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. fg ' " |^ f , * % ' '?ps t* , , 1 i ,,t< i ft**** - : ???? - ? Sophomore Tim Couch has taken the ! Couch has thrown for 1,784 yards and Florio tal NATHAN BROWN Senior Writer ti st When the Gamecock coaching staff was deciding on which players to play and where to play them last spring, one lj position was definitely filled ? place- a] kicker. k No "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it, sj that position belonged to Courtney Leav- 11 itt, not Steve Florio. But throughout the spring, Florio d worked hard to increase his playing b time and move into the starting posi- P ''' ' ; '** y -W" jfc JMMlC!| - > Steve Florio has made eight of nine field ; Carol 1 Oil > " t't -' ' y /' ii'V' ''A ;^r ; ?'' -Y^ /''''%*'f^ mm iM^S ' '*** ''"A Wf * " ^ ''< !a>- / 5t /'/' % St * '-J - ' Jv lj { n^M j^g/ j?' ;^^wgp ^ 'M : : \ V-:---" : V"':? ' Photo corn SEC by storm in his first year of starting full ti 21 touchdowns. He is averaging 340.2 yards ol ting advanl on. However, Florio's future as a ally bothei arter looked dim when he injured his more confi nee in the spring game. starting jol "I took the spring pretty serious- And tl r" Florio said. "Last year, I didn't re- Throu lly kick that much, and I wanted to nation, Flc ick. I ended up getting hurt in the the starting jring game and spent all summer try- moved inti ig to get my knee better. sponsible 1 "I came back up here for two-a- extra poin ays, and I didn't think I was going to ority becai e able to kick. [Then] I kicked a cou- In fac le of balls, and [my knee] wasn't re- native has jp \''* mi ':i ' .Li.; s-,/ ^*v^' BRYAN JOHNSTON The Cam. < goals this season. n w SPORT! ina look ^ tne coi per game (340. * ball Coach Bra |r I and gets the ba '40 with him is su( wide open. He He's got a very The South lenge facing tl f Kentucky W w Williams-Brice Pup Kentucky st time in 75 years sitting at 2-3 feel the pressu urday. A win \ loss could send "We have as a head coac provements o\ said. "We hop* difficult oppon sive and maybe playing with a While the full, they have No. 8-ranked held the Tigers P cocks gave up through the a forte of the Ul can play pass < I nil ? N"0?6.? !ne spreads tni confidence in a leads the SEC 5-foot-9-inchji five touchdowr rte?y Kentucky SporU Information Yeast tne. In his first five games, fits of Mumme ' total offense per game. is tied for fourt ;age of une nng me. From there, I got count that Florio dence and tried to get the tion of playing fool begin playing unl lat's exactly what Florio did. sc^ool. gh hard work and determi- ^ ^ >rio dislodged Leavitt from or year 'm high I position of placekicker and * Jus^wen^0 3 the slot, making him re- coaches told me w< br kickoffs, field goals, and Just ?? out 311(1 h? ts, while Leavitt's sole pri- "I ended up ne punting. kicking the foot! t, this Miami Springs, Fla., schools started re proven to be an invaluable re3lly b?w asset for the Gamecocks 311(1 now *m "ere HR this year. So far, Florio But Florio al W has racked up a total of Gamecock. Actual I 31 points, which ac- to being a Panthe L count for nearly one- "I was about third of all the points versity of Pittst 1 scored by Carolina. "Coach Scott car % If his point total isn't weeks before I w impressive enough, he j took a perfect 6-6 streak 1 of made field goals into the Auburn game. filEYggW Against the Tigers, Florio added two more field It goals to his total and % provided the only points for the Gamecocks. n , , F1 . . , Bryan Johns % Florio performed j^Hager 16-9 I pvpn hfit.tpr acrflinst i East Carolina, when he I I kicked four field goals Ml that put him just one AchilTI Hllflt r field goal shy of the Bryan Johnston 1 school record for the 9^1 most field goals made - in a game. Nathan Brov Florio is ranked Kelly Maguire 20third among SEC placekickers, putting the pigskin through the uprights 8-9 times, with Kg I ly M3gUi I his only miss coming Nalhan Brown 16irom 50 yards out. All of this success ",k seems unimaginable JGSScM H3Q( when you take into ac- Aciiim Hunt 5-0 5 s to sit ^gj nr?lV wvil STON Sports Editor yards. Junior wide re seventh in the conferei icock defense has been good at stopping yards and six scores, tack of their opponents all year long. Finally, senior w tely for them, this week they go up against for eighth in the SEC ;k that averages 373.4 passing yards a four touchdowns. But, even if the d .0 Mummebal1 In the crazy world of Ken- offense otball Coach Hal Mumme, the pass sets ? , 1 if the Wildcats throw the baU 40 times, "p f Pj^uctI?n> 0 establish the run. So far this season, 66 the fourth quarter" jffensive plays run for the Wildcats have Struggling is an s. woes this year. There of Mummeball is quarterback Tim Couch. over positive ones. Foi 2 is blistering defenses and breaking all a touchdown in six qi 3 in just his first year of starting. The PA- in the second half in t IiaaI All-Amarinn Fircf-Tnomni'ronlra firct _ iiuux x ui x uii^x iv^i x u ob x vuiii^x xmrnu xxxuv Tinn i ^ ~ i.,__ _ , , .,, ,. , UbC has two rus ouchdown passes with 21 and is second , . , , , assing yardage (1,784) and total offense bAel?nSs *3? 9) loss to Auburn, USC , . _ , , - , net rushing and mans h is a fine quarterback, USC Head Foot- . ,, ir d Scott said. "He throws extremely hard the second half. 11 there in a hurry. The thing that you see "Offensively, we'r :h a great arm. The guys don't have to be that we certainly exp 's got the ability to pinpoint his passes, jective this week is to quick release, but he's really got a gun." sistency there and mal i Carolina defense will have a stern chal- some drives alive." lem when they face the up-and-coming ^ ig no one si lldcats at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in . k has be s Stadium. But, besides battling a fired- , ^uad who defeated Alabama for the first 0 e p'av 011 e e' 3 last Saturday, Carolina will have to slay Wright hasn't ha< ent ? themselves. out a defender in his ping their first three SEC games and now have been dropping tl overall, the Gamecocks are starting to find their rhythm, noi re from fans for a successful outing Sat- Kentucky de vould silence the critics for now, while a low.scoril 1 the proverbial plane into a tailspin. 34 ^ on ^ boar( six opportunities ahead of us and my job _ . h is to get this football team to make im- Wddcat defen rer the second half of this season," Scott tota' ?^ense Per . a . . a 4-la,a GT?P 3 mat will oegin mis weex, out we nave m LliC ents left to play. Kentucky is very explo- The Gamecock of the hottest team in the conference. They're keep ^ef( lot of emotion and enthusiasm." sion ^ ^ key in this Gamecock defense will have their hands can't score if they don played admirably as of late. Against the , ... T, Auburn Tigers, USC hung tough and for a good portion of the game. The Game- tailback Moe William 385 yards of offense, 321 of which were Seated USC 35-30 in t ir. Shutting down the run has been the Last year, a Su] SC defense. Now they must show they tailback Duce Staley, lefense as well. final quarter, propelle n call Couch a predictable quarterback. 25-14 victory over Kei 3 ball to every receiver available and has wealth Stadium. 11 his receivers. Wide receiver Craig Yeast . , and is 10th nationally in receptions. The ^ear s ^ ' inior has 37 receptions for 356 yards and year s ?ame> W1t" on( 1S the chance to be a lot ; isn't the only receiver reaping the bene- With Kentucky's ball. Sophomore fullback Anthony White olina offense that abs h in the SEC with 24 catches and has 203 come down to whoeve YnppfpH nnnnr really had no inten- visit [there] and convinced me to take 1 tball, and didn't even a visit here. From there, I just decid- c til his junior year of ed this is the place I wanted to be." \ It's not surprising that Scott ven; kicking until my ju- tured all the way down to Florida to re- g school," Florio said, cruit the 5-foot-9-inch, 194-pound Flo- c ut because my soccer rio when you look at the success he had t } needed a kicker and in his short-lived high school career, s we fun. jje was an All-America pick by * being pretty good at Bluechip Illustrated and was named to jail, and a bunch of the all-county team. Participating in i scruiting me. I didn't the Miami North-South All-Star Game t big-time it could be, in the Orange Bowl, Florio booted a 47- t ." yard field goal. 1 most didn't become a Overall, he was 8-9 on field goal s ly, he was pretty close attempts, with his only miss coming on 1 sr. a 72-yarder. On kickoffs, Florio was J to commit to the Uni- even more lethal> ^ 90 Percent ofhis surgh," Florio said, kickoffs going for touchbacks. 1 tie down a couple of In his freshman year at USC, 5 as going to take my No. 15 appeared in all 11 games, main- ? ;ton Kentucky Florida Georgia USC LSU Georgia 7-8 vn USC Florida Tennessee 5 re USC Florida Tennessee 9 ?r Kentucky Florida Georgia > ceiver Kevin Coleman is tied for ice with 23 receptions and has 311 - r ride receiver Kio Sanford is tied with 22 catches for 353 yards and efense manages to slow down the the Gamecock offense doesn't pick boos could be cascading again by understatement of the offensive are far too many alarming stats r instance, Carolina hasn't scored ' larters and has scored no points he past two games. ihing touchdowns all year, one of rterback Anthony Wright. In the was held to negative 3 yards of iged only 33 yards of total offense e not getting the production there ected," Scott said. "Our main obtry and develop a little more conle a few more first downs and keep ' ngle point to place the blame. The en anemic, but tnat could be due d a chance to throw the ball withface, but when he has, receivers le ball. But if there was a time to v would be an excellent one. fense isn't the best one around. A ig Alabama team managed to put 9 1. ise gives up an average of365 yards ime and have the worst rush defense must find a way to move the ense off the field. Time of possesgame. As the old adage goes: "They 't have the ball." itucky came to Columbia, Wildcat # s rushed for 299 yards as UK de- * he rain. perman-type effort from senior including 95 rushing yards in the d South Carolina to a hard-fought atucky before 50,500 at Commonjst could be just as tough as last ; exception. This year's game has higher scoring. # "Fun-and-Gun" offense and a Carolutely must get on track, it could r has the ball last. tunities y responsible for kickoffs. But Florio iccasionally handled extra points, of 0 vhich he was a perfect 6-6. He was also asked to kick a field pal four times, being successftd on two >f those. Despite his success on the field his year and in the past, Florio conliders coming to USC on a scholarship lis greatest accomplishment. "Coming to school [is my greatest ichievement]," Florio said. "I didn't ;hink I was going to school when I was jack home in Miami. I never thought ^ I'd be playing football in a Division-I * school on a scholarship. I always figlred on staying home and just going to ) pnmmimitv rnllocra " Fortunately for USC and their fans, ?lorio's plans changed, and he now assumes an integral part of Carolina's scoring attack. i Penn St. UVa Penn St. clemson 0 Penn St. clemson Penn St. clemson Penn St. clemson *