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Mizzou stands in the way, leads SEC EastOctober 23, 2013 • Volume 35 • Issue 30

‘show me’state means it this week

tip-off tailgate set for saturday

2 • Spurs & Feathers October 23, 2013

by bart wrightContributing Writer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Let’s go with that and see what happens next, because a gut-wrenching loss at the final gun doesn’t seem quite as painful as it would have otherwise, thanks to losses by Georgia and Florida, the two other teams everyone figured would be battling South Carolina for an SEC Champi-onship game berth in Atlanta.

If the distance to Atlanta seemed to expand when the last second field goal by Tennessee went through the uprights, keep in mind, this season is barely halfway through and few of us would have predicted it to be anything like it actually is after this 23-21 defeat.

“Maybe we got too much press last week,” head coach Steve Spurrier said after the game. “Maybe we thought we were too good. I don’t know.”

For the record, this result was a spooky reflection on the past in that the Vols led 17-7 at the half, marking the largest lead they have had against a ranked team since a 31-13 win over Carolina here in 2009.

Bad mojo at Rocky Top, maybe. It sure felt

that way.Fingers are crossed for medical reports on

Kelcy Quarles and Connor Shaw, each of whom left the game with injuries to their left knee and going the rest of the way without either one would be damaging, without ques-tion.

“He’ll be back,” Jadeveon Clowney said of Quarles. “He’s all right.”

Spurrier said the early report on Shaw was that the senior quarterback had a “sprained knee,” which, if true, would be, if not good news, at least better news than it could have been.

But by any measure, this was an unusual game that didn’t really seem to fit any kind of understandable pattern.

For instance, when was the last time you saw a running back being tackled behind the line of scrimmage, flipping the ball forward and having it ruled an incomplete pass in-stead of a turnover?

That one went against the Gamecocks be-cause quarterback Justin Worley happened to be six yards away, with his back turned toward the play.

Mix that with the on-again, off-again after-

noon for both the offense and defense and it adds up to an incomplete afternoon.

Too many penalties -- nine of them for 84 yards, compared to just 40 yard in penalties for Tennessee – were a major issue in this game, especially in the kicking game. Caroli-na is without a national leader in punting and placekicking and the penalties in those areas only exacerbate what’s an issue to start with.

“I don’t know what it is,” Spurrier said. “Our guys can’t seem to play those kick-ing downs without getting a penalty; I don’t know why that is.”

You could hear audible groans at the Caro-lina end of the press box for the lack of run game opportunities, especially by Mike Davis, but those kind of impressions aren’t always on point.

Before the game started, Davis averaged 126 yards per game on 18.5 carries, in this one he had 21 carries for 140 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown run.

Not enough? Probably better to look else-where. It was both too as well as not enough.

Too much would apply to the penalties, to the long passes to the freshman receiver Marquez North, who only caught three balls

but they were all deadly, for 102 yards, in-cluding a 48-yarder.

Opponents have averaged 202 yards pass-ing against Carolina, not bad, it was the 29th best in the nation coming into the game and the Vols got just 179 yards out of their pass-ing game, but the difference is in the details.

Take away North’s yardage and Tennessee’s other receivers came up with only 77 yards passing.

Almost all of that was attributable to the Gamecocks pass rush. Clowney was in the backfield all day, forcing early throws, but a couple of those were long balls that found their way into North’s hands.

It means the Gamecocks are 3-2 in league play, but looking at the SEC East standings, nothing has been decided, believe it or not.

Missouri hasn’t taken an SEC loss yet, but that can be made up with the Gamecocks trip to “the other Columbia” this week. Still left on Missouri’s schedule are a handful of dif-ficult games, including one at Texas A&M.

Does it feel good? No.Is it over? Not even close. We’re just getting

started. Atlanta isn’t as far away as it may seem.

Atlanta isn’t as far away as it may seemphoto by allen sharpe

October 23, 2013 Spurs & Feathers • 3

Spurs & FeathersPublished by Aiken Communications, Inc.

Contact Us:218 Richland Ave. W. Aiken, SC 29801(803) 335-1399

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What’s Inside? - Table of ContentsLooking ahead to Missouri .........................................4

South Carolina-Tennessee notes/quotes ...............6

Great October meeting for Spartanburg ...............7

Sand Volleyball continues work ................................7

SEC Basketball Media Days .........................................8

Ty Johnson profile ..........................................................9

Starting Five with Jaylen Shaw ..................................9

South Carolina football roster .................................10

Women’s basketball features...................................11

Missouri football roster .............................................12

Checking in with the equestrian team ................13

2014 Gamecock baseball schedule.......................14

Tip-off Tailgate Party ..................................................15

Recruiting Roundup ...................................................16

Women’s soccer coach hits milestone .................17

Depth Charts .................................................................18

All Sports Reunion ......................................................19

“Inside the Chart”with Andy Demetra ....................................................20

Compliance Corner .....................................................21

Charleston County supports Gamecocks ...........22

Cross country’s Meredith Mill havingincredible season, setting records.........................22

Lexington County chapter profile .........................23

Gamecocks and Operation Hat Trick ....................24

Growing the Nashville Gamecocks .......................27

Upcoming Events: Gamecock Club .......................28

Brittons outfits and serves Gamecocks ...............29

Ed Girardeau column .................................................30

Something to crow about!

Four University of South Carolina football players have been named to Phil Steele’s Midseason All-SEC squads.

The Gamecocks had two players, running back Mike Davis and offensive guard A.J. Cann selected to the first-team unit. Defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles was a second-team selection, while defensive end Jadeveon Clowney earned third-team recognition.

Also, University of South Carolina sophomore running back Mike Davis was selected to Phil Steele’s third-team Midsea-son All-America squad

Connor Shaw was recognized as well. The initial top-30 Watch List for the 2013 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award has been reduced to 15 of the country’s top college quarter-backs, including South Carolina’s senior signal-caller.

(Courtesy of South Carolina Athletics Media Relations)

PHOTO By ALLEN SHARPE


It seems like just the other day you could hear giggles and snickers from various precincts around the Southeastern Con-ference over the admission of Missouri as an expansionist mem-ber along Texas A&M.

To be clear about that, longtime SEC fans, not shy about the lofty profile of their confer-ence, scoffed over both teams, but under the surface there was a sense that, in time, Texas A&M would rise up to an appropriate level of competition, but generally speaking, Miz-zou wasn’t seen as a school that could win in the conference for years and years.

The Aggies proved the skeptics wrong in their first season, and after barely escaping College Station with a win this year – after losing to A&M at home a year ago – Ala-bama Coach Nick Saban was heard telling his counterpart after the game, “You took about 10 years off my life.”

Now, it’s 7-0 Missouri’s turn, and the suggestion here is that these Tigers are not some one-year wonder, because of Coach Gary Pinkel.

This is no testimonial for the life and career of the Missouri coach, just a little background on him that could shed some light on their success this year and the concerns Gamecock Nation

should have about playing him this year in the “other” Colum-bia.

When you recall where he came from and who he understud-ied, you get an idea his is a dangerous team. Last year, Missouri flopped at its conference debut mostly because the team was ravaged with injuries, something like what has happened this year to Georgia, Florida and others, only it hit the Tigers early and lasted all year.

Pinkel’s team is ready this year and should be a concern for anyone who plays them. He attended Kent State University and roomed with a guy named Jack Lambert, so Pinkel knows some things about toughness on the football field from an up-close perspective.

Both of them played for Don James, who went on to the Uni-versity of Washington and carved out a distinctive winning career.

James was the kind of coach who reminded you of the guy who, when asked what time it was, would tell you how to con-struct a clock. He was the most detail-oriented coach on the West Coast in his time and he would build remarkable game plans around an opponent’s weakness. It might be that the other team’s punter had a particularly slow release, it might have been a weakness in the other team’s offensive line or secondary.

Whatever it was, James would drill down into the weakness, examine it and, at some point in the game, exploit it for an explo-

sive play that would often turn a game around.Pinkel learned all of that while serving as James’ offensive

coordinator at Washington, then when another former teammate named Nick Saban left Toledo be the defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, Saban called Pinkel and encouraged him to apply for the job, then gave Pinkel his recommendation.

“Saban?” Pinkel said, laughing, at SEC Media Days a year ago when I asked him a question, “You mean the guy who cost me a National Championship?”

They are good friends and the joke was that the year Pinkel went to Toledo, Washington ended up sharing a national cham-pionship with Miami. They both learned from James, they are both immersed in details that can win games.

He’s all business, this guy Pinkel. His teams are built tough and they play with a smart approach.

Does that mean they always win? You can ask Steve Spurrier about the best-laid plans and all that. Things don’t always work out they way they are intended.

But winning a game at Missouri?That would insert the Gamecocks right in the middle of the

SEC championship game discussion.Knowing Pinkel, it won’t come easily, but this week it puts

the Gamecocks in the position of needing to prove something against a hot team in their way.

If they’re up to it, they can win the East.

If the Gamecocks are up to it, they can win the East

Bart WrightContributing

Writer

by ed [email protected]

Missouri Tigers (7-0, 3-0 SeC)Oct. 19: The Tigers beat Florida at

home 36-17.

Site: at Columbia, Missouri, Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium

Time: 7:00 pm TV: ESPN or ESPN2 (check local list-ings)

radio: Gamecock Radio Network (check listings on page 26)

Series: Missouri leads series all-time, 2-1. This will be the first time USC has visited Mizzou.

Last year (9/22/12): In Columbia, S.C., Gamecocks won, 31-10

South Carolina won behind Connor Shaw’s 20-21 passing for 249 yards and two touchdowns along with Marcus Latti-more’s 85 yards rushing. He had two rush-ing touchdowns and 60 yards receiving.

Previous Meetings: The Gamecocks have played Missouri twice in bowls.

First in 1979 in the Hall of Fame Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. The Tigers won, 24-14, in the rain at Legion Field. It was George Rogers’ junior year and he had 25 rushes for 133 yards. In 2005, the teams played in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. and the Tigers prevailed, 38-31, despite 12 catches, one touchdown and 191 yards in receiving from Sidney Rice.

Spurrier record vs Missouri at uSC: 1-1

The Missouri GameTennesse head coach Butch Jones, as expect-

ed, was thrilled with the results. “Great day to be a Vol. I thought our team

showed some resiliency. We found a way to win and we talk about playing winning football. All the things that happened throughout the course of the game and a game can be decided by two or three plays but you never know which two or three plays they’re going to be. I thought our kids showed some resiliency. Marquez North obviously made a big time play, but hats off to Justin Worley too. He was poised, stood in the pocket.

“Coach Azzanni has worked exceptionally hard on that part of our game with all our wide outs. We call it back footing it and going out and catching the ball at it’s highest point. It is like of going up and getting a rebound. He came down with the ball. Players make plays to win games and we found some ways to make some plays to win the football game.”

Tennessee was able to get pressure on Connor Shaw and Jones talked about his defense’s pass rush. “We got to learn how to leverage the ball now with our points on the quarterback. It is all a mentality. Rushing the passer is a mentality. Steve Stripling is the best of the best and our kids have worked exceptionally hard on it. Ev-erything is about 2.7 seconds from snap to finish running an eleven yard arc, so your thought pro-cess has to be planned out immediately.”

Jones also talked about battling Jadeveon Clowney. “He is a great player. You know

Clowney is going to get his plays. He played exceptionally well. He was disruptive. That is one of those things where he is going to get his plays, snap and clear and just keep playing. I thought that in this game if there was one thing that I was displeased with was too many nega-tive yardage football plays, especially in the run game. Also too many pre-snap penalties, we can’t do that. Those are things in obvious areas that we have to continue to improve. That is a part of playing winning football. My pet peeve is that I hate pre-snap penalties. Our players understand that. We had too many of them. We had too many minus yardage plays when we ran the football, but also they are a pretty good defensive front.”

Late in the first half, Rajion Neal appeared to fumble which was recovered by the Gamecocks, but was ruled a forward pass. Jones was asked what the running back said.

“He didn’t say a word. It was a middle screen to the tight end.”

Defensive lineman Marlon Walls knew South Carolina would be tough. “We knew we could come out here and compete with this team. We proved that against Georgia. We laid it on the line for each other. I am still in disbelief. We have been in a lot of situations like this when we should have won. Our love for coach Jones and each other pushed us through the day. Last game showed that we can play with any team we want.

(Compiled by Ed Girardeau based off Tennes-see Media Relations reports)

What Tennessee has to say

photo by allen sharpeWide receiver Damiere Byrd has caught a touchdown pass in three straight games.


08/29/13..... vs. North Carolina ...........Columbia, S.C. ...........W, 27-10

09/07/13 .... at #11 Georgia .................Athens, Ga. .................L, 41-30

09/14/13 .... vs. Vanderbilt ...................Columbia, S.C. ...........W, 35-25

09/28/13 .... at UCF .............................Orlando, Fla. ...............W, 28-25

10/05/13 .... vs. Kentucky ....................Columbia, S.C. ...........W, 35-28

10/12/13 .... at Arkansas ......................Fayetteville, Ark. ...........W, 52-7

10/19/13 .... at Tennessee ...................Knoxville, Tenn. ...........L, 23-21

10/26/13 .... at Missouri .......................Columbia, Mo. ................ 7 p.m.

11/02/13 .... vs. Mississippi State ........Columbia, S.C. .................. TBA

11/16/13 .... vs. Florida ........................Columbia, S.C. .................. TBA

11/23/13 .... vs. Coastal Carolina .........Columbia, S.C. .................. TBA

11/30/13 .... vs. Clemson .....................Columbia, S.C. .................. TBA

South Carolina Gamecocks2013

football SCheduleTeam SEC Pct. Overall Pct. Home Away Neutral StreakEastErnMissouri 3 - 0 1.000 7 - 0 1.000 4-0 3-0 0-0 W7

South Carolina 3 - 2 .600 5 - 2 .714 3-0 2-2 0-0 L1Florida 3 - 2 .600 4 - 3 .571 3-0 1-3 0-0 L2

Georgia 3 - 2 .600 4 - 3 .571 3-1 1-2 0-0 L2

Tennessee 1 - 2 .333 4 - 3 .571 4-1 0-2 0-0 W1

Vanderbilt 1 - 3 .250 4 - 3 .571 3-2 1-1 0-0 W1

Kentucky 0 - 3 .000 1 - 5 .167 1-3 0-1 0-1 L4

WEstErnAlabama 4 - 0 1.000 7 - 0 1.000 4-0 2-0 1-0 W7

Auburn 3 - 1 .750 6 - 1 .857 5-0 1-1 0-0 W3

LSU 3 - 2 .600 6 - 2 .750 4-0 1-2 1-0 L1

Texas A&M 2 - 2 .500 5 - 2 .714 3-2 2-0 0-0 L1

Ole Miss 2 - 3 .400 4 - 3 .571 2-1 2-2 0-0 W1

Arkansas 0 - 4 .000 3 - 5 .375 3-2 0-3 0-0 L5

Mississippi St. 0 - 2 .000 3 - 3 .500 3-1 0-1 0-1 W1

standings


South Carolina athletiCS Media relationS

General notes• CaptainsforSouthCarolinaweresenior

quarterbackNo.14ConnorShaw,seniorcornerbackNo.15JimmyLegree,senioroffensiveguardNo.67RonaldPatrickandseniordefensiveendNo.90ChazSutton.

• AttendanceatNeylandStadiumwas95,736.

• TennesseedefeatedSouthCarolina,23-21,snappingtheGamecocks’four-gamewinningstreak.SouthCarolinais5-2witha3-2recordinleagueplay.

• ThelosssnapsCarolina’sthree-gamewinningstreakagainsttheVolunteers.HeadcoachSteveSpurrierisnow14-9in23all-timemeetingsversustheVol-unteers.

• Nineplayershavestartedallsevengamesthisyear:JunioroffensiveguardA.J.Cann,juniorspurSharrodGolight-ly,seniorcornerbackJimmyLegree,sophomorelinebackerMarcquisRob-erts,junioroffensivetackleCoreyRob-inson,seniorquarterbackConnorShaw,sophomoreoffensivetackleBrandonShell,juniordefensivetackleJ.T.SurrattandseniordefensiveendChazSutton.

offensive notes• SeniorquarterbackConnorShawwas

7-for-21intheairfor161passingyards.Shawhastotaled4,934careerpassingyardsandsurpassedbothBobbyFuller(1990-91)andTommySuggs(1968-70)forseventhontheall-timelistfortheGamecocks.

• Shaw’s76-yardtouchdownpasstoDamiereByrdinthesecondquarterwashislongestpassoftheseason.Hispreviouslongpasswas65yardstoShaqRolandvs.NorthCarolinaonAugust29,2013,alsoatouchdownpass.Byrdhasnowcaughtatouchdownpassinthreestraightgames.

• Shaw’sinterceptioninthethirdquarterwashisfirstinterceptionoftheseasonandhisfirstinthelast177attempts.

• JuniorwidereceiverDamiereByrdre-cordedhisfirstcareer100-yardreceivinggame(121).Hispreviouscareerhighforreceivingyardswas98vs.KentuckyonOct.5,2013.ItwasalsothemostreceivingyardsbyaGamecockplayerthisseason.Theprevioushighwas111receivingyardsbyBruceEllingtonvs.VanderbiltonSeptember14,2013.ItwasalsothemostreceivingyardsbyaGamecocksinceAlshonJeffery’s148yardsvs.NebraskaattheJanuary2,2012attheCapitalOneBowl.

• SophomoretailbackMikeDavisre-cordedhissixth100-yardrushinggameoftheseason,carrying21timesfor137yards.Hetalliedhis10thrushingtouchdownoftheseasonandmovedintoatieforeighthinasingle-season.MarcusLattimorealsohad10rushingtouchdownsin2011.Hehasatleastonerushingtouchdownineachgamethisyear.Theschoolrecordis17setin2010byMarcusLattimore.Davisnowhas132carriesfor879yardsontheyear.

• The100-yardrushinggamebyMikeDavisand100-yardreceivinggamebyDamiereByrdisthefirsttimethisseasontheGamecockshavehadbotha100-yardrusheranda100-yardreceiver.

• SouthCarolinasophomoreoffensiveguardWillSportandfreshmanwidereceiverPharohCoopereachmadetheirfirstcareerstarts.

• SouthCarolinahasmanagedatleastonedriveof80ormoreyardsforascoreineachgame.SouthCarolina’s95-yardscoringdriveforthefirsttouchdownofthegamewasthe17thscoringdriveof75ormoreyardsandthefourthscoringdriveof90ormoreyards.

defensive notes• JuniordefensiveendJadeveonClowney

finishedwith2.5tacklesforloss.Henowhas41careertacklesforloss,secondall-timeatSouthCarolinaand13.5behindtherecordof54.5setbyEricNorwood(2006-09).Clowneyalsoregisteredaseason-high5tackles.Hispreviousseason-highwasfourvs.VanderbiltonSeptember14,2013.

• FreshmanlinebackerT.J.Holloman’sseventackleswereacareer-high.Hisprevioushighwassixvs.KentuckyonOctober5,2013.

• JuniorstrongsafetyBrisonWilliamscollectedeighttacklestyingacareer-high.Hehadeightalsovs.KentuckyonSeptember29,2012.

• JuniordefensivetackleKelcyQuarlestalliedasack.Heleadstheteamwithfiveontheyear.

head Coach Steve Spurrieropening Statement“Firstofall,giveTennesseecredit.Ithink

theyoutplayedus,althoughwewerewithinaplayortwoofwinningbutwedidn’tdoit.Theyhitacoupleofdeepballswhichhappenstousoccasionallyandwedidn’tplaywelloffensivelyatall.Tennesseehadagoodplan.Theirdefenseplayedverywell.Theywonthegame.Aplayortwohereorthere.Wehadalotofcarelesspenaltiestodayandinaclosegametheycomebacktohauntyouandthat’sthewayitturnedout.Wehadalotofgoodplaybyalotofguys.Itseemslikewealwaysgetapenaltyonkickoffreturnorpuntreturn.Ourguyscan’tplaybytherules.Maybefieldpositionwasextremelyimportantinaclosegameliketoday.Otherthanthat,theybeatus.Theybeatustoday.”

on the strong third quarter“Wehadagooddrivethereinthethirdquar-

terandwescoredontwooutofourfirstthreepossessions.Obviouslyyoualwaysgobackandwishyou’dranhereorthrownthere.Weonlyattempted22passes,butwedangsurecalledalotmorethan22,Idon’tknowifthepressure

gottoConnororwhat.Hemadesomegoodrunouts,I’llsaythatandthenothertimesitwaslikewehadsomeguysopenbuthegotsomepressureIguess.Weranalot.Wehadsomegoodrunshereandthereandthenwehadsomenothingruns,sowedidn’thavealotofconsis-tentfour,five,sixyardruns,especiallylateinthegamewhereafirstdownortwowouldhavedoneit.”

on calling the two timeouts on fourth down“Wewerethinkingaboutgoingforit.We

wentupthereandifitlookedgoodwewerethinkingaboutgoingforitandthenthesecondtimetheyactuallychangedtheirdefensealittlebit.Wethoughtwehadalittlebitofaholethereandwehadadifferentplaycalled.LookingbackIalwaystellmyselftogoforthose,butyoulookstupidifyouleavethemonthe30yardlineandourdefensewasplayingwell.Itwenttothirdand10thereandtheythrewupajumpballonusandtheirkidmadeaheckofacatch,onehand,ourguywasgrabbinghisarmIguessandhemadeaheckofacatchandthentheyranitondownintheretotheoneandkickedafieldgoal.”

on if the two timeouts would have helped at the end“Wemighthavestoppedthemandforcedan

earlyfieldgoalattempt,butwhoknows.”

On how much confidence he has in his defense“Maybethat’swhywewentaheadandpunted

thereonfourthandtwo.Inhindsightweshouldhavegoneforit,butwehadthematthirdandtenthereandthatwasabigplayobviously,butagainwehadalotofotherchances.Offensedidn’tplayverywell.Specialteamscontinuestopushinthebackorgetholdingpenaltiesonkickreturns,whichit’ssadthatwecan’tteachthemtoplaybytherules,butwecan’tdoit.Thatmaybeoneofthebigreasonswegotbeattoday.”

on the difference on offense between last week and this week“Maybewehadtoomuchpress.Wethought

weweretoogood,maybe.Idon’tknow.IthoughtTennesseeplayedstrongupfront.Ithoughttheird-lineplayedwellandtheirline-backers.Wedidpopafew,andofcourseCon-norhadthatonelongrun,butwedidn’thavemanypassingyards,that’sforsure.”

on Florida and Georgia losing too“GeorgiagotbeatbyVandy?Oh.Well,I

guessallwe’vegottodoisbeatMissouri.We’vegotsomeworktodothough,butgiveTennesseecredit.Theyplayedwell,theyout-playedusandtheyout-coachedus.”

South Carolina-Tennessee postgame notes/quotes

photo by allen sharpe


By Mike [email protected]

The Spartanburg County Gamecock Club got a special treat at their October meet-ing on Thursday, Oct. 17, with a visit from Yolanda and Vern Smith, the parents of Mar-cus Lattimore.

Glenn Cox, the Spartanburg County chapter president, said that the meeting was standing room only as people packed in to hear the parents of one of the all-time great Gamecocks.

“Yolanda kind of walked us through her whole day of when Marcus had his last in-jury. In one way it was heart-breaking and in another way it was comical and uplifting because she took us through everything,” Cox said.

The day included Yolanda cooking break-fast for the kids, sending texts with Bible verses to the players she would every game-day, meeting Darius Rucker and heading to the game.

“She also sent a text to Corey Miller who played for Tennessee because Marcus and

Corey were best friends at Byrnes. She added in there ‘don’t forget, that’s your baby brother across the field from you so be nice to him today,’” Cox added.

He said that it was relaxing and refreshing to hear her experiences of the day and she said that she remembered everything from the day leading up to the injury, until she re-alized what had happened. After that, Smith said that it was all a blur.

She said she didn’t know what had hap-pened until she got down to field level because Williams-Brice was so quiet. She re-membered seeing people crying in the stands and got a hug from a recruit’s mother. When she saw Marcus coming off of the field, she knew what happened and doesn’t remember much of what happened afterward.

Cox said that it was nice to hear Smith be so open about it and credited the family’s strong faith for helping them through that time to get back to where Lattimore can play football again. Cox said that the family feels that football is good for him, but they also

October meeting a successful treat for Spartanburg chapter


The recent weather has not dampened the excitement level of South Carolina’s sand volleyball squad and head coach Moritz Moritz as they continue their preparations for their inaugural season.

“The other day we had another one of those gray, kind of misting and rainy day and I cut the practice short to go a little harder the next couple of days. The girls said ‘wait, why are you cutting it short? We want to play,’” Mortiz said. “It’s fun to continue to see them fired up regardless of weather conditions, facility or anything else.”

Moritz said that the changing weather has not changed the practices because he wants the work to remain consistent for the student-athletes. He said that the innate, internal motivation of the team has been an important benefit and the team gets into the training once practices start no matter the conditions.

“Once you roll out the balls and you let them jump on the sand and start warming up, they connect to what they need to be con-nected to and really start playing,” Moritz said. “The great thing about the environment right now is they are still super-competitive, but they’re having a lot of fun too.

“Sure they get frustrated when they make mistakes, but if they didn’t, that’s when I would be worried … that’s a positive for us,”

Moritz added. He noted that the great thing about the

weather this time of year is that it offers dif-ferent conditions for the team to practice in every day. He said that every situation forces them to adapt to the environment and get ex-perience under changing circumstances.

Moritz explained that he has been focus-ing on having the team improve gradually as they get more experience in the sand by keeping the routine going, rather than having peaks and valleys in intensity levels.

“One of the things we say is that if we work to improve one percent each day and keep that line as a gradual, ascending line then we’re doing what we need to do in prepara-tion for March,” Moritz noted. “The fact that we’re seeing the results from the weight room, that they’re pre-habbing and rehabbing as much as they are and really taking care of themselves to be really good at practice has been huge for us.”

The focal points for the teams’ improve-ment have been around the footwork, team-work, fundamentals and eye work needed to be successful in sand volleyball. The visual skill need for the sport surrounds an under-standing of how the ball will react in differ-ent conditions and recognizing of how the other team is trying to attack.

“You have to have an understanding of how the ball reacts in different conditions like wind … not only with the elements you

also have to have an understanding of what the patterns are that dictate how we play the game,” Moritz explained. “You want to keep it as simple as pass, set, hit and terminate … but within that, what are the intricacies with the eye work?

“I think you can really simplify the game with great eye work. You don’t have to be as athletic or as fast, but if you have great eyes and can really see how plays are developing and the tendencies teams are showing, you can really isolate those patterns and put your-self into the best position,” Moritz continued.

Getting into a good position to get hit with the hard driven ball while being able to react to the different attacking styles is extremely important defensively. Moritz said that a lot of defense is getting comfortable with the repetitive patterns, but also being able to adapt to anything going on within any given match. He said that being able to capitalize on the opponent’s patterns and put them in a tough position will ultimately make the game easier.

Off the courts, the team has been coming together as well. Moritz said they have been able to get involved with the community, oth-er student-athletes and students at the Uni-versity. The team has been going as a group to many other events on campus, from vol-leyball to equestrian to football and watching any team competing on campus.

As the team continues working, so do the

contractors who are working on getting the facility ready for the team. There is constant progress as the large piles of sand have been leveled and more work is being done daily on preparing the facility for play.

“We’re super-excited to get over to the fa-cility, but it’s not a burden by any means. We have all the resources, we have all the equip-ment and it’s still so amazing … I just think that when we do get to our home, it’s going to be awesome,” Moritz said.

Sand volleyball continues work in changing weatherPlease see spartanburg, Page 30

photo by allen sharpe


by brian [email protected]

University of South Carolina men’s basketball head coach Frank Martin is known for his fiery demeanor and passion.

Despite Martin’s reputation, Alabama head men’s basketball coach Anthony Grant wants people to know that Martin is really just a “teddy bear.”

When asked about Grant’s assertion during the 2013 SEC Basketball Media Days at The Westin Birmingham in Birmingham, Ala., Martin laughed rather heavily before relaying that Grant’s thoughts are not without merit as he “knows me better than most.”

“Listen, I want everyone to do their job the right way,” Martin said. “Life’s about doing things the best you can to help others. If you’re not doing your job right, if you’re taking short-cuts, you’re going to impact others negatively. I don’t like being around people like that, so I try to teach that to those young kids that their job in life - whether it is through basketball or whatever - is at the end of the day to do their job to help everyone else in that room with them.

“So, there might be, 30, 10-second snippets of me in a foul mood. I can promise you, 30 times 10 is about 300 seconds every year that I am in a foul mood. The rest of the time, I love life; I love people, I love to laugh, I love to make people laugh and anyone that knows me will tell you that there’s probably not a more loyal human being than me. I understand that we will get judged on what those cameras make people believe. I’m comfortable in that, but I’m not that big grizzly bear that some make me out to be either,” Martin continued.

One year into Martin’s system, senior guard Brenton Williams is pleased with what Martin is doing for Gamecock basketball.

“All the players can definitely see his intensity during a game,” Williams remarked. “He’s definitely made me a more productive player. Even though he has only been here for a year, he’s already taught me things that no other coach has.”

Grizzly or teddy bear, Martin has the Game-cocks moving in the right direction as he enters his second season in charge of the South Caro-lina men’s basketball program.

Martin conceded during the first preseason practice for the 2013 season just a couple weeks ago that last year was all about laying the foun-dation and he expects bigger things in the com-

ing year. He expounded on that thought at SEC Media Days.

“We won four SEC games last year and we had the lead going into the last media timeout in six of our losses,” Martin pointed out about the 2012-13 season. “We couldn’t close out games. At the end of games, you need guys that can make a basket and can execute. We didn’t have that last season in games down the stretch. There’s two things that happened to our team once we got into conference play: we stopped rebounding and we didn’t defend with the toughness that we needed to.”

Martin points out that things are different for the Gamecocks entering the 2013-14 campaign.

“We’re bigger, longer and thicker,” Martin commented. “When we took the court against

Kentucky last season, I told one of my assis-tants that we needed to find some taller guys like they have. Our staff did a great job; they went out and found guys that identified who we are. It gives us better length and girth. Now all we have to do is teach these young guys how to utilize their strength and their size.”

This year’s Gamecock basketball team ac-cording to Martin really understands what they are in for as the season nears.

“We’ve got an unbelievable personality on this team,” Martin said. “Every guy on this team knew what they signed up for and that was to accept a responsibility to help rebuild this program. To do that, you need to have unbelievable excitement and enthusiasm every day and not to listen to outside opinions. Until that corner is turned, you have to do your best every day and help everyone on your side as much as you can. There’s no guarantee that there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but these kids get that and they’re fun to be around.”

The personality of the program may be com-pletely changed, but the outside world does not seem to think much of the Gamecocks heading into the year as the media tabbed South Caroli-na to finish 12th in the SEC preseason tally that had preseason national No. 1 Kentucky plucked to win the league crown in the 2013-14 season.

Being tabbed 12th in the preseason poll does not concern Williams and the Gamecocks.

“We really don’t feel like there is a chip on our shoulder because of that,” Williams said. “We don’t really pay attention to rankings and things like that. It’s a new era and all we’re go-ing to do is work on the season and take one game at a time.”

Unfazed by preseason predictions, Gamecocks are moving in right direction

photo by brian hand

by brian [email protected]

“One thing I’ve learned is you can have all the chemistry in the world on the court, but if you don’t have it off the court, it’ll show,” South Carolina women’s basketball junior forward and 2012-13 second-team All-SEC performer Aleighsa Welch pointed out at the 2013 SEC Basketball Media Days. “So, we spend a lot of time with each other off the court … we have great friendships with each other and it shows on the court. We have fun with each other.”

These simple thoughts brought to the fore-front by Welch make it easy to see why South Carolina women’s basketball has been so suc-cessful over the past few years.

Entering the year coming off back-to-back 25-win campaigns and the strong team chem-istry are just a couple of the reasons why the Gamecocks feel that despite being tabbed

seventh in the preseason SEC media tally they have a team capable of competing for an SEC championship in the upcoming year.

“We set goals for ourselves every year,” Welch said. “And every year we go into it say-ing that we want to exceed the goal we set. You never can just be content with setting a goal … we definitely always want to go into it and say, ‘this is what we want to do; we’re going to exceed it.’ That’s just being a competitor in anything you do. That’s just wanting to be the best at what you do. So, we definitely do that for ourselves every single year.”

According to South Carolina women’s bas-ketball head coach Dawn Staley the prepara-tions for what the Gamecocks are hoping for will be another tremendous year are going fairly well.

“Things are going pretty good,” Staley men-tioned. “I think our team is one that we really don’t have to motivate. They come ready to

go. They’re just young. We have good days, we have bad days and we have ugly days, but I think that’s the beauty of having a young team. One that I enjoy, because they have high mo-tives and they’re highly motivated. They want to continue to carry out the success that we have from the last few years.”

Staley is especially complimentary of Welch, who she noted is “one that has worked on her game. She has put us in the position where we can move her around and not only contain her to the inside. She’s worked on her ball-handling and she can shoot from the outside. We can do something that we haven’t been able to do at South Carolina and that is go big. We have to go big on the perimeter; we have two players, Elem (Ibiam) and Alaina (Coates), that we can play inside.”

Welch echoes Staley’s thoughts on South Carolina’s size in the 2013-14 season.

“I think it adds a different dynamic to our

team. Something that we haven’t really been able to have my first two years,” Welch said. “That’s the size component and it’s allowed me to work on different aspects of my game. If we do want to go to a big lineup, me being able to have the ability to step out to the three adds that versatility. I think that’s the biggest thing, being a versatile team.”

Chemistry, talent have Gamecocks poised for tremendous season

photo by brian hand


by mike [email protected]

The Gamecock men’s basketball team will be bolstered by the experience of Tyrone Johnson, a transfer guard from Villanova.

Johnson has been working hard in prepa-ration to suit up for the Gamecocks and he should be eligible on December 17 when the Gamecocks host Manhattan. He is excited about the opportunity to get back on the court for live game action and he has just stayed positive throughout the whole process.

“It’s not tough, it’s just very humbling to me. I always say to myself ‘everything happens for a reason,’ and I’m blessed to have another opportunity to play DI college basketball for coach Martin,” Johnson said. “I just try to bring myself to the highest level that I can possibly play at and be a leader. I’m just wait-ing for the day to come and right now I’m just going to continue to be the best player I can be on and off the court and just let everything happen.”

While Johnson is looking forward to suiting up in the Garnet and Black, head coach Frank Marin knows that his expectations should be tempered for Johnson’s performance when he returns.

“Here’s the biggest problem with transfer guys, they haven’t played in a competitive game in a long, long time … they haven’t played in a competitive game, so at the begin-ning the tend to play too fast or put too much pressure on themselves to do certain things,” Martin explained. “That will come. I have to be patient with them and they have to be willing to allow the game to come and all that evolves.

“What happens is guys that have played be-fore and now they don’t play for awhile, now they’ve got too much enthusiasm when they

go out there. The guy has to be able to keep his mind on what we ask him to do. The thing that’s hard for him this semester is he’s got to be a leader, but he doesn’t get to play for five, six games, whatever it is,” Martin continued.

Johnson said that he has kept this in mind and that he is not trying to do too much. As an upperclassman, he has tried to take on a leadership role since he has experience at the Division I level and many players on this team are newcomers.

“To be that extra leader and be very com-petitive like I am, I try to let the young guys know ‘this isn’t high school any more; it’s

college. Everything is at a faster pace, coaches are going to be on you, so you just have to listen and try to do everything the right way. You might be wrong or you might be right, but just come out there and be willing to learn,’” Johnson said.

Overall, Johnson has said that he will do whatever it takes to help the team when he be-comes eligible, no matter what role or position the coaches ask him to play.

“I’m just doing whatever coach Martin and the staff need me to do. If they need me to come in and play multiple minutes at the point guard then I’m going to do that job,” Johnson

said. “If they need me to play the two, then I’m going to play the two.

“I’m not saying that ‘this is my job.’ I’m not being cocky about anything; I’m just being very humble. Like I said, I’m here for my teammates as well; I’m not just here for my-self. I’m just trying to do whatever the coaches might want me to do and that’s it,” Johnson continued.

Martin and Johnson both feel that the young players are transitioning well to the college game thus far. Martin said that he like the sense of urgency and competitive fire that the young team has shown in practice thus far.

“I love our enthusiasm. you can’t be any good at what you do if you don’t have any enthusiasm. The enthusiasm we have is con-tagious … I love people that are sincere and genuine about how much they care and I see that with this group. As long as you’ve got that you’ve got a chance to get better,” Martin said.

Johnson echoed Martin in the way the play-ers have come out and played in the preseason practices. He added that the young players are listening to the coaching staff and picking things up very well.

“Practice has been a lot better this year. Just guys willing to come in and compete,” John-son said. “I see guys wanting to come in and get better, get extra shots themselves, doing little things like ball-handling and stuff like that … guys are just coming in listening, guys coming in wanting to compete and guys com-ing in talking and bringing a lot of energy and stuff like that.

“From last year to this year, we’re headed in the right direction. Not to say that last year guys weren’t bringing any energy, but I’m just happy for the new beginning, new start for this program. Right now we’re just giving it our all,” Johnson concluded.

Transfer Johnson leading from experience

photos by ALLEN shARpETyrone Johnson should be eligible to play for the Gamecocks in mid-December.

1. you are obviously from the state of south carolina, but what made attending the university of south carolina to play basketball so attractive to you? The coaching staff, the way the team and coaching staff stay together. We all want to win.

2. in high school you were a part of back-to-back state championship teams. are you excited to bring that winning mentality to the university of south carolina? I’m excited, but I know that high school doesn’t affect the college level so I need

to be ready to keep winning and playing hard.

3. you proved in high school that you were a scorer at the point guard position, but you also are known for your ability to share the basketball. com-ing into your freshman year, do you see yourself as more of a scorer or a passer? I’m a team player first; I’d rather pass the ball than score any time. I like to help my teammates be involved in the game the entire time.

4. Who do you model your game after the most? Chris Paul.

Because I love the way he handles the ball and keeps his teammates involved. He controls the game the entire time.

5. What aspect of your game are you working on the most as you prepare for your freshman season to get underway? My speed and agility and being able to understand the things that the coaching staff wants us to do since it is different than high school. Being involved and fo-cused the entire time and learning.

(South Carolina Athletics Media Relations)

Starting Five with Jaylen Shaw


South Carolina GamecocksFootball Roster

# Name Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Cl. Hometown/High School/Last College1 Damiere Byrd WR 5-9 166 JR Sicklerville, N.J./Timber Creek1 Rico McWilliams CB 5-11 187 RS FR Hampton, Ga./Lovejoy3 Nick Jones WR 5-7 174 RS JR Moore, S.C./Byrnes3 Jamari Smith CB 5-10 183 FR Jacksonville, Fla./Fletcher4 Ahmad Christian CB 5-10 189 RS SO Jacksonville, Fla./Trinity Christian4 Shaq Roland WR 6-1 190 SO Lexington, S.C./Lexington5 Brendan Nosovitch QB 6-1 220 RS FR Allentown, Pa./Central Catholic5 Darius English DE 6-6 226 RS FR Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern6 Chris Moody FS 6-1 212 RS FR McDonough, Ga./Henry County6 Connor Mitch QB 6-3 227 FR Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield7 Jadeveon Clowney DE 6-6 274 JR Rock Hill, S.C./South Pointe7 Shon Carson TB 5-8 219 RS SO Scranton, S.C./Lake City8 Kaiwan Lewis LB 6-0 221 SO Mays Landing, N.J./St. Joseph8 Shamier Jeffery WR 6-1 207 RS SO St. Matthews, S.C./Calhoun County9 Sharrod Golightly SPR 5-10 195 RS JR Decatur, Ga./Southwest DeKalb10 Skai Moore LB 6-2 205 FR Cooper City, Fla./University10 Perry Orth QB 6-1 212 RS FR Ponde Verda, Fla./Ponte Verda/Fla. State College11 Pharoh Cooper WR 5-11 184 FR Havelock, NC./Havelock11 T.J. Holloman LB 6-2 228 RS FR Stone Mountain, Ga./St. Pius X12 Brison Williams SS 5-11 218 JR Warner Robins, Ga./Northside/Fork Union13 Grant Davitte QB 6-3 190 FR Columbia, S.C./Irmo13 Tyler Hull P 6-2 206 RS JR Mount Airy, N.C./Mount Airy/Guilford College14 Ali Groves CB 5-10 184 FR Stone Mountain, Ga./Stephenson14 Connor Shaw QB 6-1 209 SR Flowery Branch, Ga./Flowery Branch15 Austin Hails QB 6-2 214 RS SO Collinsville, Ill./Collinsville15 Jimmy Legree CB 6-0 187 RS SR Beaufort, S.C./Beaufort16 Kelvin Rainey TE 6-3 233 RS FR Yulee, Fla./Yulee16 Nick St. Germain PK 5-9 175 RS FR Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern17 Chaz Elder SS 6-2 199 RS FR Union City, Ga./Banneker17 Dylan Thompson QB 6-3 218 RS JR Boiling Springs, S.C./Boiling Springs18 Patrick Fish P 6-0 195 RS JR Shelby, N.C./Burns18 Cedrick Cooper LB 6-2 213 RS SO Lithonia, Ga./Lithonia19 Landon Ard PK 5-9 172 SO Rock Hill, S.C./South Pointe19 Jody Fuller WR 5-11 217 RS FR Charlotte, N.C./Sun Valley20 T.J. Gurley FS 5-10 196 SO Cairo, Ga./Cairo21 Marcquis Roberts LB 6-1 225 RS SO Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern21 Andrew Bunch WR 5-11 185 RS FR Mt. Pleasant, S.C./Bishop England/Presbyterian22 Brandon Wilds TB 6-2 223 SO Blythewood, S.C./Blythewood23 Bruce Ellington WR 5-9 196 JR Moncks Corner, S.C./Berkeley24 Ronnie Martin CB 5-11 179 JR Spartanburg, S.C./Spartanburg/Georgia Military24 Kendric Salley TB 5-9 183 RS FR Williston, S.C./Williston-Elko25 Kadetrix Marcus FS 6-1 195 JR Stone Mountain, Ga./Stephenson26 Jasper Sasser S 6-0 192 FR Jacksonville, Fla./Wolfson27 Victor Hampton CB 5-10 202 RS JR Darlington, S.C./Darlington28 Jonathan Walton LB 6-0 234 FR Daphne, Ala./Bayside Academy28 Mike Davis TB 5-9 215 SO Lithonia, Ga./Stephenson29 Elliott Fry P/K 6-0 150 FR Frisco, Tx./Prince of Peace Christian30 Sidney Rhodes CB 5-10 167 JR Easley, S.C./Wren/Western Carolina31 Jordan Diaz FB 6-1 233 RS JR Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton West31 Mohamed Camara SPR 6-1 181 FR Cumming, Ga./Forsyth32 Larenz Bryant LB 6-0 215 FR Charlotte, NC./Vance33 Gerald Turner DE 6-2 256 FR Goose Creek, S.C./Goose Creek33 David Williams TB 6-1 200 FR Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter34 Mason Harris DE 6-3 218 RS SO Fort Oglethorpe, Ga./Ridgeland

# Name Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Cl. Hometown/High School/Last College35 Jeff Homad TE 6-2 220 RS JR Hilton Head Island, S.C./Hilton Head/UNCP36 Kyle Fleetwood SS 5-11 216 RS FR Stone Mountain, Ga./Stephenson39 Max Huggins P/K 6-1 185 FR Myrtle Beach, S.C./Myrtle Beach40 Andrew Komornik P 6-5 225 FR Fort Mill, S.C./Nations Ford41 Kyle Morini LB 5-10 212 JR Lexington, S.C./White Knoll/Gray Military41 Connor McLaurin FB 6-0 237 RS JR Raleigh, N.C./Garner42 Jordan Diggs SPR 6-0 214 RS FR Fort Myers, Fla./Island Coast43 James King LB 6-0 235 SO Goose Creek, S.C./Goose Creek/Benedict43 Garrison Gist FB 5-10 255 RS SO Rock Hill, S.C./Northwesterm44 Gerald Dixon DE 6-2 268 RS SO Rock Hill, S.C./South Pointe45 Brandon Sturdivant FB 6-2 212 RS FR Fort Mill, S.C./Nation Ford/York Tech47 Drew Williams LS 6-2 190 FR Irmo, S.C/Dutch Fork48 Caleb Kelly PK 6-0 184 RS FR Cayce, S.C./Brookland-Cayce49 Garrett Shank S 6-0 171 FR Marietta, Ga./Lassiter49 Devin Potter TB 5-10 200 FR Granite Falls, N.C./South Caldwell50 A.J. Cann OG 6-4 314 RS JR Bamberg, S.C./Bamberg-Ehrhardt51 Cody Waldrop OC 6-2 319 RS FR Seffner, Fla./Armwood51 Devin Washington DE 6-3 225 FR Orlando, Fla./Jones52 Phillip Dukes DT 6-3 315 RS SO Manning, S.C./Manning52 Bryce King OG 6-3 281 FR Dillon, S.C./Dillon53 Corey Robinson OT 6-8 341 RS JR Havelock, N.C./Havelock54 Clayton Stadnik OC 6-3 281 RS FR Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford55 Na'Ty Rodgers OT 6-5 296 FR Waldorf, Md./McDonough55 David Johnson LB 6-1 268 FR Lithonia, Ga./Lithonia57 Cedrick Malone SPR 6-0 201 RS FR Camden, S.C./Camden/Coastal Carolina58 Ryland Culbertson LS 6-4 265 RS JR Laurens, S.C./Laurens Academy59 Coleman Harley LS 6-1 264 RS SO Aiken, S.C./South Aiken65 Brock Stadnik OG 6-5 286 RS FR Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford67 Ronald Patrick OG 6-2 315 SR Cocoa, Fla./Cocoa69 D.J. Park OT 6-4 334 FR Dillon, S.C./Dillon70 Alan Knott OC 6-4 272 FR Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek71 Brandon Shell OT 6-6 323 RS SO Goose Creek, S.C./Goose Creek73 J.P. Vonashek OT 6-6 283 FR Saint Marys, Ga./Camden County74 Mason Zandi OT 6-9 293 RS FR Irmo, S.C./Chapin75 Will Sport OG 6-5 294 RS SO Milton, Fla./Pace76 Mike Matulis OT 6-5 266 JR Boynton Beach, Fla./Park Vista78 Cody Gibson OT 6-7 286 RS JR Tallahassee, Fla./Lincoln80 K.J. Brent WR 6-4 188 RS SO Waxhaw, N.C./Marvin Ridge81 Rory Anderson TE 6-5 242 JR Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern82 Kwinton Smith WR 6-4 212 RS FR Hamer, S.C./Dillon83 Carlton Heard WR 6-0 178 SO Athens, Ga./Clarke Central/Garner-Webb84 Matthew Harvey WR 6-8 225 SO Rock Hill, S.C./Rock Hill85 Kane Whitehurst WR 5-11 179 RS SO Duluth, Ga./Chattahoochee/Arkansas86 David Wilkins WR 6-1 182 SR Cowpens, S.C./Broome87 Drake Thomason WR 6-1 205 RS JR Greenville, S.C./Eastside88 Drew Owens TE 6-6 244 RS SO Charlotte, N.C./Ardrey Kell89 Jerell Adams TE 6-6 237 SO Pinewood, S.C./Scott's Branch90 Chaz Sutton DE 6-5 263 SR Savannah, Ga./Jenkins/Fork Union Military92 Gerald Dixon, Jr. DT 6-3 318 RS SO Rock Hill, S.C./Northwestern93 Deon Green DT 6-4 287 RS SO Windermere, Fla./Olympia94 Kelsey Griffin DT 6-2 292 FR Buford, Ga./Mill Creek95 Michael Washington DE 6-3 243 SO Allendale, S.C./Allendale-Fairfax/S.C. State97 J.T. Surratt DT 6-2 307 RS JR Winston-Salem, N.C./Parkland99 Kelcy Quarles DT 6-4 298 JR Hodges, S.C./Greenwood/Fork Union

TRAVIS BELL/SIDELINE CAROLINA



Two highly recruited and talented freshmen will be joining the Gamecock women’s bas-ketball team for the 2013-14 season and they are already getting acquainted with the re-quirements of playing Division I basketball.

Alaina Coates and India Farmer both de-cided to continue their careers in their home state wearing Garnet and Black.

Farmer is a guard from North Myrtle Beach and played in high school there as a three-time All-Conference selection and was named to the All-State team as a senior.

Coates is a local post player from Irmo and played high school ball for Dutch Fork, lead-ing them to back-to-back state champion-ships while earning a number of individual accolades as well. Coates was named a McDonald’s All-American and the Gatorade South Carolina Player of the Year.

“Every time I’m on this court it makes me feel good because it makes me think of what me and my high school team have done on this court. I want to be able to do good things on this court like I did with my high school team,” Coates said.

Each player individually said that despite their backgrounds, there has been a transition period in coming to play at the next level.

“The conditioning and the practice pace is a whole lot faster and a whole lot more than what I had been doing. It was kind of like a shock, but once I got here and was here for a month or so I really got into it,” Coates said. “During the summer when I wasn’t here in first session, I worked out with a couple of my friends and we were always on the track. When I got here it was still nothing com-pared to what I was doing at home.”

Famer confirmed that the transition was a big step from what she faced at the high school level.

“It’s a lot faster paced than high school of course and everyone is so much better,” Farmer said. “Everyone is good so you have to be on your toes all the time.

“Just the pace. Everything is so fast all the time. There is never a moment where you get to slow down even if you want to slow down. You have to keep going. That’s the biggest thing is the pace all the time up and down the floor,” Farmer continued.

The atmosphere and coaching staff at South Carolina were big draws to help both these

players decide to come to South Carolina to play college basketball.

“It’s nice to be close to home and have a great coach like coach Staley. They’re a great staff, great players and I felt like I would be surrounded by a lot of good people,” Farmer said. “It makes it a whole lot easier having people around you that you know are so much like family. Everybody has such a good relationship that it makes things easier on the court even when times are tough.”

Coates echoed Farmer saying that relation-ships were a big part of her decision to be-come a Gamecock.

“It was mostly the atmosphere and Coach Staley. I knew that once I got here they weren’t going to change the way that they were acting when I was being recruited to the way they are now; it’s the same. It’s a family atmosphere, the team is great and they have really good academics,” Coates said.

Staley said that she is pleased with the progress that the freshmen have been mak-ing thus far and that Coates should see action right away as a post presence.

“Alaina has been impressive. She is by far one of the most talented post players we’ve had at South Carolina. She’s young though,”

Staley explained. “We want to bring her along slowly, but she picks up things ex-tremely well and takes up a lot of room in the paint.

“I think it’s something that we haven’t

Freshmen getting integrated into women’s basketball culture


The backcourt for the Gamecocks should be a strength for the team with depth and talent despite the loss of last year’s point guard and floor general Ieasia Walker.

One starter returns in the form of SEC All-Freshman Team selection Tiffany Mitchell along with three other letterwinners. This group will be called upon to fill the shoes of Walker and Sancheon White, another starting guard from last season.

Mitchell stated that she has focused on im-proving and taking the next step even after a successful freshman campaign.

“I guess it would just be not getting com-placent. I had a decent freshman year and I know there is still a lot more to improve on in my game. Just coming in to practice every day and trying to work on something differ-ent. Just getting better each day is going to help me in my progression here,” Mitchell said of her work toward improving in her sophomore season.

Mitchell is known as a slasher and scorer and said that she focused on improving her jump shot over the summer to become more versatile.

“I worked on my shot a lot just trying to be a more consistent outside threat. I know a lot of people played me for getting to the basket,

so I just want them to have to honor my jump shot this year. Also just being efficient in the shots that I take will help me and the team,” Mitchell expanded.

A player who will be called on for substan-tial contributions is Khadijah Sessions, an-other sophomore. Sessions will be asked fre-quently to play the point guard position and help run the team on both ends of the floor.

“She sat back last year and kind of looked and saw some of the thing Ieasia was able to do from a leadership standpoint and I think she knew that was going to be a big role for us to fill … she got her mind right in the postseason after last season and into the sum-mer and now into us practicing. I think her teammates see her that way as well because they chose her to be one of the tri-captains,” Staley noted.

Sessions said that she knew that Staley might look to her to run the point for the team and tried to be prepared to fill that role with her work during the offseason. She said that she had a focus on all-around improvement, including leadership and conditioning.

“Just all-around getting better and leading the whole basketball team knowing that I might be the one that she puts all the pressure on to lead the whole basketball team,” Ses-sion said of her new role. “Just working hard in all categories and playing hard at all times. I’m trying to lead at all times because that is

what she wants from the point guard.“I really put a lot on myself and focused on

stamina so that I can play longer minutes; I might have to play more minutes this year. Over the summer, we did a lot of running and I ate better and drank a lot of water. I ate a lot of healthier food so I can just be ready for the season,” Sessions continued.

Staley said that she has been pleased with the progression of Sessions within the new offense. She added that she could be an of-fensive catalyst and that her hard work over the summer did not go unnoticed by the coaching staff.

“I think she’s done a pretty good job of balancing the two (running the offense and scoring). We want our point guards to make other people better because that is conta-gious,” Staley said. “Tiffany Mitchell who likes to score the basketball, you know if she sees other people passing off, it’s only going to protect the things that she does well which is driving to the basket.

“I love where Khadijah is as far as her mentality. No she hasn’t played a game this particular season, but she’s preparing herself, she’s equipping herself with everything she is going to need to be successful,” Staley continued.

Staley is confident with these sophomore guards the team will be in good hands for the upcoming year.

Skillful sophomores look to drive offense

photo by ALLEN ShARpE

Tiffany Mitchell started 30 games last year.

Please see freshmen, Page 30


Missouri TigersFootball Roster

# Name Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Cl. Hometown/High School/Last College1 John Gibson DB 6-0 185 RS FR Missouri City, Texas/Marshall1 James Franklin QB 6-2 230 SR Corinth, Texas/Lake Dallas2 Duron Singleton DB 6-1 210 JR New Orleans, La./Fresno City CC2 L’Damian Washington WR 6-4/205 RS SR Shreveport, La./Green Oaks3 David Johnson DB 5-11 190 RS SO Spring, Texas/Spring HS3 Luke Jackson PK 6-1 185 FR Pensacola, Fla./West4 Daniel Easterly S 6-4 215 RS JR Detroit, Mich./Cass Tech4 J’Mon Moore WR 6-3 190 FR Missouri City, Texas/Elkins5 James Driskell WR 5-10 185 SO McKinney, Texas/Texas A&M-Commerce5 Cortland Browning S 6-1 205 RS SO Tyler, Texas /Lee HS6 Marcus Murphy RB 5-9 195 RS JR DeSoto, Texas/DeSoto7 Maty Mauk QB 6-0 200 RS FR Kenton, Ohio/Kenton7 Randy Ponder DB 5-10 195 RS SR Edmond, Okla./Santa Fe8 Darius White WR 6-3 205 RS JR Fort Worth, Texas/Texas8 Donovan Bonner LB 6-1 245 RS SR Dallas, Texas/Lincoln9 Eddie Printz QB 6-2 215 FR Marietta, Ga./Lassiter9 Braylon Webb S 6-0 205 RS JR Gilmer, Texas/Gilmer10 Brock Bondurant S 6-2 215 RS FR Memphis, Mo./Scotland Co. R-110 Kentrell Brothers LB 6-1 240 RS SO Guthrie, Okla./Guthrie HS11 Trent Hosick QB 6-1 225 FR Kansas City, Mo./Staley11 Aarion Penton DB 5-10 185 FR St. Louis, Mo./Christian Brothers12 Colby Carpenter QB 6-2 220 FR Dallas, Texas/Parkland12 Preston Soper PK 6-0 190 FR Muskogee, Okla./Muskogee 12 Darvin Ruise LB 6-1 240 RS JR Glen St. Mary, Fla./Baker County13 Corbin Berkstresser QB 6-3 225 RS SO Lee’s Summit, Mo./Lee’s Summit13 Chaston Ward S 6-1 205 RS FR Cleburne, Texas/Cleburne14 Jaleel Clark WR 6-4 220 RS SR Allentown, Pa./Parkland15 Dorial Green-BeckhamWR 6-6 225 SO Springfield, Mo./Hillcrest16 Levi Copelin WR 6-2 190 RS FR Broken Arrow, Okla./Broken Arrow17 Sheldon Gerau WR 6-0 205 RS SO Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge17 Matt White S 6-0 195 RS SR Keller, Texas/Keller17 Alex Demczak QB 6-0 200 JR Springfield, Ill./SW Baptist18 Wesley Leftwich WR 6-1 200 RS SO Columbia, Mo./Hickman18 Michael Godas S 6-0 210 RS SO Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge19 Shaun Rupert S 6-1 185 FR Montgomery, Ala./Carver20 Henry Josey RB 5-10 190 RS JR Angleton, Texas/Angleton21 Ian Simon S 6-0 195 RS SO Mansfield, Texas/Legacy HS21 Bud Sasser WR 6-2 210 RS JR Denton, Texas/Ryan22 Anthony Sherrils DN 6-0 190 FR Kansas City, Mo./Hogan Prep24 Mubarak Nasiruddin DB 6-0 180 RS FR St. Louis, Mo./Gateway Tech24 Greg White RB 6-1 220 RS JR DeQueen, Ark./DeQueen25 Donavin Newsom LB 6-2 230 RS FR St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North26 Xavier Smith DB 5-11 190 RS JR Edmond, Okla./North26 Jake Brents WR 6-3 205 RS FR Springfield, Mo./Kickapoo28 Ernest Payton DB 6-2 210 RS SO College Station, Texas/A&M Consolidated HS29 Zach Edwards DB 5-9 190 RS FR Lake Ozark, Mo./Osage30 Michael Scherer LB 6-3 235 RS FR St. Louis, Mo./Country Day31 E.J. Gaines DB 5-11 195 SR Independence, Mo./Fort Osage32 Russell Hansbrough RB 5-9 190 SO Arlington, Texas/Bowie32 Tanner Hull LB 6-0 215 FR Kansas City, Mo./O’Hara33 Markus Golden DL 6-3 260 RS JR St. Louis, Mo./Hutchison CC34 Jordan Wade DB 5-9 195 JR Lee’s Summit, Mo./Missouri Southern34 Joey Burkett LB 6-2 205 FR Jefferson City, Mo./Jefferson City35 Marcus Loud DL 6-4 270 FR Houston, Texas/Wheatley35 Tyler Hunt RB 5-11 215 SO Huntsville, Mo./Westran HS36 Morgan Steward RB 6-0 210 RS FR Kansas City, Mo./Staley38 Reid Swearingen WR 6-3 190 RS FR Sedalia, Mo./Woodbury Forest (Va.)38 Nicalus Rhone WR 5-10 170 FR Beaumont, Texas/Central38 Eric Beisel LB 6-3 235 FR Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit39 Miles Drummond RB 5-11 215 RS FR Centralia, Mo./Hallsville40 Clarence Green LB 6-0 225 RS SO Clute, Texas/Brazoswood HS40 Andrew Stevens RB 5-9 195 RS FR St. Louis, Mo./Eureka41 Aaron Bailey WR 5-9 165 FR Round Rock, Texas/Round Rock41 Eric Laurent WR 6-3 215 RS FR Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South43 Cameron Chancey WR 6-0 180 RS SO Branson, Mo./Branson

45 Tyler Davis DB 6-0 200 RS SR Eldon, Mo./School of the Osage46 Steven Blakley RB 5-11 225 FR Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers46 Jared Edwards DB 5-10 195 RS FR Lake Ozark, Mo./School of the Osage46 Kyle Peasel TE 6-4 220 RS SR Troy, Mo./Buchanan47 Kony Ealy DL 6-5 275 RS JR New Madrid, Mo./New Madrid48 Andrew Wilson LB 6-3 240 RS SR Peculiar, Mo./Raymore-Peculiar49 Denzel Martin LB 5-11 230 RS SR Ladue, Mo./Chaminade50 Evan Winston DL 6-3 295 RS FR Muskegon Heights, Mich./Muskegon Heights51 Stephen Carberry OL 6-5 300 RS JR Belleville, Ill./Mascoutah52 Michael Sam DL 6-2 255 RS SR Hitchcock, Texas/Hitchcock52 Jordan Hill OL 6-2 270 FR Lee’s Summit, Mo./North53 Christian Williams LB 6-0 235 RS FR Lake Ozark, Mo./School of the Osage54 Michael Brennan LB 6-2 235 SR Kahoka, Mo./Clark County54 Nick Monaghan OL 6-2 245 RS SO Darien, Ill./Downer’s Grove South55 Brayden Burnett DL 6-2 245 RS SR Southlake, Texas/Carroll56 Shane Ray DL 6-3 245 RS SO Kansas City, Mo./Bishop Miege HS56 Robert Luce OL 6-3 300 RS JR Dallas, Texas/Dallas Episcopal57 Alec Abeln OL 6-3 290 FR St. Louis, Mo./University HS58 Ben Eskelson DL 6-2 225 RS FR Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West58 John Reid OL 6-3 280 FR Duluth, Ga./Johns Creek59 Kyle Starke OL 6-5 310 RS SO Liberty, Mo./Liberty HS60 Connor McGovern OL 6-4 310 RS SO Fargo, N.D./Shanley HS61 Max Copeland OL 6-3 300 RS SR Billings, Mont./West62 Taylor Chappell OL 6-5 300 RS SO Canadian, Texas/Canadian HS63 Brad McNulty OL 6-4 300 RS SO Allen, Texas/Allen HS64 DeQuinton Osborne DL 6-0 310 FR Grand Prairie, Texas/South64 Will Johnson OL 6-2 280 RS FR Salisbury, N.C./Salisbury HS 65 Mitch Morse OL 6-6 305 RS JR Austin, Texas/St. Michael’s Academy66 Adam Ploudre OL 6-4 295 FR Ballwin, Mo./Marquette67 Michael Boddie OL 6-5 295 RS SO Gilmer, Texas/Gilmer68 Justin Britt OL 6-6 315 RS SR Lebanon, Mo./Lebanon69 Mitch Hall OL 6-2 290 RS SO Burnsville, Minn./Lakeville South70 Anthony Gatti OL 6-6 315 RS JR St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North72 Clay Rhodes OL 6-5 290 FR Stilwell, Kan./Blue Valley73 Mitch Hall OL 6-5 320 RS SO Russellville, Ark./Ole Miss75 A.J. Logan DL 6-2 310 FR Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge76 Jordan Williams OL 6-3 295 RS FR Denton, Texas/Ryan77 Evan Boehm OL 6-3 315 SO Lee’s Summit, Mo./West78 Nick Demien OL 6-6 300 RS JR Wentzville, Mo./Timberland79 Adam Franklin OL 6-0 265 RS SO Raytown, Mo./Missouri Western80 Sean Culkin TE 6-6 245 RS FR Indian Rocks Beach, Fla./Christian81 Eric Waters TE 6-5 245 SR Mansfield, Texas/Summitt82 Jason Reese TE 6-5 240 FR Euless, Texas/Trinity84 Brandon Colbert TE 6-3 225 JR Troy, Mo./Buchanan84 Gavin Otte WR 5-10 200 JR Rolla, Mo./Rolla85 Marcus Lucas WR 6-5 220 SR Liberty, Mo./Liberty86 Jake Hurrell TE 6-3 235 RS FR St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North87 Nate Crawford DL 6-5 285 FR Pensacola, Fla./West88 Jimmie Hunt WR 6-0 215 RS JR Cahokia, Ill./Cahokia89 Matt Hoch DL 6-5 295 RS JR Harlan, Iowa/Harlan89 Tyler Hanneke TE 6-4 235 RS FR St. Charles, Mo./West90 Nick Coffman PK 5-11 170 RS FR Houston, Texas/Elkins90 Berlin Hollomon TE 6-2 240 FR St. Louis, Mo./McCluer90 Harold Brantley DL 6-3 290 RS FR Hershey, Pa./Hershey91 Blake Owens PK 5-11 205 RS JR Kansas City, Mo./Staley91 Charles Harris DL 6-3 235 FR Kansas City, Mo./Lincoln Prep92 Christian Brinser P 6-2 200 RS JR Liberty, Mo./Liberty93 Dakota Brake DL 6-2 295 FR Springfield, Mo./Glendale93 Justin Grava OL 6-3 260 RS FR Alpharetta, Ga./Johns Creek94 Marvin Foster DL 6-1 300 RS SR Fort Worth, Texas/North Crowley95 Rickey Hatley DL 6-4 270 RS FR Atlanta, Texas/Atlanta96 Lucas Vincent DL 6-2 305 RS JR Olathe, Kan./North97 Josh Augusta DL 6-4 300 FR Peoria, Ill./Peoria98 Clayton Echard TE 6-4 255 RS SO Eureka, Mo./Eureka99 David Butler DL 6-4 280 RS JR Kansas City, Mo./Lee’s Summit North99 Andrew Baggett PK 6-1 215 RS SO Lee’s Summit, Mo./North

All University of South Caro-lina alumni and their families are invited to come back to campus for My Carolina Alumni Association Home-coming presented by Lowe’s on November 1-2, 2013. Join us for great events and watch the Homecoming parade from the site of the new Alumni Center!

My Carolina Homecoming 2013 Presented by Lowe’s:

Friday, November 1 -

Check out all of these great events!

• Groundbreaking for the Alumni Center - 10 a.m. Corner of Sen-ate Street and Lincoln Street.

• Homecoming Parade - Watch from the Alumni Center site - 3 p.m. Cor-ner of Senate Street and Lincoln Street.

• Young Alumni Celebra-

tion at Tin Roof in the Vista, 7 - 10:30 p.m. Enjoy live music, food, beverages, giveaways and fun.

• The Great Gamecocks, 8:30 p.m. - Alumni Party hosted by the

Black Alumni Council. Capital City Club, 1201 Main Street.

Saturday, November 2 - Pre-Game Tailgate Party at Gamecock Park (formerly the Farmer’s Market on

Bluff Road next to Wil-liams-Brice Stadium.)

•The party starts three hours before kick-off with a full tailgate menu, beverages, a live DJ, giveaways and more!

• Lowe’s VIP Lounge Pop-up Rig with Direct TV and Viewing Deck

• Lowe’s Build & Grow Kid’s Clinic Station

• Lowe’s $10 off $50 “Project Starter” give-away

• Interactive Photo Op-portunity

• Appearance by Heis-man Trophy winner George Rogers

Find more information, check out events hosted by schools and colleges and RSVP online at MyCarolina.org/homecoming

RSVP for My Carolina Homecoming presented by Lowe’s



South Carolina’s third-ranked equestrian team has had a strong and busy season thus far and has set a number of school records.

Most recently, the Gamecocks dropped a tie-breaker to national No. 1 Georgia on Oct. 11, but they have yet to be outscored in their last eight dual meets, which is the longest active streak in the nation. Head coach Boo Major said the team has per-formed well despite the tiebreaker-loss to Georgia.

“It is what it is … I am really proud of how they have done so far. We’re happy with where we are right now. Would I have liked to beat Georgia? Absolutely, you’re never okay with losing, but we know what we need to work on to get better,” Major said. “The tough ones came out and re-ally got it done. Yes we have some stuff to work on, but there really were some bright stars.

“Katherine Schmidt continues to be a bright star over fences, Cody McMillion was the only point that we got in reining and she was fantastic. Ali Ceresani was the last one to go in horsemanship and for us to even tie them she had to win her point. We knew that she had to win her point and she knew she had to win her point … she went in there and just knocked it out, so even in the loss there were a lot of positive things that came out of it,” Major explained.

Katherine Schmidt and Johnna Letch-worth have received individual accolades for their performances of late as well. Both were named the NCEA Riders of the Month for their outstanding showings in September, Schmidt in equation over the fences and Letchworth in horsemanship.

“They’re both great student-athletes. They’re huge competitors. They know what it takes to win and they know what it takes to get the job done,” Major noted. “It brings the school a lot of recognition and I think those two young women deserve all the accolades they can get. They’re not just great riders and great competitors. They’re great kids.”

The team’s performance has pleased Major because there was a great amount of turnover from last year’s squad and she was unsure coming in how this team would compete. She said that it has been great to see so many riders come in and contribute. The ability to have depth in more than five who can compete in any given event has been another strength ac-cording to Major.

The squad has been extremely busy with eight meets during the fall semester,

which is the most regular season meets in a semester in program history. The team has gone 4-1 thus far by defeating Kansas State, Fresno State, Delaware State and SMU. Kansas State and SMU are both cur-rently ranked in the top-10 by the NCEA.

Major said that the schedule was set up to give the team experience and have a num-ber of meets, but still keep them fresh and focused for the spring when they will host the SEC Championships on March 28-29.

“I think that doing five competitions in four weeks and doing short weeks every week - all of our competitions were on Fridays, except when we went to Delaware State we had one on Friday and one on Sat-urday - I’m really proud of how well these girls have done knowing that they have had short weeks,” Major said.

Major noted that the fall break is coming at a good time for the team after a high-in-tensity matchup with Georgia and so many competitions. She said it will give the student-athletes time to rest and come back prepared to travel to take on Texas A&M, another top-10 team, on Oct. 25.

“So far, with the exception of the Geor-gia meet, I’ve been very happy with what everyone has done. I’m not disappointed in what we did … I do think that it has pre-pared them well,” Major noted. “Certainly going to Delaware State helped us a lot and having two in a row. I think that will help prepare us for going to Texas A&M.

“When you compete in the SEC - the SEC schools are the ones day-in and day-out that will be the ones to compete for the National Championship ... I think that if you can hang with the other SEC schools, which we certainly expect to do, then come championship time you’re going to be in really good shape,” Major explained.

Major said that going forward the team has a mix of short- and long-term goals that they set at the beginning of the year. She explained that one of the goals was to have as high a seed as possible in the SEC and National Championship competitions. In order to do that they must perform well in each meet.

“We have to continue to do well and cer-tainly win as much as we can win, but if you look ahead, then you’re going to miss a school that you should beat and they’ll beat you,” Major said. “Right now through this we’re taking it one competition at a time.

“Through the spring we’re also going to take it one competition at a time, but also look at the bigger picture of the SEC and National Championship. We will need to learn from the mistakes we make and the success we have in order to be successful in the SEC championship,” Major con-cluded.

Gamecock equestrian team riding toward their goals

south carolina athletics media relations

South Carolina Gamecocks2013 - 2014

BaSeBall SChedule


Date ...............OppOnent / event .........LOcatiOn ........................... time02/14/14 ...........vs. Bucknell .......................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 3:00 p.m. ET02/15/14 ...........vs. Bucknell .......................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET02/16/14 ...........vs. Bucknell .......................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET02/21/14 ...........vs. Eastern Kentucky ........... Columbia, S.C. ........... 3:00 p.m. ET02/22/14 ...........vs. Eastern Kentucky ........... Columbia, S.C. ........... 4:00 p.m. ET02/23/14 ...........vs. Eastern Kentucky ........... Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET02/28/14 ...........vs. Clemson .......................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/01/14 .............vs. Clemson ..............................Greenville, S.C. .............................TBA03/02/14 .............at Clemson ...............................Clemson, S.C. .................4:00 p.m. ET03/04/14 ...........vs. Stetson ............................ Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/05/14 ...........vs. Stetson ............................ Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/07/14 ...........vs. Brown ............................. Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/08/14 ...........vs. Brown ............................. Columbia, S.C. ........... 4:00 p.m. ET03/09/14 ...........vs. Brown ............................. Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET03/11/14 ...........vs. Furman ........................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/14/14 ...........vs. Ole Miss # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/15/14 ...........vs. Ole Miss # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 4:00 p.m. ET03/16/14 ...........vs. Ole Miss # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET03/18/14 .............at The Citadel ...........................Charleston, S.C. .............7:00 p.m. ET03/21/14 .............at Kentucky # ...........................Lexington, Ky. ..............................TBA03/22/14 .............at Kentucky # ...........................Lexington, Ky. ..............................TBA03/23/14 .............at Kentucky # ...........................Lexington, Ky. ..............................TBA03/25/14 ...........vs. College of Charleston ..... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/26/14 ...........vs. Coastal Carolina ............. Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/28/14 ...........vs. Tennessee # ..................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET03/29/14 ...........vs. Tennessee # ..................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 4:00 p.m. ET03/30/14 ...........vs. Tennessee # ..................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET04/01/14 ...........vs. Appalachian State ........... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET04/02/14 ...........vs. Presbyterian ................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET04/04/14 .............at Arkansas # ............................Fayetteville, Ark. ............7:35 p.m. ET04/05/14 .............at Arkansas # ............................Fayetteville, Ark. ............3:05 p.m. ET

04/06/14 .............at Arkansas # ............................Fayetteville, Ark. ............2:05 p.m. ET04/08/14 .............at Furman .................................Greenville, S.C. ...............7:00 p.m. ET04/11/14 ...........vs. Florida # ......................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET04/12/14 ...........vs. Florida # ......................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 4:00 p.m. ET04/13/14 ...........vs. Florida # ......................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET04/15/14 ...........vs. Charleston Southern ...... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET04/18/14 .............at Auburn # ..............................Auburn, Ala. ..................7:00 p.m. ET04/19/14 .............at Auburn # ..............................Auburn, Ala. ..................4:00 p.m. ET04/20/14 .............at Auburn # ..............................Auburn, Ala. ..................2:00 p.m. ET04/22/14 ...........vs. Davidson ......................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET04/23/14 ...........vs. USC Upstate ................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET04/25/14 ...........vs. Alabama # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET04/26/14 ...........vs. Alabama # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 4:00 p.m. ET04/27/14 ...........vs. Alabama # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET05/02/14 .............at Georgia # ..............................Athens, Ga. .....................7:00 p.m. ET05/03/14 .............at Georgia # ..............................Athens, Ga. .....................1:00 p.m. ET05/04/14 .............at Georgia # ..............................Athens, Ga. .....................1:00 p.m. ET05/07/14 ...........vs. Wofford ........................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET05/09/14 ...........vs. Missouri # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET05/10/14 ...........vs. Missouri # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 4:00 p.m. ET05/11/14 ...........vs. Missouri # ....................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 1:30 p.m. ET05/13/14 ...........vs. The Citadel ..................... Columbia, S.C. ........... 7:00 p.m. ET05/15/14 .............at Vanderbilt # ..........................Nashville, Tenn. .............7:30 p.m. ET05/16/14 .............at Vanderbilt # ..........................Nashville, Tenn. .............7:30 p.m. ET05/17/14 .............at Vanderbilt # ..........................Nashville, Tenn. .............3:00 p.m. ET05/20/14 .............SEC Tournament ....................Hoover, Ala. .................................TBA05/21/14 .............SEC Tournament ....................Hoover, Ala. .................................TBA05/22/14 .............SEC Tournament ....................Hoover, Ala. .................................TBA05/23/14 .............SEC Tournament ....................Hoover, Ala. .................................TBA05/24/14 .............SEC Tournament ....................Hoover, Ala. .................................TBA05/25/14 .............SEC Tournament ....................Hoover, Ala. .................................TBAAll times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change #denotes SEC game


South Carolina athletiCS Media relationS

The University of South Carolina Athletics Department, in conjunction with the Gamecock Club and My Carolina Alumni Association, invites Gamecock fans to the “Tip-Off Tailgate Party With Gamecock Basketball,” to be held on Oct. 26 at Colonial Life Arena. The event is open to the public with doors set to open at 5:45 p.m., and the program to begin at 6 p.m., which is one hour prior to kickoff of the Gamecocks at Missouri football contest.

Students in attendance will receive double rewards points (two points), and if 2,000 or more students attend, the rewards points awarded for the event will be doubled to four. Free food will be available and the new official student sec-tion T-shirt will be provided for the first 2,000 students. Like on gamedays, students should enter at the College Street entrance at Colonial Life Arena.

Additionally, one lucky student will be ran-domly selected from the crowd to attempt a half-court shot to win $10,000 in cash. Men’s basketball head coach Frank Martin will also make a special announcement to students who attend the event as well as all of his team’s home non-conference games this season.

“The Gamecock Club and My Carolina Alumni Association are excited to work together to bring all Gamecocks together for this exciting day and event,” Gamecock Club Executive Di-rector Patrick McFarland said. “I can’t imagine a better way to spend your day than meeting your Gamecock basketball teams and watching the Gamecocks take on Missouri in football ... all in one place!”

My Carolina Alumni Association executive director Jack Claypoole echoed those thoughts.

“What a great way to spend a Saturday! The Tip-Off Tailgate Party offers our alumni and friends the chance to celebrate three fantastic Gamecock teams at one time. From our two outstanding basketball teams to Gamecock football - all under one roof with Gamecock Nation - it’ll be the best party in town! We hope you’ll join us!”

After a fun and interactive hour with the basketball teams, fans can stay at Colonial Life

Arena to watch the Missouri football contest on the video board and enjoy available concessions as they cheer on the Gamecock football squad to victory.

The event will also be an opportunity for fans to purchase and select seats for new season ticket holders. Representatives from the South Carolina basketball season ticket sales team will be on hand throughout the arena to assist fans through the ticket purchase and seat selection process.

The Tip-Off Tailgate Party will feature ex-citing programming, including scrimmages from both squads, skills competitions such as a 3-point shootout contest, comments to the crowd from Gamecock men’s basketball coach Frank Martin and women’s head coach Dawn Staley and autograph and photo opportunities for fans.

“This event we are putting together that in-volves our Alumni Association, the Gamecock Club and our Athletics Department is a new way to embrace our fans with our team and to get to know one another in a way where we can enjoy the moment and create even more interest for the beginning of a new season. It will be ex-citing to cheer on our Gamecock football team with our great fans,” Martin said.

“Basketball season is almost here and so much of our success has to do with the people that have supported us,” Staley said. “This event is an opportunity for us to show our appreciation for that support. Fans will get to see how much our team enjoys being with the fans and they’ll get to see how funny the team is and how ex-cited we are that it’s basketball season. It’s a fun opportunity to see a little basketball and support our football team from afar, so I think the atmo-sphere is going to be great.”

Fans will also enjoy introductions of both teams and coaching staffs and giveaways such as rally towels and schedule posters for all in at-tendance. Fans should use the hashtag #TipOff-Tailgate when spreading the word about the event via social media.

Fans should use the hashtag #TipOffTailgate when spreading the word about the event via social media.

Purchase tickets for both men’s and women’s basketball by visiting www.GamecocksOnline.com/Tickets, or call 1-800-4SC-FANS.

Gamecock athletics announces Tip-Off Tailgate Party


South Carolina GamecocksReCRuitinG Roundup

by phil koRnblut

Phil KornblutContributing

Writer

The Gamecocks were hit and miss with two of their top recruiting targets last week-end landing OL Donell Stanley of Latta but

missing on WR Braxton Berrios of Raleigh, NC.

Stanley, a Shrine Bowl selection tack-le, picked the Game-cocks over Clemson after eliminating Alabama and North Carolina. “It’s closer to home, a quality SEC school, one of the top ones in the conference, and I just like what the

coaches bring to the table, especially coach (Shawn) Elliott,” Stanley said after his an-nouncement. “I like the way he coaches. He’s an energetic coach and gets his point across. He’s going to push you to be the best you can be.” Some recruiting analysts consider Stan-ley to be the state’s #1 prospect in this class. “His lower body is really good,” Latta coach Kelly Williamson said. “He has really good foot work (and size 22 shoes) and his lower body is really strong. He has exceptionally long arms and big hands. He’s the most ath-letic kid in school.” Stanley also stars on the Vikings’ basketball and baseball teams and said he might attempt to join the Gamecock baseball team. He’s the 13th commitment for USC’s 2014 class.

Berrios, also a Shrine Bowl pick, chose Mi-ami over USC, Tennessee, Oregon and Ken-tucky. Berrios made several visits to USC but

he was a long time Hurricanes fan.DL Dexter Wideman of Saluda was one of

the 40 players selected for the South Caro-lina Shrine Bowl team. Wideman has been publicly committed to Florida State since the summer but he never closed the door on USC and his coach says the commitment to the Seminoles is very soft at best right now. “He’s still got Florida State in his mind too,” Doug Painter said. “He doesn’t know right now to be honest with you. He’s torn because South Carolina is closer to home and he’s been to a lot of games there. He likes the coaches but he likes the coaches at Florida State too.” Wideman will take an official visit to Florida State for the Miami game. “I know he’s going to go down there and he said hopefully after I get back from down there I can make up my mind for sure,” Painter said adding that Wideman will also take an official visit to USC. “I think right now he’s still committed but he’s still talking, if that makes sense,” Painter said. Wideman is playing in the Under Armour All-American Game and his coach said he wants to make his announcement then.

DE Andrew Williams of McDonough, GA has a final six of Clemson, USC, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Ole Miss and Auburn. There is no order to his list and he won’t take official visits until after his season. Tennessee will be the school left out of official visits because he recently visited there. Williams is going to Clemson for the Florida State game, his first visit there this season, and he is planning to get to a USC game as well. Williams said he’s hearing regularly from USC and he’s aware of the Gamecocks’ need at his position.

“I can see an opportunity with Jadeveon (Clowney) and the other guy (Chaz Sutton) leaving,” Williams said. “The other two (de-fensive ends) are probably like 200 pounds soaking wet (Williams weighs 250). I think I can go up there and make an impact if I did choose them.” Williams said he won’t make his decision until after his visits and he may wait to announce at the Army All American Game.

DE Dante Sawyer of Suwanee, GA visited Auburn recently and he told AuburnSports.com he does not have a favorite. Asked spe-cifically about reports USC was the clear leader, Sawyer replied, “”Not true. That’s final.” Sawyer added that he’s no longer considering Alabama and has a short list of USC, Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee and Mis-souri. He plans to take some official visits before making his decision and confirmed only Auburn for one of those visits at this time.

TE KC Crosby, Jr. of Bamberg-Ehrhardt committed to USC in June and remains strong with the Gamecocks. “I’m pretty solid,” Crosby said. “I’m not going anywhere else and will sign my Letter of Intent (with USC).” Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and sev-eral other schools continue to send Crosby mail but he says he is not speaking with any other program other than USC.

USC commitment DB Al Harris, Jr. of Fort Lauderdale is 100 percent committed to the Gamecocks. Harris has yet to visit USC but plans to do so next month. Harris has no plans to visit any other school. “I’m done with recruiting,” he said. “I’m going to South Carolina.”

DL Anthony Moten of Fort Lauderdale, FL told Rivals he’s still interested in USC. He will try to take an official visit to Florida State for the Miami weekend if he finishes the SAT early enough to get there. He’s also planning to go to Miami for the Virginia Tech game. Moten said he has a good rela-tionship with USC recruiter Grady Brown and continues to communicate with him.

Basketball News:

6-7 Dante Buford of Jacksonville, FL had to reschedule his visits to Oklahoma and Miami because his ACT score wasn’t posted in time. He can now take those visits and will over the next two weeks. And he will visit USC November 1st. Buford no longer is considering Southern Cal and Oklahoma State and will only take the three visits. USC coach Frank Martin is a regular visitor to see Buford. “South Carolina certainly, if not in the lead, is right there,” his coach Rex Morgan said. “I think it will go with how the visits go.”

Baseball News:

RHP Nick Neidert (6-1 170) of Lawrencev-ille, GA announced a commitment to USC Thursday night on his Twitter page. “Proud to say that I committed to THE University of South Carolina. Can’t wait to call myself an official Gamecock,” Neidert wrote. Nei-dert also plays shortstop and third base. His fastball has been clocked at 91 MPH. Neidert is the 11th commitment for the Gamecocks 2015 class and the seventh pitcher.

staff reports

South Carolina won the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 2010 and 2011 at the College World Series. South Carolina has 11 College World Series appearances, including six in the last 12 years. South Carolina is the only school

with 200 or more wins in the last four years (2010 to the present) with a 201-70 record, and the Gamecocks own the second-highest win total in the nation in the last 14 years (2000 to the present) with a 669-271 record. South Carolina is one of five schools to appear in the NCAA Regional every season in the last 14 years,

including 11 NCAA Super Regional appearances in that span, one of only two schools to accomplish the feat.

The 2014 Gamecock baseball schedule was released last week (page 14). It will feature 37 home games at Carolina Stadium as well as 19 games against 2013 NCAA Tournament teams. The Gamecocks

open the season on Friday, Feb. 14, hosting a three-game series vs. Bucknell.

The Gamecocks enter the 2014 season with high expectations and one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. In fact, Baseball America ranked South Carolina’s recruiting class No. 3 in the nation as released

by the publication in last week’s digi-tal edition. This year’s class includes 21 newcomers to the Garnet and Black. For more information and a full breakdown on South Carolina’s talented newcomers, visit www.gamecocksonline.com.

(South Carolina Athletics Media Relations contributed to this report)

Baseball America ranks recruiting class No. 3 in the nation



The Gamecock women’s soccer team has moved into the top-10 of the NSCAA Coaches’ poll and is in line to compete for an SEC title as the regular season is wind-ing down.

The team has outperformed most expec-tations to get to this point, but head coach Shelley Smith said that she knew the team had the pieces to have a good season. She said even she has been presently surprised with how well the team has come together and been able to compete in such a com-petitive conference.

“I’m very proud of the way the girls have been playing, how they’ve grown as a team and to come out strong from the first kickoff of the season. They really prepared well coming in, so I knew we were in good shape,” Smith said. “It’s just can we put things together, can we get the new players to gel right away and the returning players have really stepped up their game from the year before.

“So I think seeing how they prepared, their mindset, their motivation and see-ing how they came back this season I knew we would be strong. I wouldn’t have guessed, I don’t think anyone would have, that we would be in this position right now. Not that I ever doubted it ei-ther, but you’re just not sure you make that jump after a season like we had last year,” Smith explained.

The Gamecocks have not gotten compla-cent or too involved with their own rank-ings throughout the season. In fact, Smith said that any national recognition that the team gets makes them want to get out on the field to prove they are worthy of such.

“They haven’t gotten to a point where they’re happy when someone else rates them as a top-20 team, they now want to prove they are … so thats why they’ve gone out week after week knowing each game is important for us to continue that type of recognition,” Smith said.

They have been able to play so well this season because Smith has gotten strong play in all facets of the game, from an ex-perienced defense to a balanced offensive attack and strong play from the midfield.

“They’re a seasoned group … Andie Romness who has started at center back for

three years and Taylor (Leach) have come back from injuries and worked tremendous-ly hard to establish herself there. Caroline Gray played a lot of minutes as a freshman last year. Christa Neary played a good amount of minutes last year in the back and Christine Watts has worked hard to come back in her senior year after sitting out be-cause of a transfer rule,” Smith said of the defense. “To have that quality of experience to bring in this fall has really helped.”

Smith said that the offense has become hard to defend because they work as a team and defenses cannot focus on just one player.

“It’s not like we have one player that someone is focusing on as a target. We’re not trying to do things individually out there; we’ve been playing well and com-bining and moving the ball,” Smith noted. “Different players are getting different opportunities to score goals and get in the box.

“It’s been a different goal scorer every game and I think the person with the most

points is Chelsea Drennen who has been assisting. She has been setting up players, but it has not been the same person. So I think the variety in our attack has been good,” Smith contin-ued.

The Gamecocks have gotten contribu-tions from the whole team, especially from the midfielders who

are somewhat unsung heroes of the group.“So they know it’s a complete team effort,

but anytime we have some individual acco-lades I’m proud of them and glad they can be recognized for their hard work,” Smith noted. “Always at the end of the season you always wish there were more given because as a team you know how important some-one like Liz Sinclair is as your center mid. She plays every minute and is irreplaceable. Same with Stevi Parker, but you know to find accolades for them is hard.

“They do the dirty work and they’re not the one necessarily considered with the back four and the shutout, but they’re also not the ones scoring all the goals. They un-derstand that and hopefully we’ll see some recognition with SEC type honors at the end of the season,” Smith said.

The stellar season has earned Smith her own milestone: her 150th win heading the Gamecocks. She said the milestone is nice, but it was not something that she was

counting down to.“You’re in the middle of the season and as

a coach, you’re just happy for the team to get one more result. I guess you don’t really enjoy it in the season because you’re always looking ahead. It also gave me a chance to thank all the players that have come before to earn those wins in the past. It’s definitely something to be proud of, but we have a lot more to go,” Smith commented.

Smith said that the Gamecocks’ goals are getting closer, but they must remain focused on the process to be able to achieve them.

“Our goal is to continue the SEC as strong as we can so that we can put ourselves in as good a position as we can for SEC Championships,” Smith said. “You do that in your conference, you’re going to have a good chance to set yourself up well for the NCAAs.

“At this point in the season we have to keep focused on our job every game and we know what the results will be at the end by doing that. The goals don’t change, it’s just that our focus can’t change either. We have to take care of business to get to the post-season,” Smith concluded.

Coach hits milestone heading toward SEC tourney

“Our goal is to continue the SEC as strong as we can so that we can put ourselves in as good a position as we can for SEC Championships.”

- Coach Shelley Smith


OFFENSEWR: 1 Damiere Byrd 5-9, 166, Jr. Sicklerville, N.J. 8 Shamier Jeffery 6-1, 207, SO. St. Matthews, S.C. 4 Shaq Roland 6-1, 190, SO. Lexington, S.C.WR: 23 Bruce Ellington 5-9, 196, Jr. Moncks Corner, S.C. 11 Pharoh Cooper 5-11, 184, Fr. Havelock, N.C. 80 K.J. Brent 6-4, 188, So. Waxhaw, N.C.WR: 3 Nick Jones 5-7, 174, Jr. Moore, S.C. 82 Kwinton Smith 6-4, 212, RFr. Hamer, S.C. 85 Kane Whitehurst 5-11, 179, So. Duluth, Ga.LT: 53 Corey Robinson 6-8, 341, Jr. Havelock, N.C. 74 Mason Zandi 6-9, 293, RFr. Irmo, S.C.LG: 50 A.J. Cann 6-4, 314, Jr, Bamberg, S.C. 65 Brock Stadnik 6-5, 286, RFr. Greensboro, N.C.C: 54 Clayton Stadnik 6-3, 281, RFr. Greensboro, N.C. 51 Cody Waldrop 6-2, 319, RFr, Seffner, Fla.RG: 67 Ronald Patrick 6-2, 315, Sr. Cocoa, Fla. 55 Na’ Ty Rodgers 6-5, 296, Fr. Waldorf, Md.RT: 71 Brandon Shell 6-6, 323, So. Goose Creek, S.C. 78 Cody Gibson 6-7, 286, Jr. Tallahassee, Fla.TE: 81 Rory Anderson 6-5, 242, Jr. Powder Springs, Ga. 89 Jerell Adams 6-6, 237, So. Pinewood, S.C. 83 Mason Zandi 6-9, 293, RFr. Irmo, S.C.QB: 14 Connor Shaw 6-1, 209, Sr. Flowery Branch, Ga. 17 Dylan Thompson 6-3, 218, Jr. Boiling Springs, S.C. 5 Brendan Nosovitch 6-1, 220, RFr. Allentown, Pa.FB: 41 Connor McLaurin 6-0, 237, Jr. Raleigh, N.C. 31 Jordan Diaz 6-1, 233, Jr. Hamilton, N.J.TB: 28 Mike Davis 5-9, 215, So. Lithonia, Ga. 7 Shon Carson 5-8, 219, So. Scranton, S.C. 33 David Williams 6-1, 200, Fr. Philadelphia, Pa.

DEFENSEDE: 90 Chaz Sutton 6-5, 263, Sr. Savannah, Ga. 44 Gerald Dixon 6-2, 268, So. Rock Hill, S.C. 34 Mason Harris 6-3, 218, So. Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.DT: 97 J.T. Surratt 6-2, 307, Jr. Winston-Salem, N.C. 92 Gerald Dixon Jr. 6-3, 318, So. Rock Hill, S.C. 93 Deon Green 6-4, 287, So. Windermere, Fla.DT: 99 Kelcy Quarles 6-4, 298, Jr. Hodges, S.C. 52 Phillip Dukes 6-3, 315, So. Manning, S.C. 94KelseyGriffin 6-2,292,Fr. Buford,Ga.DE: 7 Jadeveon Clowney 6-6, 274, Jr. Rock Hill, S.C. 5 Darius English 6-6, 226, RFr. Powder Springs, Ga.MLB: 11 T.J. Holloman 6-2, 228, RFr, Stone Mountain, Ga. 8 Kaiwan Lewis 6-0, 221, So. Mays Landing, N.J. 28 Jonathan Walton 6-0, 234, Fr. Daphne, Ala.WLB: 21 Marcquis Roberts 6-1, 225, So. Powder Springs, Ga. 10 Skai Moore 6-2, 205, Fr. Cooper City, Fla. 18 Cedrick Cooper 6-2, 213, So. Lithonia, Ga.SPR: 9 Sharrod Golightly 5-10, 195, Jr. Decatur, Ga. 42 Jordan Diggs 6-0, 214, RFr. Fort Myers, Fla. 32 Larenz Bryant 6-0, 215, Fr. Charlotte, N.C.CB: 27 Victor Hampton 5-10, 202, Jr. Darlington, S.C. 4 Ahmad Christian 5-10, 189, So. Jacksonville, Fla.SS: 12 Brison Williams 5-11, 218, Jr. Warner Robins, Ga. 25 Kadetrix Marcus 6-1, 195, Jr. Stone Mountain, Ga.FS: 17 Chaz Elder 6-2, 199, RFr, Union City, Ga. 20 T.J. Gurley 5-10, 196, So. Cairo, Ga.CB: 15 Jimmy Legree 6-0, 187, Sr. Beaufort, S.C. 1 Rico McWilliams 5-11, 187, RFr, Hampton, Ga. 3 Jamari Smith 5-10, 183, Fr. Jacksonville, Fla.

SPECIALISTSKO: 19 Landon Ard 5-9, 172, So. Rock Hill, S.C. 29 Elliott Fry 6-0, 150, Fr. Frisco, TexasPK: 29 Elliott Fry 6-0, 150, Fr. Frisco, Texas 19 Landon Ard 5-9 ,172, So. Rock Hill, S.C.P: 13 Tyler Hull 6-2, 206, Jr. Mount Airy, N.C. 18 Patrick Fish 6-0, 195, Jr. Shelby, N.C.KR: 11 Pharoh Cooper 5-11, 184, Fr. Havelock, N.C. 23 Bruce Ellington 5-9, 196, Jr. Moncks Corner, S.C.PR: 11 Pharoh Cooper 5-11, 184, Fr. Havelock, N.C. 27 Victor Hampton 5-10, 202, Jr. Darlington, S.C.SSN: 58 Ryland Culbertson 6-4, 265, Jr. Laurens, S.C.LSN: 47 Drew Williams 6-2, 190, Fr. Irmo, S.C.H: 18 Patrick Fish 6-0, 195, Jr. Shelby, N.C. 5 Brendan Nosovitch 6-1, 220, RFr. Allentown, Pa.

OFFENSELT: 68 Justin Britt 6-6, 315, Sr. Lebanon, Mo. 76 Jordan Williams 6-3, 295, RFr. Denton, TexasLG: 61 Max Copeland 6-3, 300, Sr. Billings, Mont. 70 Anthony Gatti 6-5, 315, Jr. St. Louis, Mo.C: 77 Evan Boehm 6-3, 315, So. Lee’s Summit, Mo. 63 Brad McNulty 6-4, 300, So. Allen, TexasRG: 60 Connor McGovern 6-4, 310, So. Fargo, N.D. 73 Mitch L. Hall 6-5, 320, So. Burnsville, Minn.RT: 65 Mitch Morse 6-6, 305, Jr. Austin, Texas 62 Taylor Chappell 6-5, 300, So. Canadian, TexasTE: 81EricWaters 6-5,245,Sr. Mansfield,Texas-OR- 80 Sean Culkin 6-6, 245, RFr. Indian Rocks Beach, Fla. 98 Clayton Echard 6-4, 255, So. Eureka, Mo.QB: 7 Maty Mauk 6-0, 200, RFr. Kenton, Ohio 13 Corbin Berkstresser 6-3, 225, So. Lee’s Summit, Mo. 9 Eddie Printz 6-2, 215, Fr. Marietta, Ga.TB: 20 Henry Josey 5-10, 190, Jr. Angleton, Texas 32 Russell Hansbrough 5-9, 190, So. Arlington, Texas 6 Marcus Murphy 5-9, 195, Jr. DeSoto, TexasY: 85 Marcus Lucas 6-5, 220, Sr. Liberty, Mo. 16 Levi Copelin 6-2, 190, RFr. Broken Arrow, Okla.X: 15DorialGreen-Beckham 6-6,225,So. Springfield,Mo. 14 Jaleel Clark 6-4, 220, Sr. Allentown, Pa.H: 21 Bud Sasser 6-2, 210, Jr. Denton, Texas 88 Jimmie Hunt 6-0, 215, Jr. Cahokia, Ill.Z: 2 L’Damian Washington 6-4, 205, Sr. Shreveport, La. 8 Darius White 6-3, 205, Jr. Fort Worth, Texas

DEFENSEDE: 52 Michael Sam 6-2, 255, Sr. Hitchcock, Texas-OR- 56 Shane Ray 6-3, 245, So. Kansas City, Mo.DT: 89 Matt Hoch 6-5, 295, Jr. Harlan, Iowa 94 Marvin Foster 6-1, 300, Sr. Fort Worth, TexasNG: 90 Harold Brantley 6-3, 290, RFr. Hershey, Pa.-OR- 96 Lucas Vincent 6-2, 305, Jr. Olathe, Kan. 97 Josh Augusta 6-4, 300, Fr. Peoria, Ill.DE: 47 Kony Ealy 6-5, 275, Jr. New Madrid, Mo. 33 Markus Golden 6-3, 260, Jr. St. Louis, Mo. 55 Brayden Burnett 6-2, 245, Sr. Southlake, TexasW: 10 Kentrell Brothers 6-1, 240, So. Guthrie, Okla. 12 Darvin Ruise 6-1, 240, Jr. Glen St. Mary, Fla.M: 48 Andrew Wilson 6-3, 240, Sr. Peculiar, Mo. 30 Michael Scherer 6-3, 235, RFr. St. Louis, Mo.S: 8 Donovan Bonner 6-1, 245, Sr. Dallas, Texas 40 Clarence Green 6-0, 225, So. Clute, Texas 25 Donavin Newsom 6-2, 230, RFr. St. Louis, Mo.CB: 31 E.J. Gaines 5-11, 195, Sr. Independence, Mo. 11 Aarion Penton 5-10, 185, Fr. St. Louis, Mo. 26 Xavier Smith 5-11, 190, Jr. Edmond, Okla.CB: 7 Randy Ponder 5-10, 195, Sr. Edmond, Okla. 1 John Gibson 6-0, 185, RFr. Missouri City, Texas 3 David Johnson 5-11, 190, So. Spring, TexasSS: 9 Braylon Webb 6-0, 205, Jr. Gilmer, Texas 21IanSimon 6-0,195,So. Mansfield,TexasFS: 17 Matt White 6-0, 195, Sr. Keller, Texas 5 Cortland Browning 6-1, 205, So. Tyler, Texas

SPECIALISTSKO: 99 Andrew Baggett 6-1, 215, So. Lee’s Summit, Mo. 91 Blake Owens 5-11, 205, Jr. Kansas City, Mo.H: 9 Braylon Webb 6-0, 205, Jr. Gilmer, Texas 16 Levi Copelin 6-2, 190, RFr. Broken Arrow, Okla.DS: 86 Jake Hurrell 6-3, 235, RFr. St. Charles, Mo. 69 Mitch H. Hall 6-2, 290, So. Burnsville, Minn.PK: 99 Andrew Baggett 6-1, 215, So. Lee’s Summit, Mo. 91 Blake Owens 5-11, 205, Jr. Kansas City, Mo.P: 92 Christian Brinser 6-2, 200, Jr. Liberty, Mo. 99 Andrew Baggett 6-1, 215, So. Lee’s Summit, Mo.KR: 6 Marcus Murphy 5-9, 195, Jr. DeSoto, Texas 32 Russell Hansbrough 5-9, 190, So. Arlington, TexasPR: 6 Marcus Murphy 5-9, 195, Jr. DeSoto, Texas 21IanSimon 6-0,195,So. Mansfield,Texas

Depth Charts for October 26, 7 p.m.South Carolina

Missouri

*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.


south carolina athletics media relations

The University of South Carolina Athlet-ics Department has announced the dates for the 2013 All Sports Reunion. The reunion will take place during Homecom-ing Weekend, November 1-2 in Columbia. To kick off the weekend, former student-athletes are encouraged to attend the 2013 All Sports Reunion Reception on Friday, November 1 in the Athletics Village. On Saturday, former student-athletes will join fellow alumni at the My Carolina Alumni Association Homecoming Tailgate in Gamecock Park (former Farmer’s Market) prior to watching the Gamecock football team take on Mississippi State.

“The Gamecock All Sports Reunion gives us a chance to honor former student-athletes who have worn the Garnet and Black and represented the University so well,” said Athletics Director Ray Tan-ner. “We have a long and storied history at USC and by honoring our past we hope to keep this tradition going so that Game-

cocks for years to come will be treasured in the memories of all that support Caro-lina.”

This year’s event will be open to all former student-athletes from all sports and all years. Please visit Reunion Reg-istration (www.gamecocksonline.com/reunion) to register. Registration deadline has been extended to Oct. 23.

For more information, contact: Jay Brown Gamecock club assistant director 803.777.5723 [email protected]

Athletics department to host All Sports Reunion

Bruce Ellington is an athletic specimen. You probably already knew that. The 5’9,” 196-pound junior has thickly cabled arms,

shoulders that could sharpen a dull axe and legs that have blessed him with a 35-inch vertical, a 4.40 40-yard dash, and a 600-pound squat.

Those gifts are on display each week at Williams-Brice Stadium and Colonial Life Arena, where Ellington has emerged as argu-

ably college sports’ most visible two-sport star - an All-SEC candidate at wide receiver and a three-year starting point guard on the basketball team. The fact that he is considered undersized at both positions makes his num-bers even more impressive.

But there’s another quality that helps explain Ellington’s success in both sports. It may not as obivous as his speed, his strength, or his knack for the clutch play. But talk to his coaches and teammates and they often men-tion it before anything else.

“A lot of people say he’s so athletic and that’s what makes him great,” quarterback Connor Shaw told me. “What makes him great is he’s smart.”

Yes, it’s time to respect Bruce Ellington as an intellectual specimen as well. As he begins his final season splitting both sports – a senior

in basketball, he has one year of eligibility remaining in football - Ellington’s IQ, and the role it plays in his success, can’t be over-looked.

“Repetition is the father of learning. I’ve been doing it ever since the fourth grade. If I keep doing it over and over, I’ll keep learning more things,” he told me last week.

Ellington has plenty of statistics to back up his smarts. He made the Dean’s List last spring. His mother, Gwen, keeps the plaque lovingly curated in his room at home. Despite the demands of juggling two sports, Ellington is scheduled to graduate in three-and-a-half years with a degree in Sociology.

But Ellington’s other book smarts – the playbook kind – have long distinguished him, his coaches say.

“He’s as smart as any player I’ve ever coached,” said Jerry Brown, his former head coach at Berkeley High School. That’s high praise, given Brown has coached for 43 years.

Brown said Ellington played a different position each of his four years at Berkeley, moving from wide receiver to defensive back to running back to quarterback in successive seasons. Those changes, he said, gave him a deeper understanding of how each player fits on offense. As a senior running Berkeley’s tricky flexbone offense, Ellington’s wits were on full display.

“Our offense was not easy at all. A third to a half of the game you have to get out of the play called in the huddle. He determined the blocking scheme, as well as the play we were going to run,” Brown said.

Brown remembered a play against Green-wood High School his senior year, when he called a sprint rollout to the right. The play

was designed for Ellington to throw to that side, but Ellington intuited that a receiver would be open on the far side. To the surprise of coaches, he heaved it 60 yards across the field for a touchdown.

“At practice a couple times, you see things like that. Big Kelcy [Gamecock teammate Kelcy Quarles], he was actually chasing me on that play and I got by him. I threw it down-field. I saw him wide open,” Ellington said.

He’s taken that same whole-field approach to the film room at South Carolina.

“Even if [a coach] is talking to someone else, you take the details that he tells that per-son, and put them into your own craft. That’s what I do. I just learn from everybody,” he said.

Shaw, a fairly cerebral player himself, adds, “when defenses blow coverages, he knows where to go. He knows where to sit in zone coverage spots. Bruce is extremely smart when it comes to the game of football.”

Shaw is also impressed by Ellington’s men-tal stamina. After a long, intense season, the Gamecocks get a week-and-a-half after the bowl game to relax.

“You’re drained, not just physically, but mentally,” Shaw explained.

Ellington has no such luxury. As point guard, he occupies the most demanding spot on the floor, one that requires him to read defenses, run plays and keep his teammates organized at all times. That unrelenting men-tal grind has caused many a two-sport star to break down or lose his effectiveness. So how does Ellington maintain such a high level? Martin thinks he has an idea.

“There’s a key word that connects Bruce, whether it’s football or basketball and that’s

‘cares.’ Bruce wants to be held responsible for the success and failures. Since he wants that responsibility, it’s important that he under-stands what’s expected of him,” he said.

Martin got a glimpse of that last fall, when Ellington reported to the basketball offices on his off days to learn the Gamecocks’ play-book. When he rejoined the team following Carolina’s win over Clemson in Death Valley, mental rust wasn’t an issue.

“He can translate what you explain to him and actually go out there while he’s going 100 miles per hour and implement the thoughts you’re trying to put in his head,” Martin said. “The best part about him is when he under-stands, he doesn’t keep it to himself. He’s try-ing to help his teammates understand it too.”

Fans will always get hung up on Ellington’s physical gifts and for good reason. But his intelligence – that uncanny, unseen ability to slow the game down, and see plays before they develop – has allowed him to excel where other two-sport athletes have fallen off.

Gamecock fans would be smart to recog-nize it.


Andy DemetraContributing Writer




Gamecock runner Meredith Mill has been having an exceptional season thus far and recently has gotten some national recognition while inking her name in the South Carolina record books.

Mill set the program record for a 5K with a 17:30.6 at the Royal Cross Country Challenge in Charlotte N.C. on Oct. 11. She has been running in first position for the Gamecocks this season, but this time improved upon her previous personal record by 1:40. The speed may have even surprised Mill herself.

“It’s pretty surreal honestly. Honestly it felt fast, but when I was finishing … I was looking at the clock and said ‘wow.’ I guess I wasn’t really doing the math in my head, but I didn’t real-ize how fast I was going. I guess that shows I’m in shape,” Mill said.

Mill was chosen as the SEC Cross Country Women’s Runner of the Week on Oct. 15 and she was also featured on the “Capital One Cup Impact Per-formance of the Week.” Mill has been a leader on the course this year for a young Gamecock lineup.

Not only has Mill been running in first position, she has also been se-lected a team captain for the past two

years. She said that it has been amaz-ing to come from a walk-on who was hoping to make the travel squad to come to being a team captain.

“I feel really lucky and blessed hon-estly that I’ve been able to develop my ability to this level,” Mill commented. “I guess I was honored to be chosen as captain because I came in as a sopho-more so I didn’t have the background of being on the team for a long time. I took that they saw me as an example and someone to look up to as well.

“I feel like it gives me an opportunity to take a lead in the team and kind of try to steer the team in the right direc-tion. I was also excited to be able to do it for two out of the three years that I’m here, which is kind of a big deal,” Mill said.

She continued to say that although running is an individual effort, she has tried to help foster a team attitude and encouraged everyone to run to their maximum ability. Mill also noted that the whole team is very academically focused and she is no exception. She is a political science major who is set to graduate early and is currently apply-ing for law schools.

On the course, Mill said that she and the team are starting to look forward to the SEC Championship on Nov. 1. She said that is the where team and in-dividual rankings come from so every-

one wants to do well in the meet.Mill said that the team has gained ex-

perience and is looking forward to the high-level competition that is coming in the final few meets of the season. She added that many team members have been making a jump and running well, which sets them up mentally to run well at the SEC Championship.

“My personal goal has obviously changed throughout the season as I’ve gotten better, but my personal goal is a top-15 finish. Our team we would basically like to stay like last year in the top nine teams and I think that is possible for us to do. We’re definitely looking forward at the chance to run at the SECs,” Mill said.

Mill runs into record books toward SEC Championships

SOUTH CAROLINA ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS


The Charleston County Gamecock Club has been busy raising funds for the Athletics Department and they will continue to pro-vide great events for Gamecocks in the area for Homecoming Week.

The chapter recently sent funds to both the volleyball team and the Mighty Sound of the Southeast, the Carolina marching band. Charleston County chapter president Rick Cutaia said that they mailed a check for $1,500 to the volleyball team and $1,000 to the band. The Charleston county chapter was chosen to be the sponsor for the volleyball team, a job that they have embraced.

Some big events are coming up for the chapter as well that they are looking forward to hosting for all Gamecock fans in the area.

“Tuesday Oct. 29 in conjunction with the Carolina Alumni Association we are hav-ing a Homecoming Happy Hour in down-

town Charleston at The Alley on Columbus Street,” Cutaia said. “Anybody that is a Gamecock is absolutely welcome.

“This will be the first time that we have done this kind of thing. It’s going to be drink specials and appetizer specials. Bobby Har-tin is going to do a live broadcast of his ‘Fan Talk’ radio show as well,” Cutaia continued.

“Fan Talk” is broadcast on ESPN Radio, 98.9 FM or 910 AM locally and he will be hosting the show at The Alley from 3-6 p.m. The upstairs bar and lounge of The Alley has been reserved by the Gamecock Club from 5-9 p.m. with the special promotions run-ning for the duration of the event. The Alley is located at 131 Columbus St. in Charleston, S.C.

Cutaia said that the chapter hosts watch parties for the away football games for the fans at several locations around town in-cluding The Alley, The Roost Bar ‘n Grille, Big Game Bar & Grill in Mt. Pleasant and Southside 17. You can find out more about

these upcoming events by liking the Charles-ton County Gamecock Club on Facebook.

Cutaia said that the chapter is involved and enthusiastic for their events, with the most popular being the Kickoff Party held right before football season.

“At our Kickoff Party we had 200 people come down to hear Andy Demetra speak. We also had Brady Thomas and Chris Clark from Gamecock Central speak … that’s usu-ally our big party. We have it a week or two before the first game and everybody is all amped up for game one. We take advantage of that,” Cutaia said.

The chapter will also take part in the blood battle with Clemson in November with blood donations going to the local red cross.

The Charleston County Gamecock Club is an active chapter with regular events that benefit the community and South Carolina Athletics. To find out more about the chapter you can visit them on Facebook as Charles-ton County Gamecock Club to find all the

information about upcoming events.

Charleston county supports Gamecock Athletics, local community

By Brian [email protected]

The Lexington County Gamecock Club is very fortunate that due to their proximity to the University of South Carolina campus they are able to interact with the coaches in the Athletics Department at the University on a fairly regular basis.

This proximity to Carolina has also allowed the Lexington County Gamecock Club to be-come one of the larger chapters.

“Being right here next to the University, we are right next to the heartbeat,” current Lexing-ton County Gamecock Club president Steve Gunter noted. “We are very fortunate that we can actually go down to talk to the coaches and see them. I think that is one of the things that I have really enjoyed is getting close to the coaches in all the sports: basketball, men and women and football, soccer, softball, baseball, equestrian, swimming; you name it.

“To be honest with you, when (Assistant Di-rector of the Gamecock Club) Jay Brown got involved he really helped to expediate things in terms of getting the information, contacting the coaches. He has taken a lot off of me,” Gunter commented.

The closeness to the University is just one of the things that helps to make the Lexington County Gamecock Club so special.

Gunter admits that he is probably a little prejudiced, but he feels that his chapter of the Gamecock Club is one of the best chapters out there.

Gunter’s thoughts are not without merit either as Lexington County has won the Director’s Cup in 2007, 2010 and 2012.

The Lexington County Gamecock Club has contributed over $100,000 to the South Carolina Athletics Department since 1991. This large amount of money brought to the department over the years has helped out football, baseball, swimming, golf, equestrian and Gunter readily admits probably even more sports “as I know I am leaving something out.”

The Lexington County Gamecock Club also holds a charity golf tournament every year. The tournament began during Lou Holtz’s first year as head football coach at South Carolina in 1999. Tommy Howard and Gunter started the tournament.

Over the years due to many great sponsors, the golf tournament has become their largest fundraiser with board member Wayne Smith always bringing in more sponsors than any other chapter member.

The money contributed to South Carolina athletics would have been impossible to keep up with if not for the efforts of Rock Gladden, who served as the chapter treasurer for many years. He was instrumental in guiding the chapter financially.

According to Gunter another one of the things that makes the chapter so unique is its strong board, its core membership and its tremendous leadership over the years.

Formed in the early 1980s by Monroe Yonce and Herb Sharpe, the group has had some extremely strong presidents, including Yonce, Marion Corley, Sharpe, Vasa Cate, Jim Mc-Farland, David Herndon, Bill Cash and now Gunter. They are honored to have two previous Gamecock Club Directors in Sharpe and Ed Pitts.

“The Voice” himself, Bob Fulton, was even a member of the Lexington County Gamecock Club with Gunter pointing out that “he always entertained us with great stories of the past.”

Gunter started the Junior Gamecock Club in 1995 with the chapter and according to him it has “just mushroomed with the help of Robbin Moss. She really took it to another level. Rob-bin Moss and Heather Hornsby have helped the Gamecock Club on a yearly basis with the Hal-loween Party by giving out gifts to the Junior Gamecocks from the Lexington Chapter. Moss is also instrumental in developing and organiz-ing the Junior Gamecock Club Baseball Cook-out that we have during the baseball season.”

Gunter mentioned that the chapter really likes to go above and beyond and they have brought in some great people over the years. One of the board members of the chapter, Beth Phibbs, even suggested starting the fan appreciation that you now see during halftime at every home football game.

Currently, the Lexington County Gamecock Club sponsors the softball team and they just recently had head coach Beverly Smith come to talk with the board. The softball team will

hold a Lexington County Gamecock Club night sometime during the 2014 season.

The chapter is always willing to go above and beyond for the Gamecock Club. Gunter points out that when former Gamecock Club Director and current Liberty Athletic Director Jeff Bar-ber was there he was always attentive to their ideas, but current Executive Director Patrick McFarland has gone above and beyond and, in fact, even taken that further.

The Lexington County Gamecock Club al-ways has a bevy of different functions going on such as their annual Christmas party on Friday, Dec. 13. The Lexington County Gamecock Club is also presently working on setting up an event with South Carolina Athletics Director Ray Tanner that will be available to chapter members and be held on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at a site yet to be determined.

They also in the next year coming up have a baseball banquet with head coach Chad Holbrook in January, the golf tournament with football head coach Steve Spurrier in April and then a football banquet with all the Gamecock assistant coaches in July. The basketball pre-season function with men’s basketball head coach Frank Martin will be held in early Sep-tember.

In addition to all of these events, the chapter also has all the Junior Gamecock Club events that they sponsor. Board member Joe Mergo was instrumental with Director of Golf Puggy Blackmon in helping to build The Coop golf practice facility, which is South Carolina’s first athletics facility located in Lexington County.

All of these things are very important accord-ing to Gunter, but at the end of the day the real purpose of the Lexington County Gamecock

Club is make the coaches more accessible to those in Lexington County by bringing the coaches to them. “Our chapter has gone very hard into that and the committees that we form and the people involved believe in bringing the average Gamecock fan closer to the Gamecock program … meeting the coaches and getting their autographs and bringing the younger fans in and letting them see,” Gunter remarked.

Gunter goes on to note that it really is his pur-pose as president “and it is paying off.”

The proximity to the Carolina campus has also allowed the Lexington County Gamecock Club the opportunity to visit the Gamecock Club more regularly. “If I need them, they are just minutes away,” Gunter commented.

The Lexington County Gamecock Club is not just about football, basketball or baseball though as there is no sport within the Athletics Department at the University of South Carolina that the chapter does not want to help out and they are always willing to listen to what Patrick McFarland and the Gamecock Club needs.

“The Lexington County Gamecock Club has always been extremely supportive of the University of South Carolina Athletic Depart-ment with their time, effort and contributions. We want to sincerely thank them for everything they do for the Gamecock Club,” Patrick Mc-Farland said.

Gunter concluded by mentioning that he could break down every chapter member and every board member and probably tell you something they have contributed to the good of the order.

“Without a doubt, I am very proud to be working with these men and women,” Gunter said.

The chapter has developed a Facebook page to keep everyone within the chapter aware of what is going on currently. You can like the Facebook page at Lexington County Gamecock Club.

Lexington County Gamecock Club valuable asset to Gamecock Nation


SUBMITTED PHOTOMembers of the Lexington County Gamecock Club board pose with the Gamecock football equipment truck, which was wrapped with money raised by their chapter.



With the military being so important and involved in the state and the University of South Carolina, the Athletics Marketing department jumped at the chance to get in-volved with Operation Hat Trick.

Operation Hat Trick was created out of the University of New Hampshire for two Navy SEALs who were friends and who both were killed in action. Hats with college logos and designs were created and sold with the pro-ceeds from the sales going toward veterans’ hospitals and administrations to help with the treatment of soldiers.

The name Operation Hat Trick arose from the great hockey tradition at the University of New Hampshire. Since hat tricks, when a player scores three goals in a game, are fairly common in hockey, the name came naturally to the founders.

“So being the military school we are, of course military is so important to the state of South Carolina and we are the University of South Carolina, we loved it. When I saw this, we jumped on board,” Marketing Direc-tor Josh Waters said. “There are about 100 teams, colleges and professional teams, that do this.

“The way that we adopted it is - we’ve had two games so far, both soccer teams have done it - when we introduce their starting lineups, we introduce some soldiers with

them and they are presented with one of these special hats,” Waters explained.

On the games with these special presenta-tions, all of the coaching staff, administration and even Athletics Director Ray Tanner will wear these hats. Tanner says that it is so com-fortable that it has become one of his favorite hats.

“It’s a great joy and the teams have really enjoyed it. When we did the men’s soccer game we introduced a lieutenant colonel and a major with the team,” Waters said. “Then they got in the team huddle and they were pumping them up before the game. Moving forward we’re going to do one at volleyball coming up too.”

Waters said that he has been working with the founder of Operation Hat Trick to try and work out something special to do for the bas-ketball coaches when their seasons begin. He said that coach Staley and coach Martin are unable to wear a hat during the game, so they had to get creative.

“So right now we’re working on creating a necktie that would be the same thing falling under Operation Hat Trick and we could still do a basketball game around it,” Waters said. “We would still present the troops with the hat, but Coach Martin could wear the tie that day instead of a hat.

“They’re also working with us to create a visor for coach Spurrier … they haven’t done a visor yet, but they’re working with Brand 47, the company making the hats, to make a

camouflage visor with the Block C on it for coach Spurrier,” Waters continued.

Waters said that this will be done with just about all of the sports on campus and is planned to continue throughout the year. Both soccer teams and volleyball are partici-pating, along with planned ceremonies with both basketball teams, baseball and softball. He said that doing it at the women’s sports allows them to draw attention to female mili-tary members who are such a big part of the military efforts in the US and abroad.

The Mighty Sound of the Southeast, the South Carolina marching band, is scheduled to wear the Operations Hat Trick hats while in the stands. Waters said that it will be a treat for the students and since it is such a great cause, they are happy to supply the hats.

South Carolina currently has three designs for sale, with the most popular being the camouflage hat. The hats are sold in retail, at the campus bookstores and in the Game-cocksOnline.com shop. Waters said that he has urged sponsors to sell these and some national brands, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Kohl’s for example, have even agreed to sell them nationally.

Waters has used the good relationship with Fort Jackson to try to make these hats avail-able on base because “anything with a Game-cock on it, the people love it.” He said that he hopes to make this happen to help support the military and Operation Hat Trick.

Of the around 100 teams that have joined Operation Hat Trick, Waters said that South Carolina would be a good place to try some of the new products, such as t-shirts, the neckties and possibly visors. He has hoped to give licensing to any products which the founders are willing to try.

Waters said that after the special presenta-tion at the men’s soccer game, he saw two students wearing the Operation Hat Trick hats.

“I asked them ‘where did you get it?’ and they said they bought them at the bookstore on campus. They said ‘we bought it after you did that presentation and these are the coolest hats that we’ve ever seen,’” Waters recalled.

Waters said that the camouflage hat seems to be the most popular with the military, so every time he meets with someone in the military he will give them one.

“It’s kind of a little token of appreciation for what they do for us. It has been great and we have been promoting this as much as we can because it is such a great cause,” Waters said. “Teamwork is teamwork wherever you’re at. Sacrifices have to be made and they make the ultimate sacrifice in fighting and leaving family … it’s just a token that we can send out to them in appreciation for what they do for us.”

To learn more visit www.operationhattrick.com or you can purchase the hats at: http://shop.gamecocksonline.com/search/opera-tion%20hat%20trick.

Gamecocks and Operation Hat TrickSUBMITTED PHOTOS

Operation Hat Trick was created out of the University of New Hampshire for two Navy SEALs who were friends. To learn more about OHT, visit www.operationhatrick.com.



City Call letters FrequenCy Football basketball CoaChes shows baseballAbbeville WZLA-FM 92.9 X X Aiken/Edgefield WKSX-FM 92.7 X X X XAllendale WDOG-FM 93.5 X X X XAnderson WRIX-FM 103.1 X X X XCamden WPUB-FM 102.7 X X X XCamden WCAM-AM 1590 X X X Charleston WWIK-FM 98.9 X X X XCharleston WTMZ-AM 910 X X X XChesterfield WVSZ-FM 107.3 X X X XClinton WPCC-AM 1410 X X X XColumbia WISW-AM 1320 Women’s BasketballColumbia WNKT-FM 107.5 X X X XFlorence WHYM-AM 1260 X X XFlorence WOLH-AM 1230 X X XFlorence WOLH-FM 98.9 X X XFlorence/Lamar WFRK-FM 95.3 X X Gaffney WZZQ-FM 104.3 X X Gaffney WZZQ-AM 1500 X X Greenville WROO-FM 96.7 X X X Greenville WGVL-AM 1440 XHilton Head WGZO-FM 103.1 X X Kingstree WDKD-AM 1310 X X X XMyrtle Beach WSYN-FM 103.1 X X X Myrtle Beach WHSC-AM 1050 XNewberry WKDK-AM 1240 X X X Rock Hill/Lancaster WRHM-FM 107.1 X X X XRock Hill/Lancaster WVSZ-FM 107.3 X X X XSeneca WSNW-AM 1150 X X X Seneca WSNW-FM 103.5 X X X Spartanburg WSPG-AM 1400 X X X XSumter WIBZ-FM 95.5 X X Sumter WDXY-AM 1240 X X XUnion WBCU-AM 1460 X X X Woodruff WQUL-AM 1510 X

The Gamecock Sports Network from IMG College counts 34 affiliate stations for the 2013-14 season. For Sirius/XM subscribers, follow the Gamecock Radio Twitter page for weekly updates on chan-nel information for Gamecock broadcasts.

The weekly Carolina Calls show will air from 7-8 p.m. on the flagship station of the Gamecocks, WNKT-FM (107.5 FM), and over the Internet at www.Gamecock-sOnline.com. The show takes place each week at Wild Wing Café, located at 729 Lady Street in the Vista. Wild Wing Café, which is South Carolina’s home for the best wings south of Buffalo, has 12 loca-tions in the Palmetto State. Visit www.wildwingcafe.com for more information.

Inside the RoostSouth Carolina Athletics Director Ray

Tanner and Derek Scott from the Game-cock Sports Network from IMG College host an hour long radio show every Mon-day night at 7 p.m. from Hilton Columbia Center in the Vista. The show is broadcast on 107.5 FM and features discussions on current issues with Ray Tanner and inter-views with coaches and athletics depart-ment staff.

In-Stadium frequency For those traveling to Missouri, you can listen to the Gamecock Radio Network in-side Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium on 94.7 (primary) or 98.5 (secondary).

South Carolina-Missouri television The game will be on ESPN or ESPN2. Please check local listings for your area.

Gamecock Radio/Television Information2013-14 Radio Affiliates



The Nashville Gamecock Club and the area My Carolina Alumni Association are working toward growing their groups and they hosted University of South Carolina president Dr. Pas-tides recently.

Pastides was able to watch the South Carolina-Arkansas football game with the Nashville Gamecocks at Tin Roof in downtown Nashville. Pastides was in the area because his wife, Patri-cia, was doing some book signings for her two books that are out.

The President had visited a tailgate in Nashville the year before and he reached out to a member to find out where they were going to be watching the game since he would be in the area. Pastides and his wife came by and she even had her books available for the crowd as well.

“Both of them mingled with everybody. They were glad to be watching the game and they were great to have. They were talking to everybody, in-troducing themselves and getting to know some people,” chapter vice president J.W. Brunson said. “We probably had around 40 or 50 people which is great for us.

“Anytime you can have somebody from the University show up, it’s big. It helps our atten-dance and lets us know that even though we’re a little farther away, it’s still home and family for us,” Brunson continued. “It shows that the Uni-versity is approachable and great to talk to. It just makes it exciting for us.”

Brunson said that the chapter is fairly new, only established within the past two years and they are trying to grow their membership. He noted that they did have a great event last year when the Gamecock football team played at Vanderbilt at Jed’s, a local sports bar. The event had an incred-ible turnout, estimated at 300-400 Gamecock fans by Jed’s owner.

“We advertised a bit in various places and between that and word of mouth, everybody just knew to go to Jed’s. We ended up having a huge turnout there. We had some people from the Moore School of Business show up, Dr. Pastides

and his wife showed up for that and it was a great time,” Brunson recalled. “It was a great time and we’re hoping to do that again next year and have an even bigger turnout.”

Brunson said that he and others have tried to help grow the group since he moved to the area. They are attempting to take advantage of the number of young people that are moving to Nash-ville from the University. He said that the growth of the city has really helped out with increasing their numbers and draw people from Columbia.

Many of the Nashville Gamecocks are able to go support the team on the road because there are so many SEC schools in close proximity, but ma-ny of them still like to attend some football games in Columbia every year. Brunson said that they have also held a baseball tailgate any time South Carolina plays in Nashville and they hold view-ing parties for football and other sports as well.

“Any time the University is playing Nashville, we make it a point - whether it’s the men’s tourna-ment, women’s tournament, baseball or whatever - we always try and show up,” Brunson said. “There was a men’s club hockey team playing Vanderbilt earlier this year and we even had about 15 people who went to that.”

The chapter is always trying to come up with some big, new events to go around all of the sup-port for the athletics teams and watch parties. They host a Freshmen Send-Off party every summer for the locals who will be attending South Carolina. Brunson said that they have plans to continue growing and engaging the local alumni and Gamecock fans.

“We didn’t realize how many Gamecock fans there actually are in Nashville, but it’s pretty sur-prising … it seems every week one of us ends up running into somebody around town in a Game-cock hat or sign on the car. We make it a point to go up and say ‘hey’ and get them involved,” Brunson said.

To find out more about the Nashville Game-cock Club and Alumni Association, you can find the on Facebook as Nashville Gamecocks or fol-low them on Twitter @NashvilleGCocks. If you would like to contact the chapter, you can email them at [email protected].

Growing the Nashville Gamecocks

submitted photo

The Pastides’ (center) pictured with members of the Nashville Gamecocks.


Reminder from Gamecock Club: Please remember that the Gamecock Club renewal deadline is January 31, 2014.

Missouri Parking Information**There are seven on-campus garages available for game day parking. Most of these garages are free with the excep-tion of the Maryland Ave. Garage located at the corner of Tiger/Maryland Ave. and Hospital Drive, and the new Park-ing Structure #7, located at the corner of Monk Drive and Virginia Ave. The fee for these two garages is $25 per game.For those wishing to park in open-air parking lots, there is parking available in the small lot to the immediate south of Truman’s Landing on Research Park Drive, as well as in the Dalton Parking Lot located to the north of Truman’s Land-ing on Research Park Drive. These lots will fill quickly and are available on a first come, first served basis for a fee of $25.Family Friendly parking is available in the VA Hospital park-ing lot located on the corner of Stadium Blvd. and Monk Drive. This lot is monitored as an alcohol-free zone and is meant to prevent the presence of open containers. Parking in the VA Hospital parking lot is available for donation of $25 per vehicle.**Courtesy shuttles are available from each lot to designat-ed points throughout the stadium. Golf-cart shuttles (Lots G, K, M, N, O and P) operate beginning 90 minutes prior to kick-off, during half-time and for 60 minutes following the conclusion of the game. Bus shuttles (Lots H, U, X, Y, Z and Truman’s Landing) run 2 hours prior to kick-off and will be discontinued at kick-off. Bus shuttles do not operate post-game. Golf Cart Shuttles do not go past Gate 1 due to high pedestrian foot traffic on game day, and courtesy golf cart shuttles from Lot G do not go beyond gate 6W. All shuttle pick-up and drop-off points are easily identifiable by a shuttle pick-up / drop-off sign.Ride the Columbia Transit Shuttle Bus to all Mizzou Home Football Games for only $1.50 each way (exact change required). All buses drop-off at the intersection of Tiger Avenue and Hospital Drive, and pick-up locations are scat-tered throughout downtown, as well as hotels, restaurants and shopping centers in east, south and west Columbia.**Single-game RV/Bus parking is available on a first come, first served basis in Truman’s Landing located off Provi-dence Road near Mick Deaver Memorial Blvd. Cost is $200 for the week-end. Truman’s Landing will be open from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM on the evening prior to a home football game. The lot will re-open at 7:00 AM on the day of the game. All vehicles must vacate the lot not later than 12:00 PM on the Sunday following the game. Please direct all single-game RV/Bus Parking questions to Tony Wirkus at (573) 882-8718.**For more information, visit www.mutigers.com/game-day/.

New York City Gamecock ClubWeekly Football Game-Watching EventSaturdays 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 [email protected].

USC Aiken Men’s Basektball Tip-Off BanquetSpecial guest speaker: Gamecocks’ men’s basketball head coach Frank MartinOctober 29 at USC Aiken Convocation CenterMeet and greet session starting at 6 p.m. with the banquet starting at 7 p.m.Tickets are $50 for the meet and greet and banquet, $35 for the banquet only. Contact USC Aiken Athletics at (803) 641-3486 or USC Aiken men’s basketball head coach Vince Alexander at (803) 641-3438 for tickets.

Charleston County Gamecock Club -Homecoming Happy HourTuesday, Oct. 29 from 5-9 p.m. at The Alley, 131 Columbus St., Charleston, S.C. 29403.Enjoy happy hour drink price for the duration of the party.Arrive early to catch the live broadcast of “Fan Talk” on ESPN Radio 98.9 FM and 910 AM. Bobby Hartin will be hosting the show at The Alley from 3-6 p.m.All Gamecocks are welcome!

Darlington County Gamecock Club - ElectionMonday, November 4, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. Heritage Community Bank206 South Fifth Street in Hartsville, S.C.Light hors d’oeuvres will be served.All Gamecock fans are invited to attend!

Fairfield County Gamecock Club Meeting Tuesday, November 19th at 7:00pm All Gamecock Club members and fans are invited 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 RallyMonday, 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 ticket for awesome prizes.For more information contact Lori Beard at [email protected] or (843) 909-1919.

Upcoming South Carolina Athletics Events

z October 21

Women’s Tennis at ITA Carolina Regional ...........................All day

z October 25

Volleyball vs. Tennessee ............................................7 p.m.

Women’s Soccer vs. Vanderbilt ................................7 p.m.

Women’s Golf at The Landfill Tradition .............................. All Day

Equestrian at Texas A&M ................................................................ TBA

z October 26

Swimming & Diving at East Carolina .....................................1 p.m.

Football at Missouri ......................................................................7 p.m.

Men’s Soccer vs. New Mexico ....................................7 p.m.


z October 27

Volleyball vs. Auburn ........................................... 1:30 p.m.

Women’s Soccer at Mississippi State .....................................2 p.m.


Don’t forget to check the calendar on www.spur-sandfeathers.com for all upcoming events.



Brittons has been clothing the Gamecock faithful and outfitting the well-dressed of Co-lumbia for years while keeping a strong con-nection with the community and university.

Brittons has been a part of the Columbia community since the 1940s and has been locally owned by the Levinson family since that time. Perry Lancaster married into the family and has been helping run the business for 38 years.

Lancaster said that Brittons always had a great relationship with South Carolina and they have been great Gamecock fans going back to the beginnings of their time in Co-lumbia. He said that he noticed the enthusi-asm for the Gamecocks really began to ramp up when Lou Holtz came to coach the team.

Brittons provided a Garnet and Black tie with the palmetto tree and crescent moon for Holtz to wear on his introduction and it be-came a tradition that continued when Steve Spurrier was introduced as coach on Nov. 24, 2004.

“I went to Dr. Sorensen’s (the University’s president at that time) and left a tie and hand-written note asking coach Spurrier to wear it at his introduction. The next day he wore it and the tie was seen all over the news and television. We sold 100 of the ties the next day. That was when we really saw the power of sports and decided to embrace it,” Lan-caster recalled.

Now Brittons provides everything that a Gamecock fan, male or female, could need to be outfitted for gameday. For men, they carry gameday pants and shorts with the Game-cock on them in multiple colors, Knit shirts with embroidery with the Gamecock or the new Block C collection, gameday t-shirts both short- and long-sleeved, coaches’ shirts and upper deck polos with the Block C.

Lancaster’s wife, Stacy Levinson, has gone to New York to pick exclusive gameday jewelry, skirts, knit polos, garnet tops and jackets to be offered for women who need to dress for gameday. Also stocked are Caroli-na-themed belts, key fobs, wallets, coasters, tote bags, pillows and much more.

Brittons offers selections from Southern Tide, Pennington & Bailes and many other high quality brands. Lancaster said that the nice thing about their offerings is that ev-erything they have is individually designed exclusively for Brittons.

“We are a small, local business creating things that are unique and different products. I’ve taken ideas from people and been able to design them and make them a reality,” Lancaster said. “That’s what is great here, we’re able to do the unique and offer it to

Gamecock fans.”Brittons also has formal attire if you need

to dress up outside of gameday and there are many options to show Gamecock pride even when dressed to the nines. They have every-thing from Carolina-themed stud sets, cuff links and blazer buttons to an extensive set of neckwear.

“We had a number of requests for neckwear and we made a bow tie with the Gamecock and a light blue palmetto and crescent moon. We got many requests for the Gamecock and the Block C, so we offer both in ties, bow ties and even a formal set with a cumber bun,” Lancaster said.

If you need help to tie the bow tie you pick up from Brittons, you can talk to Lucky Levinson or view his video on YouTube. His is the most-watched video on tying a bow tie on YouTube with over 2.8 million views.

Brittons dresses many of the Gamecock coaches for their coaches’ television shows. Lancaster said they dress Spurrier, Frank Martin, Chad Holbrook and Gamecock ce-lebrities Todd Ellis and Andy Demetra.

Along with embracing the Gamecocks in their products, Brittons has also become in-volved with the University community.

“We’re all about special events to connect with the community. We do a big reception for Parents’ Weekend, we support the Greek community and we are also a sponsor for Dance Marathon. This way we’re not just taking, we’re giving back,” Lancaster said.

In keeping with the University involve-ment, Brittons is providing all of the formal wear for the USC Love Story Wedding con-test winners Sherri Altizer and Scott Wing-ard as well. The ceremony will be on Nov. 8 and Brittons made the donation through the hotel, restaurant and tourism management program at South Carolina.

Brittons can supply all fans’ needs to show Gamecock pride no matter the occasion and has been an important partner in the com-munity and with the University in the many years they have served Columbia.

Brittons outfits and serves Gamecocks


view it as a platform in which they can help others.

“They feel like Marcus playing football is just a platform for him to do other things. He enjoys and loves playing the game, but it is not the end-all for the family,” Cox said. “They feel like that is a platform to do good things and help people out.”

Cox said that the Smiths talked about how they can help others through setting up a foundation in Lattimore’s name. The foun-dation is in the beginning stages of being molded and set up, but there are big plans for it to do good work starting at the high school level.

“One approach is to help high school ath-letes and their families navigate the recruit-ing process. Who to talk to, what questions to ask, what courses to take in high school and other issues,” Cox said. “They feel like that is a very strong need, especially in our state and that is part of what the foundation is doing.

“The other part of it is … Marcus had what people call ‘devastating knee injuries’ and he has come back from both of them. This foundation is going to start raising money for high school athletes that cannot afford that kind of rehab or those kind of surgeries. It will help them go through that process,” Cox continued.

The Smiths told a story of how after the second knee injury, many people said that

Lattimore should think about giving up foot-ball. They were very honest and open about it and knew they did not want to go through the process a third time, but his answer to that revealed his strength of character and what kind of young man he is.

“His answer was very simple. He said ‘no, I’ve got to do this because I have to prove to people coming behind me that it can be done … you can get through it, you can persevere, but you’ve got to work at it,’” Cox said recall-ing the story.

“He said ‘if I don’t do it, no one else will show them the way’ … for a kid that is not even 22 years old yet to have that kind of head on his shoulders is just unbelievable,” Cox continued.

Cox said that the University was lucky to

have Lattimore and his parents and that the Spartanburg County chapter wants to sup-port them in whatever way possible. Cox noted that South Carolina has been and will continue to reap the benefits of his time as a Gamecock, so it is time for them to give back and help him and his family.

The foundation is in its infancy, but there are plans for it to grow and become bigger throughout the state. The process is really just getting underway, but more information will be given on how to become involved and contribute when it becomes available.

To find out more about the Spartanburg County Gamecock Club you can like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @upstategamecock. You can email the chapter at [email protected] as well.

spartanburg, cont. from page 7

had at South Carolina and she’s been do-ing extremely well as far as picking up on things and scoring. Defensively, she has a little ways to go, but that’s probably the toughest thing to learn, especially as a post player,” Staley continued.

Coates said that the staff has been rea-sonable with their expectations of her and not put too much on her plate.

“She (Staley) always told me if I ever felt a lot of pressure to tell her, but I haven’t. They always make it easy on me so that I don’t feel so much pressure,” Coates said. “I know that I have a big role coming in here, that’s why they’ve been recruiting

me since the eighth grade. I feel like I will be able to fill the shoes that they have for me.”

Overall, both freshmen are excited for the season to get underway and to help contribute to the team.

“I’m definitely excited and ready for the season to start. Just trying to tweak a lot of things and learn the plays. I just want

to get everything down so that I’m ready when the season comes,” Farmer said.

“I feel like I will be able to keep up with the SEC and everything that they do throw at me because I’m prepared. The coaching staff has me mentally and physically pre-pared, so I feel like it’s not going to be as bad as I thought it was going to be in high school,” Coates echoed.

freshmen, cont. from page 11

Since I was born (March 1960), South Carolina’s record in football is 298-289-8 (in-cludes this year). The first loss I can really re-member was in 1970, when Georgia beat us on television, despite Dickie Harris returning an interception and kickoff for touchdowns of 94 and 96 yards, respectively.

The next one I can recall was my first USC – Clem-son matchup in 1971. So we can subtract 63 losses from that 289 that occurred before that, less the Georgia loss, the remaining 227 I can pretty much tell you something about everyone of them. A lot of those were listened to on the radio and I cannot do each one by heart, but if I look at the media guide, the memories come back (trust me, the wins are much more fun). None, not a one, can I remember that I liked.

All of that to say, 227 was no fun, too, as I am sure that it was for you whatever your number is. Some losses are more frustrating than others and I would contribute that to expectations. After the shellacking of Ar-kansas, there was expectations that perhaps we would turn the corner and take care of business. Don’t get me wrong, I have been to

Rocky Top and it is never easy and with the game with Georgia a couple of weeks ago in Tennessee, the warnings were there.

But once we had taken the lead 21-17, with Clowney and the defense playing well, and the momentum, it seemed, like the UCF game, we would be okay. Mike Davis was having another great game with over 120 yards rushing. Surely we would run out the clock and head home with a win. It was not to be.

And give Tennessee credit. They hung in there and the catch that Marquez North made to set up the winning field goal is highlight quality for years to come for Tennessee with our defense right there with him and three hands on the ball. Unfortunately, only one belonged to the good guys. I know that does not make me feel any better, but if we woulda, shoulda, coulda this for the next four pages and woulda, shoulda, couldas were nuts, we would have a bag full that we could feed the elephants at the circus and we still would not feel very good.

Here’s the reality. Georgia lost, Florida lost. We beat Missouri next week and we will be right back in this thing. No, we cannot win the National Championship, but we can win the SEC East and play in the championship game. When we came into this stretch, I hoped for the best, but I thought if we can

win two of three we would still be in pretty good shape and that possibility is still there. A loss is a loss, but all is not lost!

And really, what choice do we have? It is disappointing, but whatever your number of losses you’ve experienced while being a Gamecock, I’m sure you will still be a Gamecock in the next game. Beat Missouri and we will feel a lot better.

The Missouri game is a great opportunity

to get a signature win against an undefeated, probably top-10 team. Next week is HUGE!

So have a great trip to Missouri and root the Gamecocks to a victory. If you can’t make it, go to the Colonial Life Arena and watch it together on the big screens and get there early to see the basketball teams and help them to get ready for their upcoming seasons. I will be there looking for victory 299. Go Cocks!

A loss is a loss, but all is not lost

ed girardeauContributing

Editor

photo by allEn sharpE

Mike Davis had another great day rushing the football with 137 yards on 21 carries.



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