 New Mexico. The eighth NCAA Division I coach to reach the 450-win plateau, the 36th-year Gamecock head coach is No. 1 among active head coaches for victories as an NCAA Division I head coach. Berson is just a few wins away from moving into the top-5 for all-time victories. He is also within striking distance of surpassing another college soccer coaching legend in Jerry Yeagley, who ended his tremendous run as the head coach of the Hoosiers with 544 career victories. The coach that has taken South Carolina to 20 NCAA Tournament appearances and the NCAA Tournament finals in 1993, is quick to point out that all his wins are a testament not just to him, but his players and assistant coaches over the years. “Clearly that milestone (450 wins at Carolina) belongs to a lot of great players here at the University of South Carolina,” Berson
explained. “Guys that have played in World Cups, guys that have gone on to become doctors, guys that have gone on to become attorneys and dentists and great coaches. It belongs to a lot of players, a lot of good assistant coaches. It’s a shared milestone.” Asked whether he plans to stick around long enough to try and surpass Yeagley, Berson was obviously more worried about the current Gamecocks than himself. “You think about improving every year … I feel great. I’m anxious to keep coaching, but you don’t really think about those types of things. You just think about ‘hey, let’s improve, let’s get better, let’s recruit, let’s keep things moving forward as quick as we can and see where we can take this thing.’ “For us right now, our focus is on ‘hey, let’s get to the conference championship, let’s be in the top seven in our league, let’s see if we can get an NCAA at-large bid, let’s see where we can take this season’ … this team has still accomplished a great deal. Let’s see how far we can take it and that’s our main objective right now.” The youthful Gamecocks have put together a great year in the 2013 season and are getting more acclimated to the college game every time out on the pitch. “A lot of freshmen have played a big role for us,” Berson said. “A lot of sophomores have played a big role for us. Almost every-
one on this team returns next year. They’re learning, but at this point they’re really not exactly freshmen anymore, particularly the ones that have played so many matches. They’re pretty seasoned right now. “That’s good and I think they’ve all done a great job and they’ve had to grow up real fast and with the injuries that we’ve had some of them have had to move into different positions. It’s not like they’ve been able to settle in some place. They’ve had to move around a little. All-in-all, it’s been a tremendous season as far as the development of these younger guys.” Right now, South Carolina is in the top four in the league standings. As was known entering the current season, Conference USA has once again proven to be one of the top leagues in the country, which is something Berson believes can only help the Gamecocks. “The league this year has really again shown how strong that it is,” Berson pointed out. “Old Dominion’s a very good team there at the top of the league (and) with us knocking off New Mexico, another team that’s been nationally-ranked. UAB’s been nationally-ranked, FIU, Tulsa is another team that beat us in overtime and they’ve been in and out of the national rankings. Charlotte is a team that came into this season highly ranked. “All those teams in the upper echelon
of the league have done great. You know that’s what we want. We want to be competitive in a highly competitive league. We’re fortunate to have that opportunity and we’re also fortunate to have these really big games coming down the stretch here. That’s all you can ask for at this time of the year.” South Carolina has just one regular-season game left with No. 24 Old Dominion visiting Stone Stadium for a 7 p.m. contest on Saturday, Nov. 9.
November 6, 2013
Spurs & Feathers • 21
22 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
south carolina athletics media relations
Matt Navata and the University of South Carolina men’s swimming and diving team are currently ranked 25th nationally. The Gamecocks host LSU on Saturday, Nov. 9.
Gamecocks preparing to host LSU in lone home SEC meet by mike kucharski mike@spursandfeathers.com The Gamecock swimming and diving teams are preparing to host their only home meet of the fall semester and their only SEC meet of the season on Nov. 9 when LSU comes to Columbia. The men’s team comes into the competition ranked 25th in the nation and they are 2-1 on the season with the lone loss coming on the road against a top-10 Tennessee team. The women’s team is 1-2 on the season and head coach McGee Moody said that he feels they have done well with a very tough schedule. Moody has been pleased with the way the men’s team has progressed this season. He noted that there were some sub-par performances at Tennessee, but they bounced back strong with a dominating couple of hours at East Carolina to pick up a one-sided victory. Despite the fact that the women’s team has lost their past two meets, Moody feels that they have competed well against extremely tough teams. Tennessee was a top-10 team on the women’s side as well and Moody said that East Carolina had their best women’s team that he has seen them have in 20-something years. He thought that both teams swam well and it came down to the final relay before the meet was decided. “I think that both teams are in a really good place. I think LSU matches up well with us. So basically what we’ve done and will continue to do is identify some places in the first three meets where we needed improvement. We’ve really been focusing on those in
our training this week and also in the weight room. We had last weekend off, which is kind of nice to have at this point and then we’ll come back with a big SEC meet here at home on Saturday,” Moody said. Moody said that one of the biggest strengths for both the teams is the flexibility and skill of some of the swimmers. “It is pretty nice to have people that are versatile and we can move around and kind of fill holes that need to be filled. We know that we can put them anywhere and they can win events wherever we put them. That is a luxury that we have that honestly we haven’t had in the last couple years. We’ve got a lot more depth than we’ve had in the past and that’s a really good thing,” Moody explained. On the men’s side, Moody said that Kevin Leithold, Michael Flach, Gerard Rodriguez and Matt Navata have provided that versatility for the team. Leithold and Flach each won three individual events in their last meet against East Carolina. He added that this gives options in how they will match up with other teams. Victoria Mitchell has performed with that flexibility for the women’s team according to Moody. Mitchell, a transfer from Louisville, also claimed three individual wins against East Carolina and she has not lost an individual race yet this season. “She posted one of the nation’s best times in the 200-meter backstroke and was extremely fast in the 500-meter freestyle which is a pretty tough double because the way it sets up in a dual meet lineup is that 200-meter backstroke is first. She was fast there, but she
has about seven minutes before she had to turn around and race the 500-meter freestyle and she ended up winning that one pretty significantly as well,” Moody said. “It was actually her idea to do that and not a whole lot of people will ask to be put in that situation, especially when you know you’ve only got seven minutes rest.” Moody said that the divers for both teams can always be counted on to earn points for the team and that they are among the best in the nation. For the men, Cole Miller, Andrew Helmich and Jordan Gotro have all contributed and have the chance to perform well at the SEC Championships later this season. Patricia Kranz and Lauren Lamendola have each earned big points for the team early this year. He said that he is always pleased to see his divers perform well and he knows that they can do that. “It’s one of those things that if it’s not one, it’s the other. As long as it’s our girls and our guys, I don’t care which one wins as long as it’s one of them. The divers are as consistent as it comes,” Moody commented. Some of the student-athletes have responded extremely well in the early competitions which is impressive since it has been the first action against elite competitors for some of them. Moody said that you can never be sure how the newcomers will respond, but he has been pleased with what he has seen. “It’s very individualized because everybody is different. Some guys handle that better than others and some don’t … it’s very individualized because everybody is different,” Moody said. “A lot of it depends on their
background. “You really have to be able to handle that and that’s on our coaching staff. Each one of our coaches is tasked with developing the training, not only physically but also mentally preparing each group to go out and race. We have as big a task in front of us as our team does,” Moody explained. Moody said that the goal for the men’s team is to become a top-15 team at the end of the first semester and he feels they are capable of doing that. He added that the LSU meet could be a stepping stone to that as the top lineup is placed in events where they can be their fastest. He said the schedule is tough with only one home SEC meet, but the teams will fight through and be ready to compete. “That schedule, being the only home meet that we get, you can sit there and kind of pout about it … but that’s not really how we operate. We’re going to do the best we can in this meet against LSU at home and it (competing at home) makes a huge difference,” Moody said. “This is our one time against an SEC opponent where we are home this year. LSU matches up, both men and women, really well with us. I think it’s going a great meet on both sides. There are some areas where we’re stronger and there are some areas where they’re a little stronger, so it’s going to boil down to who wants to race the most and who wants to get to the wall first. “I think we’re in a pretty good place right now. I think as we continue to fine tune things, we’ll really see over the next couple of weeks how we match up against the best teams in the country,” Moody commented.
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South Carolina Gamecocks Football Roster # Name Pos. 1 Damiere Byrd WR 1 Rico McWilliams CB 3 Nick Jones WR 3 Jamari Smith CB 4 Ahmad Christian CB 4 Shaq Roland WR 5 Brendan Nosovitch QB 5 Darius English DE 6 Chris Moody FS 6 Connor Mitch QB 7 Jadeveon Clowney DE 7 Shon Carson TB 8 Kaiwan Lewis LB 8 Shamier Jeffery WR 9 Sharrod Golightly SPR 10 Skai Moore LB 10 Perry Orth QB 11 Pharoh Cooper WR 11 T.J. Holloman LB 12 Brison Williams SS 13 Grant Davitte QB 13 Tyler Hull P 14 Ali Groves CB 14 Connor Shaw QB 15 Austin Hails QB 15 Jimmy Legree CB 16 Kelvin Rainey TE 16 Nick St. Germain PK 17 Chaz Elder SS 17 Dylan Thompson QB 18 Patrick Fish P 18 Cedrick Cooper LB 19 Landon Ard PK 19 Jody Fuller WR 20 T.J. Gurley FS 21 Marcquis Roberts LB 21 Andrew Bunch WR 22 Brandon Wilds TB 23 Bruce Ellington WR 24 Ronnie Martin CB 24 Kendric Salley TB 25 Kadetrix Marcus FS 26 Jasper Sasser S 27 Victor Hampton CB 28 Jonathan Walton LB 28 Mike Davis TB 29 Elliott Fry P/K 30 Sidney Rhodes CB 31 Jordan Diaz FB 31 Mohamed Camara SPR 32 Larenz Bryant LB 33 Gerald Turner DE 33 David Williams TB 34 Mason Harris DE
Hgt. 5-9 5-11 5-7 5-10 5-10 6-1 6-1 6-6 6-1 6-3 6-6 5-8 6-0 6-1 5-10 6-2 6-1 5-11 6-2 5-11 6-3 6-2 5-10 6-1 6-2 6-0 6-3 5-9 6-2 6-3 6-0 6-2 5-9 5-11 5-10 6-1 5-11 6-2 5-9 5-11 5-9 6-1 6-0 5-10 6-0 5-9 6-0 5-10 6-1 6-1 6-0 6-2 6-1 6-3
Wgt. 166 187 174 183 189 190 220 226 212 227 274 219 221 207 195 205 212 184 228 218 190 206 184 209 214 187 233 175 199 218 195 213 172 217 196 225 185 223 196 179 183 195 192 202 234 215 150 167 233 181 215 256 200 218
Cl. JR RS FR RS JR FR RS SO SO RS FR RS FR RS FR FR JR RS SO SO RS SO RS JR FR RS FR FR RS FR JR FR RS JR FR SR RS SO RS SR RS FR RS FR RS FR RS JR RS JR RS SO SO RS FR SO RS SO RS FR SO JR JR RS FR JR FR RS JR FR SO FR JR RS JR FR FR FR FR RS SO
Hometown/High School/Last College Sicklerville, N.J./Timber Creek Hampton, Ga./Lovejoy Moore, S.C./Byrnes Jacksonville, Fla./Fletcher Jacksonville, Fla./Trinity Christian Lexington, S.C./Lexington Allentown, Pa./Central Catholic Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern McDonough, Ga./Henry County Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield Rock Hill, S.C./South Pointe Scranton, S.C./Lake City Mays Landing, N.J./St. Joseph St. Matthews, S.C./Calhoun County Decatur, Ga./Southwest DeKalb Cooper City, Fla./University Ponde Verda, Fla./Ponte Verda/Fla. State College Havelock, NC./Havelock Stone Mountain, Ga./St. Pius X Warner Robins, Ga./Northside/Fork Union Columbia, S.C./Irmo Mount Airy, N.C./Mount Airy/Guilford College Stone Mountain, Ga./Stephenson Flowery Branch, Ga./Flowery Branch Collinsville, Ill./Collinsville Beaufort, S.C./Beaufort Yulee, Fla./Yulee Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern Union City, Ga./Banneker Boiling Springs, S.C./Boiling Springs Shelby, N.C./Burns Lithonia, Ga./Lithonia Rock Hill, S.C./South Pointe Charlotte, N.C./Sun Valley Cairo, Ga./Cairo Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern Mt. Pleasant, S.C./Bishop England/Presbyterian Blythewood, S.C./Blythewood Moncks Corner, S.C./Berkeley Spartanburg, S.C./Spartanburg/Georgia Military Williston, S.C./Williston-Elko Stone Mountain, Ga./Stephenson Jacksonville, Fla./Wolfson Darlington, S.C./Darlington Daphne, Ala./Bayside Academy Lithonia, Ga./Stephenson Frisco, Tx./Prince of Peace Christian Easley, S.C./Wren/Western Carolina Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton West Cumming, Ga./Forsyth Charlotte, NC./Vance Goose Creek, S.C./Goose Creek Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter Fort Oglethorpe, Ga./Ridgeland
Coaches Steve Spurrier - Head Coach Deke Adams - Defensive Line Kirk Botkin - Linebackers/Spurs Grady Brown - Secondary/Assistant Special Teams Coordinator Shawn Elliott - Co-Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line G.A. Mangus - Quarterbacks Joe Robinson - Special Teams Coordinator Everette Sands - Running Backs Jamie Speronis - Associate AD/Football Operations Steve Spurrier Jr. - Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers/ Recruiting Coordinator Lorenzo Ward - Defensive Coordinator Robbie Liles - Director - Recruiting Operations Patrick Shine - Administrative Coordinator - Recruiting
# Name Pos. 35 Jeff Homad TE 36 Kyle Fleetwood SS 39 Max Huggins P/K 40 Andrew Komornik P 41 Kyle Morini LB 41 Connor McLaurin FB 42 Jordan Diggs SPR 43 James King LB 43 Garrison Gist FB 44 Gerald Dixon DE 45 Brandon Sturdivant FB 47 Drew Williams LS 48 Caleb Kelly PK 49 Garrett Shank S 49 Devin Potter TB 50 A.J. Cann OG 51 Cody Waldrop OC 51 Devin Washington DE 52 Phillip Dukes DT 52 Bryce King OG 53 Corey Robinson OT 54 Clayton Stadnik OC 55 Na'Ty Rodgers OT 55 David Johnson LB 57 Cedrick Malone SPR 58 Ryland Culbertson LS 59 Coleman Harley LS 65 Brock Stadnik OG 67 Ronald Patrick OG 69 D.J. Park OT 70 Alan Knott OC 71 Brandon Shell OT 73 J.P. Vonashek OT 74 Mason Zandi OT 75 Will Sport OG 76 Mike Matulis OT 78 Cody Gibson OT 80 K.J. Brent WR 81 Rory Anderson TE 82 Kwinton Smith WR 83 Carlton Heard WR 84 Matthew Harvey WR 85 Kane Whitehurst WR 86 David Wilkins WR 87 Drake Thomason WR 88 Drew Owens TE 89 Jerell Adams TE 90 Chaz Sutton DE 92 Gerald Dixon, Jr. DT 93 Deon Green DT 94 Kelsey Griffin DT 95 Michael Washington DE 97 J.T. Surratt DT 99 Kelcy Quarles DT
Hgt. 6-2 5-11 6-1 6-5 5-10 6-0 6-0 6-0 5-10 6-2 6-2 6-2 6-0 6-0 5-10 6-4 6-2 6-3 6-3 6-3 6-8 6-3 6-5 6-1 6-0 6-4 6-1 6-5 6-2 6-4 6-4 6-6 6-6 6-9 6-5 6-5 6-7 6-4 6-5 6-4 6-0 6-8 5-11 6-1 6-1 6-6 6-6 6-5 6-3 6-4 6-2 6-3 6-2 6-4
Wgt. 220 216 185 225 212 237 214 235 255 268 212 190 184 171 200 314 319 225 315 281 341 281 296 268 201 265 264 286 315 334 272 323 283 293 294 266 286 188 242 212 178 225 179 182 205 244 237 263 318 287 292 243 307 298
Cl. RS JR RS FR FR FR JR RS JR RS FR SO RS SO RS SO RS FR FR RS FR FR FR RS JR RS FR FR RS SO FR RS JR RS FR FR FR RS FR RS JR RS SO RS FR SR FR FR RS SO FR RS FR RS SO JR RS JR RS SO JR RS FR SO SO RS SO SR RS JR RS SO SO SR RS SO RS SO FR SO RS JR JR
Hometown/High School/Last College Hilton Head Island, S.C./Hilton Head/UNCP Stone Mountain, Ga./Stephenson Myrtle Beach, S.C./Myrtle Beach Fort Mill, S.C./Nations Ford Lexington, S.C./White Knoll/Gray Military Raleigh, N.C./Garner Fort Myers, Fla./Island Coast Goose Creek, S.C./Goose Creek/Benedict Rock Hill, S.C./Northwesterm Rock Hill, S.C./South Pointe Fort Mill, S.C./Nation Ford/York Tech Irmo, S.C/Dutch Fork Cayce, S.C./Brookland-Cayce Marietta, Ga./Lassiter Granite Falls, N.C./South Caldwell Bamberg, S.C./Bamberg-Ehrhardt Seffner, Fla./Armwood Orlando, Fla./Jones Manning, S.C./Manning Dillon, S.C./Dillon Havelock, N.C./Havelock Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford Waldorf, Md./McDonough Lithonia, Ga./Lithonia Camden, S.C./Camden/Coastal Carolina Laurens, S.C./Laurens Academy Aiken, S.C./South Aiken Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford Cocoa, Fla./Cocoa Dillon, S.C./Dillon Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek Goose Creek, S.C./Goose Creek Saint Marys, Ga./Camden County Irmo, S.C./Chapin Milton, Fla./Pace Boynton Beach, Fla./Park Vista Tallahassee, Fla./Lincoln Waxhaw, N.C./Marvin Ridge Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern Hamer, S.C./Dillon Athens, Ga./Clarke Central/Garner-Webb Rock Hill, S.C./Rock Hill Duluth, Ga./Chattahoochee/Arkansas Cowpens, S.C./Broome Greenville, S.C./Eastside Charlotte, N.C./Ardrey Kell Pinewood, S.C./Scott's Branch Savannah, Ga./Jenkins/Fork Union Military Rock Hill, S.C./Northwestern Windermere, Fla./Olympia Buford, Ga./Mill Creek Allendale, S.C./Allendale-Fairfax/S.C. State Winston-Salem, N.C./Parkland Hodges, S.C./Greenwood/Fork Union
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Florida Gators Football Roster # Name Pos. 1 Vernon Hargreaves, III DB 1 Quinton Dunbar WR 2 Dominique Easley DL 3 Tyler Murphy QB 3 Antonio Morrison LB 4 Damien Jacobs DL 4 Kyle Christy P 4 Andre Debose WR 5 Ahmad Fulwood WR 5 Marcus Roberson DB 6 Dante Fowler, Jr. BUCK 6 Jeff Driskel QB 7 Ronald Powell LB 7 Alex Adler HS 8 Jeremy Brown DB 8 Trey Burton WR 9 Latroy Pittman WR 9 Matt Rolin LB 9 Jacob Guy QB 10 Valdez Showers RB 11 Neiron Ball LB 11 Demarcus Robinson WR 12 Max Staver QB 13 Daniel McMillian LB 13 Christian Provancha QB 14 Jaylen Watkins DB 14 Chris Wilkes QB 15 Ryan Parrish WR 15 Loucheiz Purifoy DB 16 Austin Hardin K 17 Jordan Sherit DL 17 Skyler Mornhinweg QB 18 Kent Taylor TE 19 Johnny Townsend P 19 Ryan McGriff QB 20 Marcus Maye DB 21 Jabari Gorman DB 21 Kelvin Taylor RB 22 Adam Lane RB 22 Evan Schroeder DB 22 Nick Washington DB 23 Danny Krysalka K 24 Brian Poole DB 24 Matt Jones RB 25 Garrett Stephens DB 25 Gideon Ajagbe LB 26 Marcell Harris DB 27 Ben Peacock DB 28 Jeremi Powell LB 29 Rhaheim Ledbetter DB 30 Tim Clark DB 30 Michael McNeely WR 31 Cody Riggs DB 32 D.L. Powell WR 33 Chris Maignan WR 33 Mack Brown RB 34 Alex Anzalone LB 34 Case Harrison WR 35 Michael Iorio DB
Hgt. Wgt. Cl. Hometown/High School/Last College 5’ 11” 192 FR Tampa/Wharton 6’ 1” 194 RJR Miami/Booker T. Washington 6’ 2” 285 SR Staten Island, N.Y./Curtis 6’ 2” 210 RJR Wethersfield, Conn./Wethersfield 6’ 1” 230 SO Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook 6’ 3” 300 SR Gibson, La./H.L. Boureois/East Miss. C.C. 6’ 3” 198 JR Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg 6’ 0” 187 RSR Sanford/Seminole 6’ 5” 196 FR Jacksonville/Bishop Kenny 6’ 0” 195 JR Ft. Lauderdale/St. Thomas Aquinas 6’ 3” 266 SO St. Petersburg/Lakewood Senior 6’ 4” 239 JR Oviedo/Hagerty 6’ 4” 240 RJR Moreno Valley, Calif./Rancho Verde 6’ 2” 219 FR Melbourne/Rockledge 5’ 10” 185 RSR Orlando/Boone 6’ 2” 225 SR Venice/Venice Senior 6’ 0” 210 SO Citra/North Marion 6’ 4” 227 FR Ashburn, Va./Briar Woods 6’ 5” 210 RFR Dade City/Pasco 5’ 11” 190 RSO Detroit, Mich./Madison 6’ 3” 235 RJR Jackson, Ga./Jackson 6’ 2” 201 FR Fort Valley, Ga./Peach County 6’ 6” 238 FR Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood Academy 6’ 1” 225 FR Jacksonville/First Coast 6’ 6” 223 RJR Cocoa/Cocoa Beach 6’ 0” 188 SR Cape Coral/Cape Coral 6’ 4” 230 FR Orlando/Dr. Phillips 6’ 1” 200 RJR Lakeland/Lakeland Christian 6’ 0” 190 JR Pensacola/Pine Forest 5’ 10” 208 RFR Atlanta, Ga./Marist 6’ 4” 247 FR Tampa/Hillsborough 6’ 2” 214 RFR Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph’s Prep 6’ 5” 224 SO Land O’Lakes/Land O’Lakes 6’ 1” 191 FR Orlando/Boone 6’ 0” 203 RSO Gainesville/Gainesville 6’ 0” 206 RFR Melbourne/Holy Trinity Episcopal School 5’ 10” 184 JR Miami/Monsignor Pace 5’ 10” 214 FR Belle Glade/Glades Day 5’ 7” 222 FR Winter Haven/Winter Haven 5’ 11” 183 RSO New Smyrna Beach/New Smyrna Beach 6’ 0” 191 FR Jacksonville/Trinity Christian Academy 6’ 1” 191 FR Ocala/Forest 5’ 10” 205 SO Bradenton/Southeast 6’ 2” 226 SO Seffner/Armwood 5’ 8” 185 FR Louisville, Ky./Saint Xavier 6’ 2” 244 RJR Coconut Grove/Ransom Everglades 6’ 2” 215 FR Orlando/Dr. Phillips 5’ 8” 170 RSO Bradenton/Braden River 6’ 1” 210 RFR Largo/Pinellas Park 5’ 9” 219 RFR Shelby, N.C./Crest Senior 5’ 9” 197 RSR Wellborn/Branford 5’ 8” 175 RJR Clearwater/Palm Harbor University 5’ 9” 190 RJR Ft. Lauderdale/St. Thomas Aquinas 6’ 1” 178 FR Alachua/Sante Fe 5’ 11” 185 RSR Miami/Northwest Christian Academy 5’ 11” 215 RJR Lithonia, Ga./King 6’ 3” 239 FR Wyomissing, Pa./Wyomissing Area 6’ 0” 183 FR Gainesville/Gainesville 5’ 10” 185 FR Nokomis/Venice
Coaches Head Coach - Will Muschamp Special Teams Coordinator/Outside Linebackers - Jeff Choate Offensive Line - Tim Davis Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers - D.J. Durkin Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line - Brad Lawing Tight Ends - Derek Lewis Offensive Coordinator - Brent Pease Wide Receivers - Joker Phillips Defensive Backs - Travaris Robinson Running Backs - Brian White
# Name Pos. 36 David Campbell LB 37 Mark Herndon RB 38 Kerolin Francois DB 40 Justin Vogel P 40 Jarrad Davis LB 41 Hunter Joyer FB 42 Keanu Neal DB 43 Kyle Crofoot LS 44 Leon Orr DL 45 Antonio Riles DL 46 Drew Ferris LS 46 LeAndre Rembert LB 48 William Few P 49 Darrin Kitchens LB 50 Octavius Jackson OL 51 Michael Taylor LB 52 Steven Stipe LB 53 Cody Adams LB 54 Cameron Dillard OL 55 Darious Cummings DL 55 Roderick Johnson OL 56 Andre Palmer LB 57 Caleb Brantley DL 57 Dakota Wilson DL 63 Trip Thurman OL 64 Kyle Koehne OL 67 Jon Halapio OL 69 Nick Davis OL 70 D.J. Humphries OL 72 Jonotthan Harrison OL 73 Tyler Moore OL 74 Trenton Brown OL 75 Chaz Green OL 76 Max Garcia OL 77 Ian Silberman OL 78 Trevon Young OL 79 Quinteze Williams OL 79 Matthew Fuchs OL 81 Marqui Hawkins WR 81 Darius Masline WR 82 Bair Diamond TE 83 Solomon Patton WR 84 Colin Thompson TE 85 Chris Thompson WR 86 Raphael Andrades WR 87 Tevin Westbrook TE 87 A.J. Mobley WR 88 Clay Burton TE 89 Alvin Bailey WR 90 Jonathan Bullard DL 91 Joey Ivie DL 92 Connor Gilboy P 93 Dallas Stubbs P 94 Bryan Cox, Jr. DL 95 Alex McCalister DL 95 Francisco Velez K 96 Sterling Stanley DL 97 Brad Phillips K 99 Jay-nard Bostwick DL
Hgt. Wgt. Cl. Hometown/High School/Last College 6’ 0” 221 RSR Live Oak/Suwannee/UCF/Sante Fe 5’ 9” 198 SO Ocala/Forest 5’ 9” 180 FR Lake Worth/Forest Hill 6’ 4” 211 RFR Tampa/Berkeley Prep 6’ 2” 226 FR Kingsland, Ga./Camden County 5’ 11” 240 JR Wesley Chapel/Tampa Catholic 6’ 1” 206 FR Bushnell/South Sumter 6’ 4” 220 RSO Windemere/The First Academy 6’ 5” 302 RJR New Port Richey/Gulf 6’ 4” 287 FR Lawrenceville, Ga./Archer 6’ 0” 205 RJR Carlsbad, Calif./San Diego Jewish Academy 5’ 8” 238 FR Alachua/Santa Fe 5’ 8” 164 FR Tampa/Plant 6’ 2” 237 SR Homestead/Homestead 6’ 4” 304 FR Moultrie, Ga./Colquitt County 6’ 0” 233 RJR Atlanta, Ga./Westlake 204 FR Waycross, Ga./Pierce County 5’ 11” 6’ 0” 233 RSO Ocala/North Marion 6’ 4” 297 FR Canton, Mich./Plymouth Canton 6’ 1” 305 JR Titusville/Astronaut/East Mississippi 6’ 5” 316 FR Delray Beach/American Heritage 5’ 11” 213 FR Ocala/Lake Weir 6’ 2” 313 FR Crescent City/Crescent City 5’ 11” 260 RSO Bradenton/Braden River 6’ 5” 315 RSO Dover, Del./Dover 6’ 5” 315 RSR Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral 6’ 3” 320 RSR St. Petersburg/St. Petersburg Catholic 6’ 3” 251 FR Salt Lake City, Utah/Buchholz (Gainesville) 6’ 5” 285 SO Union, N.C./Mallard Creek 6’ 3” 310 RSR Groveland/South Lake 6’ 5” 320 RSO Clearwater/Countryside/St. Petersburg 6’ 8” 361 JR Albany, Ga./Westover/Georgia Military 6’ 5” 300 RJR Tampa/Tampa Catholic 6’ 4” 311 RJR Norcross, Ga./Norcross/Maryland 6’ 5” 306 RJR Orange Park/Fleming Island 6’ 4” 272 FR Bradenton/Braden River 6’ 4” 280 RFR Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek 6’ 2” 246 RFR Gainesville/Buchholz 6’ 1” 213 FR Columbus, Ga./Carver 5’ 8” 172 RFR Jacksonville/Raines 6’ 4” 228 RFR Fort Myers/Bishop Verot 5’ 9” 177 SR Mobile, Ala./Murphy 6’ 4” 258 RFR Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood 6’ 0” 167 FR Gainesville/Gainesville 6’ 0” 198 SO Tallahassee/Lincoln 6’ 5” 255 JR Coconut Creek/North Broward Prep 5’ 11” 219 RJR Fayetteville, Ga./Starr’s Mill/Sante Fe 6’ 4” 257 JR Venice/Venice Senior 5’ 11” 185 FR Seffner/Armwood 6’ 3” 270 SO Shelby, N.C./Crest Senior 6’ 3” 270 FR Dade City/Pasco 5’ 8” 180 FR Land O’Lakes/Sunlake 5’ 9” 151 RSO Gainesville/Gainesville/Santa Fe CC 6’ 3” 260 RFR Ft. Lauderdale/St. Thomas Aquinas 6’ 6” 238 RFR Clemmons, N.C./West Forsyth 5’ 9” 182 RJR Ocala/Trinity Catholic 5’ 11” 172 FR West Palm Beach/Dwyer 5’ 10” 195 SR Gainesville/Buchholz 6’ 3” 305 FR Port Saint Lucie/West Centennial
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Reminder from Gamecock Club: Please remember that the Gamecock Club renewal deadline is January 31, 2014. New York City Gamecock Club Weekly Football Game-Watching Event Saturdays at The Mason Jar. The best place to watch Gamecock football if you can’t be at Williams-Brice! Located at 43 E 30th Street in Manhattan, with a Gamecock-inspired menu and discounts for Gamecock fans. Call them at: (212) 213-3587. For more information, check out the website at: www.nycgamecocks.com or email chapter president JR Buzzelli at gamecockclubofgny@gmail. com. Florence County Gamecock Club invites you to a Pre-Florida Rally Thursday, November 14, 2013 at Redbone Alley in Florence from 4:30-6:30 p.m. All Gamecock Club members and fans are invited to attend the Florence County Gamecock Club Pre-Florida Pep Rally on Thursday, November 14, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Redbone Alley in Florence. Ken Ard will be hosting his daily sports talk show from there which airs on 98.9 ESPN radio. Fans will have an opportunity to tell Ken about some of their favorite games, plays and stories on the radio. Redbone has graciously offered special prices on beer, liquor and appetizers. Be sure to bring your business cards as there will be some giveaways. No RSVPs are necessary. If you have any questions, please call Rod Jernigan at Jernigan Law Firm (843) 664-0540. Savannah Gamecock Club Social Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m. B&D Burgers - 209 W. Congress St. Savannah, Ga. Get to know other fellow Gamecocks, hear from some of the Gamecock Club staff members and talk about future events. Don’t forget to bring your business card for the raffle; prize is a signed Steve Spurrier football. RSVP by Nov. 13 to Reeves Skeen at reeves. skeen@gmail.com. Fairfield County Gamecock Club Meeting Tuesday, November 19th at 7:00 p.m. All Gamecock Club members and fans are invited
November 6, 2013
to the Fairfield Cove Restaurant (1418 Hwy 321 Bypass South, Winnsboro, S.C. 29180) for the Fairfield County Gamecock Club business meeting. The meal will be a Dutch treat and there will be great door prizes. Additionally, a 2012 Outback Bowl autographed Steve Spurrier football will be raffled. Tickets will only be sold at the meeting and you must be present to win. Guest speaker will be Jay Brown, Assistant Director of the Gamecock Club. A special thanks to Carolina Wings (Blythewood), Frank’s Carwash, Jewelry Warehouse Garnet and Black Traditions, and Scotties’ Café and Grill (Blythewood) for their generous donations to the Fairfield County Gamecock Club. Colleton County Gamecock Club - Pep Rally Monday, Nov. 25 from 6-8 p.m. Walterboro Elks Lodge at 236 Milestone Ln. in Walterboro, S.C. 29488. Fun for all ages! DJ and Cocky will be present with raffle tickets for awesome prizes. For more information contact Lori Beard at lori@ docheno.com or (843) 909-1919.
Don’t forget to check the calendar on www.spursandfeathers. com for all upcoming events.
Upcoming South Carolina Athletics Events zz November 8 Women’s Basketball vs. Charleston Southern.........7 p.m. Volleyball at Kentucky..................................................................7 p.m. Women’s Tennis at Kitty Harrison Invitational.................. All Day zz November 9 Swimming & Diving vs. LSU.....................................10 a.m. Men’s Basketball vs. Longwood.................................1 p.m. Men’s Soccer vs. Old Dominion..................................7 p.m. Sand volleyball vs. Georgia State/Florida State................ All Day Women’s Tennis at Kitty Harrison Invitational.................. All Day Equestrian at Auburn........................................................................ TBA zz November 10 Volleyball at Georgia............................................................... 1:30 p.m. Women’s Basketball vs. Louisiana Tech....................2 p.m.
submitted photo
Great picture of former Gamecock football player Ron Rabune (85-88) and his family after South Carolina’s thrilling win over Missouri. They came to the game in the other Columbia from Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Women’s Tennis at Kitty Harrison Invitational.................. All Day zz November 12 Men’s Basketball at Baylor...........................................................3 p.m. Home events listed in Bold
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Depth Charts for November 16 OFFENSE WR: 1 Damiere Byrd 4 Shaq Roland 8 Shamier Jeffery WR: 23 Bruce Ellington 11 Pharoh Cooper 80 K.J. Brent WR: 3 Nick Jones 85 Kane Whitehurst 82 Kwinton Smith LT: 53 Corey Robinson 74 Mason Zandi LG: 50 A.J. Cann 65 Brock Stadnik C: 51 Cody Waldrop -OR- 54 Clayton Stadnik RG: 67 Ronald Patrick 75 Will Sport 55 Na’ Ty Rodgers RT: 71 Brandon Shell 78 Cody Gibson TE: 81 Rory Anderson 89 Jerell Adams 83 Mason Zandi QB: 14 Connor Shaw 17 Dylan Thompson 5 Brendan Nosovitch FB: 41 Connor McLaurin 31 Jordan Diaz TB: 28 Mike Davis 7 Shon Carson 26 Jamari Smith
OFFENSE LT: 70 D.J. Humphries 76 Max Garcia LG: 76 Max Garcia 63 Trip Thurman C: 72 Jonotthan Harrison 64 Kyle Koehne RG: 67 Jon Halapio 64 Kyle Koehne 77 Ian Silberman RT: 73 Tyler Moore 74 Trenton Brown TE: 88 Clay Burton 87 Tevin Westbrook RB: 33 Mack Brown 21 Kelvin Taylor QB: 3 Tyler Murphy 17 Skyler Mornhinweg FB: 41 Hunter Joyer 25 Gideon Ajagbe X: 1 Quinton Dunbar 11 Demarcus Robinson Z: 83 Solomon Patton 5 Ahmad Fulwood 85 Chris Thompson F: 8 Trey Burton 9 Latroy Pittman
South Carolina
5-9, 166, Jr. Sicklerville, N.J. 6-1, 190, So. Lexington, S.C. 6-1, 207, So. St. Matthews, S.C. 5-9, 196, Jr. Moncks Corner, S.C. 5-11, 184, Fr. Havelock, N.C. 6-4, 188, So. Waxhaw, N.C. 5-7, 174, Jr. Moore, S.C. 5-11, 179, So. Duluth, Ga 6-4, 212, RFr. Hamer, S.C. 6-8, 341, Jr. Havelock, N.C. 6-9, 293, RFr. Irmo, S.C. 6-4, 314, Jr. Bamberg, S.C. 6-5, 286, RFr. Greensboro, N.C. 6-2, 319, RFr, Seffner, Fla. 6-3, 281, RFr. Greensboro, N.C. 6-2, 315, Sr. Cocoa, Fla. 6-5, 294, So. Milton, Fla. 6-5, 296, Fr. Waldorf, Md. 6-6, 323, So. Goose Creek, S.C. 6-7, 286, Jr. Tallahassee, Fla. 6-5, 242, Jr. Powder Springs, Ga. 6-6, 237, So. Pinewood, S.C. 6-9, 293, RFr. Irmo, S.C. 6-1, 209, Sr. Flowery Branch, Ga. 6-3, 218, Jr. Boiling Springs, S.C. 6-1, 220, RFr. Allentown, Pa. 6-0, 237, Jr. Raleigh, N.C. 6-1, 233, Jr. Hamilton, N.J. 5-9, 215, So. Lithonia, Ga. 5-8, 219, So. Scranton, S.C. 5-10, 183, Fr. Jacksonville, Fla.
DEFENSE DE: 90 Chaz Sutton 44 Gerald Dixon 34 Mason Harris DT: 97 J.T. Surratt 92 Gerald Dixon Jr. 93 Deon Green DT: 99 Kelcy Quarles 52 Phillip Dukes 94 Kelsey Griffin DE: 7 Jadeveon Clowney 5 Darius English MLB: 11 T.J. Holloman -OR- 8 Kaiwan Lewis 28 Jonathan Walton WLB: 21 Marcquis Roberts 10 Skai Moore 18 Cedrick Cooper SPR: 9 Sharrod Golightly 42 Jordan Diggs 32 Larenz Bryant CB: 27 Victor Hampton 4 Ahmad Christian SS: 12 Brison Williams 25 Kadetrix Marcus FS: 17 Chaz Elder 20 T.J. Gurley CB: 15 Jimmy Legree 1 Rico McWilliams
6-5, 263, Sr. 6-2, 268, So. 6-3, 218, So. 6-2, 307, Jr. 6-3, 318, So. 6-4, 287, So. 6-4, 298, Jr. 6-3, 315, So. 6-2, 292, Fr. 6-6, 274, Jr. 6-6, 226, RFr. 6-2, 228, RFr. 6-0, 221, So. 6-0, 234, Fr. 6-1, 225, So. 6-2, 205, Fr. 6-2, 213, So. 5-10, 195, Jr. 6-0, 214, RFr. 6-0, 215, Fr. 5-10, 202, Jr. 5-10, 189, So. 5-11, 218, Jr. 6-1, 195, Jr. 6-2, 199, RFr. 5-10, 196, So. 6-0, 187, Sr. 5-11, 187, RFr.
Savannah, Ga. Rock Hill, S.C. Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. Winston-Salem, N.C. Rock Hill, S.C. Windermere, Fla. Hodges, S.C. Manning, S.C Buford, Ga. Rock Hill, S.C. Powder Springs, Ga. Stone Mountain, Ga. Mays Landing, N.J. Daphne, Ala. Powder Springs, Ga. Cooper City, Fla. Lithonia, Ga. Decatur, Ga. Fort Myers, Fla. Charlotte, N.C. Darlington, S.C. Jacksonville, Fla. Warner Robins, Ga. Stone Mountain, Ga. Union City, Ga. Cairo, Ga. Beaufort, S.C. Hampton, Ga.
Florida
6-5, 285, So. 6-4, 311, Jr. 6-4, 311, Jr. 6-5, 315, So. 6-3, 310, Sr. 6-5, 315, Sr. 6-3, 320, Sr. 6-5, 315, Sr. 6-5, 306, Jr. 6-5, 320, So. 6-8, 361, Jr. 6-4, 257, Jr. 6-5, 255, Jr. 5-11, 215, Jr. 5-10, 214, Fr. 6-2, 210, Jr. 6-2, 214, RFr. 5-11, 240, Jr. 6-2, 244, Jr. 6-2, 194, Jr. 6-2, 201, Fr. 5-9, 177, Sr. 6-5, 196, Fr. 6-0, 167, Fr. 6-2, 225, Sr. 6-0, 210, So.
Union, N.C. Norcross, Ga. Norcross, Ga. Dover, Del. Groveland, Fla. Indianapolis, Ind. St. Petersburg, Fla. Indianapolis, Ind. Orange Park, Fla. Clearwater, Fla. Albany, Ga. Venice, Fla. Coconut Creek, Fla. Lithonia, Ga. Belle Glade, Fla. Wethersfield, Conn. Philadelphia, Pa. Wesley Chapel, Fla. Coconut Grove, Fla. Miami, Fla. Fort Valley, Ga. Mobile, Ala. Jacksonville, Fla. Gainesville, Fla. Venice, Fla. Citra, Fla.
DEFENSE DE: 90 Jonathan Bullard 94 Bryan Cox, Jr. NT: 44 Leon Orr 55 Darious Cummings DT: 4 Damien Jacobs 90 Jonathan Bullard Buck: 6 Dante Fowler, Jr. 95 Alex McCalister SLB: 7 Ronald Powell 49 Darrin Kitchens MLB: 3 Antonio Morrison -OR- 51 Michael Taylor WLB: 51 Michael Taylor -OR- 11 Neiron Ball RCB: 15 Loucheiz Purifoy 1 Vernon Hargreaves, III S: 14 Jaylen Watkins 20 Marcus Maye S: 31 Cody Riggs 21 Jabari Gorman LCB: 5 Marcus Roberson 1 Vernon Hargreaves, III Nickel: 24 Brian Poole 1 Vernon Hargreaves, III Dime: 20 Marcus Maye 31 Cody Riggs
6-3, 270, So. Shelby, N.C. 6-3, 260, RFr. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 6-5, 302, Jr. New Port Richey, Fla. 6-1, 305, Jr. Titusville, Fla. 6-3, 300, Sr. Gibson, La. 6-3, 270, So. Shelby, N.C. 6-3, 266, So. St. Petersburg, Fla. 6-6, 238, RFr. Clemmons, N.C. 6-4, 240, Jr. Moreno Valley, Calif. 6-2, 237, Sr. Homestead, Fla. 6-1, 230, So. Bolingbrook, Ill. 6-0, 233, Jr. Atlanta, Ga. 6-0, 233, Jr. Atlanta, Ga. 6-3, 235, Jr. Jackson, Ga. 6-0, 190, Jr. Pensacola, Fla. 5-11, 192, Fr. Tampa, Fla. 6-0, 188, Sr. Cape Coral, Fla. 6-0, 206, RFr. Melbourne, Fla. 5-9, 190, Jr. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 5-10, 184, Jr. Miami, Fla. 6-0, 195, Jr. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 5-11, 192, Fr. Tampa, Fla. 5-10, 205, So. Bradenton, Fla. 5-11, 192, Fr. Tampa, Fla. 6-0, 206, RFr. Melbourne, Fla. 5-9, 190, Jr. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
SPECIALISTS KO: 19 Landon Ard 29 Elliott Fry PK: 29 Elliott Fry 19 Landon Ard P: 13 Tyler Hull 18 Patrick Fish KR: 11 Pharoh Cooper 23 Bruce Ellington PR: 11 Pharoh Cooper 27 Victor Hampton SSN: 58 Ryland Culbertson LSN: 47 Drew Williams H: 18 Patrick Fish 5 Brendan Nosovitch
5-9, 172, So. 6-0, 150, Fr. 6-0, 150, Fr. 5-9, 172, So. 6-2, 206, Jr. 6-0, 195, Jr. 5-11, 184, Fr. 5-9, 196, Jr. 5-11, 184, Fr. 5-10, 202, Jr. 6-4, 265, Jr. 6-2, 190, Fr. 6-0, 195, Jr. 6-1, 220, RFr.
Rock Hill, S.C. Frisco, Texas Frisco, Texas Rock Hill, S.C. Mount Airy, N.C. Shelby, N.C. Havelock, N.C. Moncks Corner, S.C. Havelock, N.C. Darlington, S.C. Laurens, S.C. Irmo, S.C. Shelby, N.C. Allentown, Pa.
*These depth charts are taken from the listings from each team’s previous game. Spurs & Feathers goes to print shortly after each football game. Please visit www.spursandfeathers.com over the course of the week for updated depth charts.
SPECIALISTS KR: 83 Solomon Patton 15 Loucheiz Purifoy K: 95 Frankie Velez 16 Austin Hardin H: 43 Kyle Crofoot 3 Tyler Murphy P: 19 Johnny Townsend 4 Kyle Christy PR: 5 Marcus Roberson 1 Vernon Hargreaves, III LS: 46 Drew Ferris 43 Kyle Crofoot
5-9, 177, Sr. Mobile, Ala. 6-0, 190, Jr. Pensacola, Fla. 5-9, 182, Jr. Ocala, Fla. 5-10, 208, RFr. Atlanta, Ga. 6-4, 220, So. Windemere, Fla. 6-2, 210, Jr. Wethersfield, Conn. 6-1, 191, Fr. Orlando, Fla. 6-3, 198, Jr. Brownsburg, Ind. 6-0, 195, Jr. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 5-11, 192, Fr. Tampa, Fla. 6-0, 205, Jr. Carlsbad, Calif. 6-4, 220, So. Windemere, Fla.
30 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013
Spurs & Feathers • 31
November 6, 2013
This team is coming together at the right time On a simply beautiful day for any outdoor event, much less football, thoughts drift around about things aside from the job at hand. It is human nature, even for football players, who sometimes we forget are kids out doing what they do. In this instance, we are talking about kids (young Ed Girardeau Contributing men) who get to play a Editor sport. It is serious business and we all expect perfection, but on days like this past Saturday it can be very easy to get distracted. That’s not to mention coming off as emotional a win as there has ever been over the No. 5 team in the nation on their home field and a week of recounting the story, over and over. And that was just for me. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for Connor Shaw, or Elliott Fry, or Bruce Ellington, or any one of the team that pulled off the improbable 27-24 victory in double overtime. As we walked into the stadium the morn-
ing of the game, I mentioned that it just seemed all too relaxed. Mississippi State, not considered one of the juggernauts of the SEC but certainly capable, was in town and would love nothing more than to pull their own improbable upset over a ranked opponent. Following their opening drive, it appeared that the Bulldogs were ready to play, as they scored rather easily it seemed (a la UCF) and led 7-0. Unlike UCF, the Gamecocks marched down the field and answered with a tying touchdown. Shaq Roland’s first since the North Carolina game, 14 yards and Shaw and Roland followed that up with a 43-yarder and USC never looked back in a 34-16 win. Along the way there were five Bulldog turnovers which figured heavily into the victory. Otherwise, if you looked at the postgame box score and did not know the score or the turnovers, one might think Carolina could not have possibly won. Mississippi State had 11 more first downs, 88 more yards passing, 78 more total yards and three less punts. How could the Gamecocks have won by 18?
Well, turnovers do count and short fields result in those kind of stats; 14 points in the first quarter and another 17 in the third and a rather relaxing win for USC was the story of the day. Add on top of that a young defense that is coming of age. Freshmen and sophomores are now starting to look comfortable and learn what coaches mean by playing their assignments. In the postgame press conference, assignments and focus were the words of the day. The confidence level of the defense is coming around and the players are starting to play that way. Its not perfect. Far from it. Mistakes will still come, but the talent level of these young guys is starting to show. And you could hear it in their voices at the press conference. This is not a cocky group, but they all speak well and they started to talk in a way that you can just feel it coming around. The group Saturday included Shaw, Shaq Roland, Jadeveon Clowney, Sharrod Golightly, Mike Davis and Skai Moore. All of them come across as humble but confident and they each have a genuine like for each other.
This was highlighted by a question from the audience which was from Davis, who asked Clowney and Golightly if they would address only giving up 16 points. The laughter after the questions was loud and the answers were not earth-shattering, but you can tell there is an appreciation for each other that passes from offense to defense. This team is coming together at the right time! Sure we would love to have the two losses back, but in turn we sure don’t want to give back the ones that almost got away. The football team has now won a team tying record of 15 games in a row at home, which ties a mark going back to the George Rogers’ years. Clowney spoke of the importance of getting the record against Florida and extending it from there. Somehow I don’t think the next game two weeks from now will have a “relaxed” atmosphere coming in. One SEC game remaining on the season. A chance to finish 6-2 in the SEC, win the East and break the home win record streak. As Golightly said, “it feels like we’re that much closer to Atlanta!” And the best part is, we can really believe it!
just concentrate on playing baseball. “There’s a lot of little things in this job that if work is done before the game or practice and you’re not in it, you might not think about … so once the players and coaches are on the field and you think ‘okay, the team got to Athens.’ Well are focusing solely on baseball he can relax a how did they get there? You’ve got to get the little, but he must still be available for needs that bus, you’ve got to send it out for bid and you’ve may arise. got to get the bids back. You have to make sure “If everything went well up to that point, then the hotels are all ready before you get there,” we know that we have done our job well,” Lusk Lusk said. “Then you go practice and make sure noted. that everything is taken care of, like where to Lusk must get back to work near the end of park the bus. the game in coordinating the team’s postgame “Sometimes that can be a challenge … a lot of meal and travel from the stadium. He said the logistical issues and timing things where somepostgame meal has to be ordered with his best times you just have to use your best judgement judgement because you don’t want it to sit out … it’s kind of an art with some of these things. and get cold, but it also should not be too late. It’s especially difficult with a sport that doesn’t Overall, Lusk said that his job boils down to have a game clock,” Lusk continued. making sure that many of the little details are Lusk said that he is happy to worry about all taken care of so that the team and coaches can these details so the team can only think about
baseball. Another one of his many jobs is to coordinate with compliance and help with recruiting as well. Lusk really is involved in pretty much anything that involves the Gamecock baseball program. This year, Lusk is a new addition to the South Carolina baseball staff, but his relationship with head coach Chad Holbrook goes back to Lusk’s senior year of high school. “We first met my senior year of high school when he was recruiting one of my friends … then I got the student-manager job for the baseball team at North Carolina and my first three years were his last three there,” Lusk explained. “We kept in good touch and remained good friends, so it was a neat opportunity for me to join him down here. Our relationship had always been pretty strong even though he was here and I was at North Carolina.”
Lusk said that he is grateful for the opportunity to take this role at South Carolina and the best part about his job is when the team is successful on the field. “You spend a lot of time and a lot of energy and seeing a team win is extremely rewarding,” Lusk said. “In other careers folks have victories in their job and other accomplishments, but to me, I don’t know what would compare to working for a team and seeing your team win. “I think that’s what’s great about college athletics is winning is a whole lot of fun. You spend a lot of time and energy here, you get to know the players and coaches extremely well and you get to see the hard work pay off with a victory at the highest level; (it) is extremely rewarding. At a place like this there is a whole lot of winning, so it was a great opportunity for me for a lot of reasons,” Lusk concluded.
inside the Chart, cont. from page 25
over as head coach of Delaware Valley College in nearby Doylestown, Pa. The following year, on the strength of a recommendation from his former coordinator Brindise, Guenther joined Spurrier’s staff as an offensive quality control assistant with the Washington Redskins. And of course, Mullen hitched his star to Urban Meyer, following the coach to Bowling Green, Utah and Florida before taking over at Mississippi State in 2009. Last Tuesday, Mangus’ phone buzzed with a text message. It was from Vecchio, his former quarterback. He had just been selected to the Ursinus College Hall of Fame. “He said ‘thanks, I owe you.’ I said, ‘No, you don’t,’” Mangus recalled. A decade later, the Gamecocks’ quarter-
backs coach still has plenty of fondness for the Pennsylvania school. A younger cousin graduated from Ursinus and he still follows Division III football to this day. “They just hadn’t won much. We kind of flipped it around and had some success. It was fun,” Mangus said with a smile. And on Saturday, the former football lightweight once again took center stage in the SEC. Even the man who played with Mullen and coached with Mangus has a hard time believing it. “I can’t explain it,” Guenther said of their unlikely rise from Ursinus. “I just know that we all loved football.” Suddenly, Ursinus is known more for a coaching tree than a sycamore tree.
lusk, cont. from page 18
The team had to finish practice at 6 p.m., because the school cafeteria closed at 6:30. And of course, there was Ursinus’ threadbare football history. None of that fazed him. “It depends on how you look at those jobs. Sometimes you look at those jobs as you can go somewhere, and do something for the first time. That’s kind of what happened,” Mangus said. In his first season, Mangus made the Bears offense look like it had sprung whole cloth from the Swamp. In 1998, the year before he arrived, Ursinus finished 3-7 and averaged 12.4 points per game. The next year, with an offense comprised largely of upperclassmen,
Ursinus averaged 31 points, won a schoolrecord 10 games and captured its first-ever Division III playoff win. Mangus’ quarterback, Frank Vecchio, shattered the school records for completions, passing yards and touchdowns in a season. The Bears went 8-2 the following year, marking their first back-to-back winning seasons since 1954. “The student body really jumped on the bandwagon, so to speak. Those small colleges, they really enjoy it,” Mangus recalled. “Paul allowed me to have a lot more responsibility. I was the head coach of the offense and he was the head coach of the defense. I had a lot of responsibility and ultimately that helped me be prepared and ready for my first head job.” Mangus left after the 2000 season to take
32 • Spurs & Feathers
November 6, 2013