South Carolina faces arresting development
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- When South Carolina takes the field Saturday against No. 11 Georgia, it'll finally have starter Blake Mitchell in at quarterback.
With a doctor's approval, starting safety Emanuel Cook also could see action. And pressed into third-string duties is freshman passer Stephen Garcia.
All three had offseason troubles that led to suspensions, missed playing time and questions about how to keep a team full of college guys in the classroom and out of jail.
"All suspensions are disappointing," South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. "But I'm not going to sit over in the corner and cry about it. I'm going to go coach my tail off and be excited about who we got on the field playing."
A week ago, South Carolina didn't have all its top players available in a 28-14 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette.
Mitchell, a fifth-year senior, served a one-game suspension for missing too many classes during summer school. He also was held out of South Carolina's first two preseason practices last month.
Cook, a sophomore, was recuperating from an appendectomy the same weekend he was arrested on a weapons charge. Cook had been suspended from the university but reinstated the next week and Spurrier says, if the doctor's say yes, Cook would play some on Saturday. Cook's charge is still pending.
Stephen Garcia, the long-haired freshman, was the centerpiece of the ball coach's last recruiting class and was twice arrested in his first six weeks on campus. The problems got Stephen Garcia booted from spring ball, his very reason for finishing high school early and enrolling at South Carolina in January.
Also freshman offensive lineman Quintin Richardson was charged with marijuana possession over the summer. That charge could be dismissed if Richardson stays out of trouble for six months, a magistrate ruled last month.
But South Carolina is not the only school having problems with players.
Wisconsin will play its five road games without No. 2 running back, Lance Smith, as punishment for a July incident in which he allegedly pushed his girlfriend, the university said Wednesday.
Arkansas defensive lineman Marcus Harrison was suspended for last week's opener against Troy after his August drug arrest.
Kentucky receiver Steve Johnson was charged with resisting arrest and four driving violations last month.
Football players for Oklahoma, Iowa, East Carolina, Troy, Texas and Notre Dame have been arrested this summer.
"The dynamics have changed," South Carolina athletic director Eric Hyman said.
The "good old boy" system that in the past may have insulated popular football teams from the publicity of arrests no longer exists, Hyman said. Media interest has increased as well, with each transgression making it to the ticker on sports network TV screens and getting talked over on radio call-in shows and Internet chat rooms.
"The culture as far as athletics has changed," Hyman said.
Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, starting his ninth season, has had his share of player problems, including last December when starting cornerback Duane Coleman was charged with marijuana possession and suspended for the Tigers' Music City Bowl appearance.
But Bowden hasn't had the late-night phone calls this offseason that some colleagues have gotten.
When Bowden meets with players, he says the last thing he'll do is recount the day's college football police blotter. He'll copy newspaper and Internet stories and leave them in lockers. "Every time one's suspended, I bring it up with my team," said Bowden, a head coach for 11 seasons with Tulane and the Tigers.
"From the NFL on down, there's a lot of spotlight on it," Bowden says. "We talk about it a whole bunch."
South Carolina did more than talk this summer. The athletic department held a mandatory seminar for all its first-year athletes, from football to swimming and diving. The department brought in Richland County's top prosecutor and the city's police chief to discuss the dangers of bad conduct and the damage mistakes can do to your reputation.
Stephen Garcia attended the gathering, his classmate chuckling when media coverage of his mistakes was shown. He is completing a pretrial intervention program that will clear his record of the misdemeanor charges.
"I learned some things, a little too late," Stephen Garcia said after the session. "I'm just trying to get my good name back. That's what's important to me now."
Hyman says Spurrier and all the department's coaches run clean, disciplined programs. But even that cannot prevent all problems.
After Hyman took over the athletic department in 2005, he studied whether athletes got into trouble at a higher rate than the university's general population. The percentages were generally the same, Hyman said.
No matter what happens on Saturday at Georgia, Spurrier's certain to concentrate on the players along his sidelines who can make a difference on the field.
"We've had things like (suspensions) happen many times before," Spurrier said. "You've just got to move on, and play the players that are ready to play."
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