Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Gamecock Sports Future is now for USC sports I Charlie l Wallace I Senior Writer The future is now. At the risk of sounding cliche, the future of South Carolina’s athletics teams have been on display over the past couple of weeks. And while there is a great deal of potential and excitement in the air, there are still some question marks surrounding certain teams that will be exposed sooner or later. For starters, the football team is well into spring drills. The three-week mini-camp culminates in the spring game on April 15 at Williams-Brice Stadium. After two consecutive mis erable fall campaigns, this spring is be ing closely followed by fans as well as the athletics department. Coach Holtz and company have finally admitted the offense that was installed last year didn’t work, and won’t work this year. It took a year for the coaches to realize that USC didn’t have the beef on the offensive line necessary to run over opposing teams and play good ol’-fashioned smash-mouth football, just like Holtz loves to coach. The university now realizes why Mike McGee was so intent on hiring Skip Holtz. The Holtz family has in stalled a version of the offense that son Skip used when he was head coach at Connecticut. Four wide-outs and one running back lineups will be the norm for of fensive sets. If you can’t run over guys, then throw over them. This seems to be the motto Holtz will live by for the upcoming season. This spring will be the first tell-tell signs of how the offense will look in August. The defense has also decided that with the loss of five key players, they’ll also need to switch things up. Forget the normal 4-3 defense played last year. This year’s version will be a 3-3-5 configuration with two strong safeties with one acting as a center-fielder and linebacker prototype. The emphasis and general strate gy will be on different blitz packages, which could, in turn, produce big plays on either side of the ball. The defense closely resembles Mississippi State’s which finished first in the nation in to tal defense last year. One thing is for sure, however, win or lose, the offense and defense will at least be exciting to watch. And oh yeah, Holtz said the team will wear black pants on the road next year. Turning to the hardwood, even though the NCAA basketball season has just completed its season, talk is still plentiful about the Gamecocks and their future. Coach Eddie Fogler commented that he feels like fans expect the team to go undefeated next year because the team won six out of its last nine games. They will be better next year and I think everyone agrees with that. With the addition of Rolando How ell, who played with the nation’s best high school all-stars last Wednesday night in the McDonald’s All-Ameri can All-Star Classic, Gamecock fever has once again reared its head. The Gamecocks will finally have a shot blocker. Howell is still a question mark however. After missing an alley-oop dunk in the McDonald’s game,' and not re ally doing much, it’s hard to tell how good Howell will be. However, he is quick and he can jump, which is some thing Carolina lacks right now on the frontline. Howell, along with two other tal ented recruits, should also definitely add excitement and talent to an already fun-to-watch team come November. But, the team that has shown per haps the most realistic chance of be ing successful is the baseball team. Af ter sweeping nationally-ranked Alabama last weekend and soaring to a No. 2 national ranking, the hard ballers are indeed a talented squad. They should without a doubt make the NCAA tourney this year and contend for a trip to the College World Series. The scary thing is, this team is still a year away from having its best shot at an NCAA title. They play national ly-ranked and traditional power Mis sissippi State at Saige Frye Field this weekend. Willi the football team win a game next year? How good is the basketball team? Will the Gamecocks make it to Omaha this spring? One thing is for sure. The future of Carolina athletics is on the shoulders of some very tal ented teenagers. The next few months will answer these questions and more. Stay tuned. Holtz releases first spring depth chart Spring Football 3 Corey Alexander Roundup QB 14 Phil Petty Gamecock Sports ' 13EricKimrey Lou Holtz and the USC football staff 116 22 Derek Mtson released the first two-man depth chart of n ew mnoc the season Tuesday after practice. The p^ Name chat is subject to change, but could be .. . , _ seen as a possible preview of USC’s an- nt on^ ^erstreel nual^pring Game on April 15. ^ Pbs. Name 97 Travis Lewis WR 00 James Adkisson DE ^DennisQuinn 89 Willis Ham SS"*8^ WR 84 Jermale Kelly LB 4 Shannon Wadley 0 T ,r r , 31 DanonHutcherson 8 TedCrawford . ri .. TT LT 68 Travelle Wharton LB 51 Marco Hutchinson 75 W&tts Sanderson . R “ Andre Offing LG 76 Cedric WilUams LB “ Kahmba Edwards ™ t rr D 34 Rod Thomas 52 Jeff Barnes r' co i .. n 46 Lenny Williams C 53 Jonathan Ragans c ,, n , _. ca r .• u n ■ S ll Rashad Faison 64 Justm McGuire . , ... _o, „ , . 39 Jonathan Martin RG 73 Larrell Johnson „ on nr, j • enn ■ n, „ S 30O RondaiCox 59 Denms Thomas d-t ,'d- 20WillieOfford RT 73 Melvm Paige _c . . . .. ... -M cu u FS 1 Antome Nesmith 71 Shane Hall .... . _ ttt /on. uii 16MarvmDeas TE 48 Thomas Hill . 01 n tr .i CB 29 Kevin House 81 RodTrafford ... , _ , i,tt) nn n • c .. 35 Andre Goodman WR 82 Brian Scott _ .. cu _ 10 Carlos Spikes C 24 Sheldon Brown WR 21 Ryan Brewer m 3111 Spring Football G»ch Lou Holtz commented that the play of his receivers has been impres sive,-$enior Jermale Kelly, junior col lege transfer James Adkisson and sopho moreRyan Brewer have particularly caught his eye. r; Also, Holtz said m®ing Antione Ne smith from fullback to defensive end seemed to be a “natural fit,” while Den nis Quinn and Anthony Overstreet have made progress at the end position. Volleyball In the midst of a six-week spring prac-. tice, USC’s volleyball squad will host its annual Spring Volleyball Tournament Sat urday at the Vblleyball Competition Cen ter (comer of Blossom and Assembly). The tournament, which begins at 9 a.ra, will feature past Final Four participants Florida and Michigan State and ACC Champion North Carolina. “The team has been working hard this spring to improve both the technical and physical aspects of its game. This touma ment will be a good test for us,” Caroli na head coach Kim Christopher said. The tournament will feature the new. experimental scoring method with two ' games played to 35 points and a third game shoot-out format Time 9 ajn. (A) USC vs. Michigan State (B) Florida vs. UNC 10:30 am. (A) USC vs. UNC (B) Florida vs. Michigan State 1:30 pan. (A) USC vs. Florida (B) Michigan State vs. UNC 3 pjn. Championship match Consolation match Track & Field The first national Ttackwire poll of the year has both of South CanolM‘s track and field teams ranked in the top 20. The women debuted at No. 4 and the Game cock mat are sitting at No. 17. Competing at the Duke Invitational this weekend, the two teams return home to play host to the South Carolina State Collegiate Championships Wednesday. Tho will Fvxrin fj Monday's 6-8pm ' for Punk show and more on.. _ ,—ft tune in! 90,5m reat opportunity to earn money and gain experience designing advertisements and more using the latest in hardware and software. Experience in Freehand, Illustrator, and Photoshop needed. Flexible hours. Organized, efficient and creative people need to apply now for fall 2000. Drop by Student ■ Media room J 343 on the third floor of the ' Russell House to fill out an application. f Don't let all this work bother youA I I heard we're looking to hire more | graphic designers. I just hope they I l can find them before we graduate. I rnm rv SEC Softball Standings SEC East Cony. Ouerall ( Kentucky 5-3 23-17 % use 8-7 27-15 FT* Tennessee 4-7 16-17 a Florida 2-6 31-17 Georgia 3-9 20-23 i 33-7 Alabama 12-2 42-7 Mississippi 9-3 31-11 State Arkansas 4-6 24-21 Mississippi 4-8 17-28 Auburn 3-11 25-19 FOOTBALL tickets n A limited number of away football tickets will be made available to the University of South Carolina Student Body. The tickets will be limited to one (1) per student. Orders will be taken on April 11, 2000. The price is as listed above, cash only, and all tickets must be paid for on this date. Students must come to the athletic ticket office on Rosewood Drive between 8:30a.m. and 5p.m. to purchase away game tickets. The tickets may be * * claimed in the fall by coming to the ticket office and presenting a current Fall 2000 full-time ID cahl.