The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 02, 2002, Page 10, Image 10
10 the GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, October 2, 2002
GAME SCHEDULE
WOMEN’S GOLF at Lady Tar Heels Invitational in Chapel Hill,
G ONTAGT U S NC- &&&&****
WOMEN’S TENNIS in Lady Gamecock Classic, Friday-Sunday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S SOCCER at Kentucky, 7:30 p.m. Friday
E-mail us atgamecocksports@hotmail.com VOLLEYBALL at Arkansas, 8 p.m. Friday
FOOTBALL vs. Mississippi State, 1 p.m. Saturday
USC hurting after win
Gamecocks suffer key
losses at Vandy to
offensive line, defense
BY JASON NOLL
THE GAMECOCK
Injuries have become an alarming prob
lem for the Gamecock football team, as head
coach Lou Holtz.discussed Monday.
nie&e mjuj.it::> die uev
astating because they only
add to the problems we have
in the offensive line,” he
said.
Against Vanderbilt, the
Gamecocks lost center C.J.
Frye to a knee sprain, offen
sive guards Shane Hall and
Cedric Williams to neck Laury
strains, and the team’s lead- --
ing tackier, linebacker Lance Laury. to a
knee sprain.
Frye and Laury underwent surgery
Monday and will not play against
Mississippi State on Saturday. Hall and
Williams are listed as “questionable” for
Saturday’s game, but Holtz said he “doesn’t
expect them to play,” leaving the Gamecocks
with a considerable void to fill in the offen
sive line.
“Losing your two guards and your center
makes it real critical there now, but you
move on,” he said.
Although Holtz said Monday he doesn’t
know exactly how he’ll salvage his offensive
line, he discussed several options. He ex
pressed confidence in freshman offensive
lineman Na’Shan Goddard to help to fill in
for Frye at center but is still open to sever
al choices at guard. Holtz says he could use
freshman Jabari Levey, who was going to be
redshirted. He may also transfer defensive
linemen Eric Stroman and Chris Tucker to
the offensive line, which concerns Holtz be
cause of the possibility of confusion at a new
position.
To fill in for Laury, Holtz will use either
Darel Slay or Ricardo Hurley. It is also
possible that Holtz may move defensive
end George Gause back to linebacker,
where he has played occasionally this sea
son.
“You just don’t lose your leading tackier
and one of the leaders in the conference and
say ‘We’ll move this guy there, et cetera.’”
Holtz said. “It’s like starting over.”
Gamecocks progressing
Overall, Holtz was pleased with his team’s
performance against Vanderbilt, except for
the team’s offense inside the 20-yard line. The
Gamecocks were in the red zone three times,
but came away with a total of only three points.
Holtz was encouraged by his defense’s
progress, but feels there are still some areas
where the defense needs to work.
“I think against the run we’ve gotten pret
ty good,” Holtz said. “But we still can’t get
pressure on the passer, leading to problems
iij the secondary.”
Holtz was also impressed by his team’s
improvement running the ball.
“We have moved the ball better this year
than we have any year since I’ve been here,”
he said.
Holtz said he is encouraged by the perfor
mances of running back Andrew Pinnock,
wide receivers Michael Ages and Troy
Williamson, linebacker Jermaine Lemon and
defensive end Dennis Quinn.
He is especially impressed with the de
velopment of quarterback Corey Jenkins.
“He’s a quarterback getting a better feel and
a better understanding for the offense each
and every week,” Holtz said. “He’s become the
leader of this offense... no doubt about it.”
Holtz is excited about Gause and defen
sive lineman Moe Thompson, who he says
“could be two outstanding defensive ends in
the future.”
This weekend’s outlook
Looking at the rest of the season, Holtz
feels his team is in for a big challenge, start
ing Saturday against Mississippi State at
Williams-Brice Stadium.
Holtz says his team needs to work on red
zone offense and eliminating turnovers in or
der to be successful. The Gamecocks’ final
seven opponents include powerhouses
Tennessee and Florida, and the rival
Clemson Tigers.
“We’re going into the seven toughest
games in a row that I have ever encountered
as a football coach,” he said. “The only one
we’re looking at is Mississippi State.”
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Above:
Linebacker
Lance Laury
(No. 48) will
be out 3-5
weeks after
suffering
torn knee
cartilage
Saturday
against
Vanderbilt.
He is USC’s
leading
tackier this
season.
Left:
Fullback
Andrew
Plnnock was
one of
several
Gamecocks
who showed
improvement
against
Vanderbilt.
He rushed
for 69 yards
on 17
carries.
PHOTOS BY CANDI
HAUGLUM/THE
GAMECOCK
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The USC softball team Is in the middle of fall practices as it prepares for the 2003 season.
Carolina looks to repeat the success of recent years.
Softball getting
ready for spring
BY MATT ROTHENBERG
THE GAMECOCK
With the beginning of the sea
son only four months away, the
Carolina softball team is hard at
work preparing for the 2003 cam
paign.
Despite the loss of pitcher
Megan Matthews and outfielder
Adrianna Baggetta, head coach
Joyce Compton has positive feel
ings of her returnees during the
team’s fall practices.
The aim for fall practice is
“just trying to figure out who’s
going where and who’s doing
what,” Compton said. “It’s just to
get pitchers some time against
live batters. The fall is trying to
get your feet on the ground and
work on the fundamentals,
which we’re doing quite a bit.
“It’s difficult scrimmaging,
but you try to put them into
scrimmage situations as best as
you can and get a feel for where
we are from last year. ”
The team is largely the same
as last season but with two new
faces on the roster. Melanie
Henkes, an Aiken native, arrives
to bolster the pitching staff, and
Ashley Smith, from Portage,
Mich., will see playing time as
catcher.
Acclimating the newcomers to
collegiate-level softball is anoth
er major goal of fall practice,
Compton said.
It’s important “getting them
up to speed on the game itself,
which is pretty different from
high school and summer ball,”
she said. “I think they’re both
making the adjustment. ...
They’re freshmen coming along,
and they’ll definitely see more
playing time come spring. I think
they’ll both be excellent addi
tions for us.”
While starting positions are a
long way from being finalized,
the coaching staff continues to
look at different possibilities in
the lineup. Senior Danielle
Quinones is seeing some time at
third base, while teammate Kim
Evans has been receiving action
in left field the position vacat
ed by Baggetta.
There are also plans to fill the
pitching vacancy left by
Matthews, with sophomore Aleca
Johnson playing a key role.
“We hadn’t planned to use her
that much pitching-wise, but
things just kind of evolved,”
Compton said of Aleca Johnson’s
situation last year, where
Johnson became a relief pitcher
after being an outfielder. “We’re
planning on using three players
in the rotation, and I see Aleca be
ing one of the three starters" along
with Henkes and Stacey Johnson.
“I really liked having a relief
person (last year). We never re
ally had a relief person like that,
and that really worked out well.
Our first priority is to put start
ing pitchers out there, but who
♦ SOFTBALL, SEE PAGE 11
Bowden Bowl IV set
for Thursday night
CLEMSON (AP)-Tommy
Bowden still wants to beat his
father.
But the festive family atmo
sphere that surrounded the first
three Bowden Bowls will likely
be gone when Bobby Bowden’s
Florida State team hosts
Tommy’s Clemson Tigers on
Thursday night.
"I just don’t feel the love this
year,” Clemson’s Bowden said.
Bowden hasn’t talked to his
father this week. Although the
team arrives a day early for the
nationally televised game,
Bowden doesn’t expect to see his
father until the pre-game meet
ing. He might talk to his mom,
Ann, after the game. Maybe.
"It’s like I was telling the
team, I wish it wasn’t a father-son
thing,” Bowden said Tuesday.
That’s been hard for anyone
to escape since big time college
football’s first father-son series
began at Clemson in 1999.
Back then, Tommy and
Bobby acted at times like they
were on a family vacation. The
two rode to nearby Travelers
Rest - a caravan of TV trucks
following behind - to watch
Tommy’s son Ryan play a high
school football game.
The next season with Bobby
as host, the family went out to
dinner the night before Florida
State’s 54-7 victory.
No such family bonding is
apparent this weekend.
Maybe it’s because of Florida
State’s 26-20 overtime loss to
Louisville last Thursday night
that dropped Bobby’s team from
fourth to 11th in the rankings.
Or maybe it’s Clemson’s de -
fense, ranked No. 1 in the
Atlantic Coast Conference.
But mostly, says the son, it’s be
cause the Tigers (34,1-0 ACC) have
yet to prove they can come close to
the Seminoles (4-1, &0>on the field.
"The big interest nationally is
Florida State and how they’re go
ing to respond after losing to an
unranked team,” Tommy
Bowden said. "I think that’s why
most of the nation is going to tune
in Thursday night, not to see us.”
Anyone who does could see
a different group of Tigers than
during Bowden’s first three sea
sons. While they’re tops in de
fense, their typically potent of
fense is averaging 338 yards a
game, 120 fewer than Florida
State’s.
"I told you I was going to do
something different on offense,”
Bowden joked.
Tommy has tried to keep the
family emotions out of the lock
er room this week. It hasn’t al
ways worked.
"Coach Bowden’s really, re
ally, really excited about this
game,” Clemson linebacker
John Leake said. "We feel and
he feels this is our best chance”
to beat the Seminoles.
Clemson wins have been few
and far between in the series.
The Tigers have lost 10 straight
to the Seminoles. Things are
even bleaker at Doak Campbell
Stadium where Florida State
has won its past five games with
Clemson by an average score of
46-2.
Things got out of hand in a
hurry two years back.
Heisman Trophy winner Chris
Weinke helped the Seminoles
roll up 771 yards on a Clemson
team ranked, at the time,
among the nation’s best de
fenses.
Cornerback Brian Mance
scrunches up his face and shakes
his head at the memory. "It gets
mentioned in practice every
time somebody doesn’t bat down
a pass or misses an assignment,”
Mance said. "We say, ‘We don’t
want to go down there and get
embarrassed like before.’”i
Neither does Tommy.
I’m at a
loss when
it comes
to Moss ,
\
KYLE ALMOND
GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Vikings’ wide receiver
running out of chances
after latest outburst.
After being charged with care
less driving and disobeying a
Minneapolis traffic officer this
past week, Randy Moss cried to
ESPN’s Andrea Kremer and
claimed he’s been treated unfair
ly by the media, the police and
pretty much anybody who’s been
down on him.
“It’s how I’m labeled,” the
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver
said. “I’m labeled as a bad guy.
And I’ve tried to make changes for
the best. I’ve tried to do a 360.”
Moss meant to say 180, but his
slipup made perfect sense. When
it’s come to turning his life
around, all Moss has done is turn
around in circles.
His traffic transgression is just
the latest in a string of problems
dating to high school.
In 1995, Moss had a scholarship
revoked by Notre Dame after he i
was charged with beating up a
high school classmate in West
Virginia. He pleaded guilty and
spent 30 days in jail.
He got a second chance at
Florida State, but he was caught
smoking marijuana and got
kicked off the team.
Moss seemed to have his life in
order after a successful stint at his
third school, Marshall. But when
he got to the NFL, he found trou
ble again. He was fined $25,000 for
squirting a referee with a water
bottle and $15,000 for verbally
abusing corporate sponsors on the
team bus. Last season, he infuri
ated fans around the league for
making the statement “I play
when I want to play.” W
moss is rigin. ne is laoeiea as a
bad guy- But his actions haven’t
led anyone to believe otherwise.
The whole incident with the
traffic officer might have been ex
tremely minor, maybe a big mis
understanding. There really
wasn’t any real harm done. But af
ter five previous incidents, you’d
think that Moss would want to be
a little more careful.
I couldn’t help but think of
Derek Watson when I watched
Moss face the music.
The former USC tailback, dis
missed from the Gamecocks last
spring, also blew another chance
this past week when he was
charged with reckless driving and
driving with a suspended license. 7
Watson, who is now with South
Carolina State, was suspended in
definitely by the Bulldogs, and his
future is up in the air.
What’s up with these athletes
that are immensely talented on the
field but frustratingly inept off of
it? How can they continue to waste
away their chances?
Don’t get me wrong; I think ev
eryone in life is entitled to a sec
ond chance, and probably even a
third. Hey, we’re human, and we
all make mistakes. But when
you’re blowing your fourth or fifth
chance, there’s a serious problem
there.
Are these athletes spoiled?
Moss sure sounded like it when he
told Kremer, “I’ve been playing
the sport all my life, and what do I
get in return?”
Well, Randy, you shouldn’t be £>
looking for anything in return.
You’ve already received more
than you probably deserve. In fact,
you should be thanking your
lucky stars and feel blessed that
you even received the opportuni
ties to be where you are now —
making millions of dollars to play
a sport you love.
What would happen to Moss
and Watson if they couldn’t play
football? Do you think they’d re
ceive the same treatment that you
of I would receive?
♦ ALMOND, SEE PAGE 11