Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Football CONTINUED FROM PAGE Cl Stephen Sellifox will kick off, - while Daniel Weaver has contin ued to struggle since his'game winning field goal in the 2002 Outback Bowl. Weaver was just 10 for-16 on field goals last season and missed several field goals in scrim mages. Sellifox might get a look at placekicker if Weaver continues the slow pace. Defensively, the Gamecocks have a new look. After defensive coordinator Charlie Strong bolted to Florida, Chris Cosh was named the replacement. Cosh has changed from the 3-3-5 to a 4-3 de fense. The change hopes to take advantage of the strong defensive ends the Gamecocks have in Moe Thompson and George Gause. The Gamecocks have taken a blow at linebacker as projected starters Lance Laury and Ricardo Hurley are injured. Hurley suf fered a high ankle sprain in the Aug. 17 scrimmage and is doubt ful for the season opener. Laury uaa oat uui me mdi scvcicu pi at tices as he has had problems with the knee he had surgery on last season. Jeremiah Garrison, a team captain for this year’s squad, should see plenty of time as well, in addition to Rod Thomas and Marcus Lawrence. In fact, Cosh has been extremely impressed with Lawrence. “If we had a game tomorrow, Lawrence would be one of our starters,” Cosh said. In the secondary, Dunta Robinson, who led the team last year in interceptions, returns for his senior season and will start at comerback. The other comerback position might be the closest battle for a starting position on the en tire team. Seniors Deandre’ Eiland and Ted Crawford are neck and neck for the final starting comer back position. Jamaica Jackson and Rodriques Wilson seem to have the upper hand at the two safety positions. Backup Fred Bennett has turned some heads with three pass deflections in a re cent scrimmage. The USC’s first game will be Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. as the Gamecocks host the Louisiana-Lafayette. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com BRIEFLY Hamilton loses in U.S. Amateur event USC golfer Alex Hamilton, who qualified for match play at the 103 U.S. Amateur Championship on Tuesday,, was defeated Wednesday in the first round by George Zahringer of New York, 1-up. Hamilton, a junior, was a 12th seed while Zahringer was seeded 53. Hamilton, a native of Aiken, S.C., shot a two-over par 142 during two days of stroke play at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. Following two rounds of stroke play, the field of 312 was cut to the low 64 scorers who advanced to match play. Women’s golf team to play in Japan The USC women’s golf team will open the 2003-04 season in Japan at the prestigious Topy Cup in Tokyo in the Sept. 9-11 tournament. Cal State Berkeley was the only other collegiate golf team selected to join the Gamecocks in the tour nament against four Japanese women’s teams at the Tanagura Country Club. Carolina returns to the United States for two more fall tournaments before teeing off the spring season with the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Los Angeles in February. The Gamecocks will participate in five spring tour naments before the April SEC Championships. USC will hold the ninth an nual Lady Gamecock Classic on the weekend of March 12 through 14 at the University Club in Columbia with a tour nament field of 12 teams ex pected to challenge for the title. The team had another appear ance in the NCAA Championships finished the 2002 03 campaign ranked 15th in the country by GolfStat, 16th by GolfWorld and 17th by Golfweek/ Sagarin. Men’s tennis team releases schedule The USC men’s tennis team released its 2003-04 schedule Thursday morning. The fall schedule will consist of four tour naments, while USC will play in two tournaments and compete in 20 dual matches during the spring. USC will open dual match play Jan. 15-19 in Athens, Ga., where they will compete in the SEC Indoor Championships. Two weeks later, USC will play host to the USC Winter Invitational on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. Carolina opens the home sea son Feb. 14 against Charlotte and Davidson. USC then plays nine more matches at home be fore making nine road trips on the season. The 2004 campaign features another tough schedule for head coach Kent DeMars as they will face 2003 NCAA run ner-up Vanderbilt and 2002 NCAA Champion Georgia on the road. The regular season will con clude with a trip to Gainesville, Fla., on April 11. USC will then travel to Nashville, Tenn., for the 2004 SEC Men’s Tennis Tournament. The NCAA Regional Championships will be held May 7-9, and the National Championships will be held from May 19-23 in Tulsa, Okla. The Gamecocks (17-8) finished the 2003 season ranked 20th in the nation. WWW.DAILYGAMEGOGK.COM Nobody covers USC better Clarett’s academic problems get deeper THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LEXINGTON, KY. - A former Ohio State teaching assistant who charged that star tailback Maurice Clarett received pref erential academic treatment met Wednesday for more than two hours with NCAA officials and a university committee. “They were concerned about test scores, about cheating in the classroom, things like that,” said Norma C. McGill, a teach ing assistant in Clarett’s African-American and African Studies class last fall. During the meeting, McGill was shown test scores from the class, which she said had been altered since she left the McGill said she hoped the in vestigation would “heat up.” “I was hoping that the NCAA would investigate and see what’s going on at OSU with the football team, and the aca demics at OSU would be inves tigated, that a panel would be set up and they would see what departments are actually as sisting students and student athletes in getting their grades, not just the African-American Studies Department,” McGill said. Mark Jones, the NCAA’s di rector of enforcement, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday. Jones, two other NCAA offi cials, members of Ohio State’s investigative panel and a uni versity lawyer met with McGill. McGill has charged that Clarett walked out of a midterm exam last fall and ended up pass ing the entry-level course after professor Paulette Pierce pro vided him with an oral exam. McGill said Clarett was the only person of the more than 90 stu dents taking the class who re ceived an oral exam. McGill has alleged that other athletes sat together and copied answers during three quizzes in the class and that Clarett told her and Pierce that tutors gave answers to players. McGill said Wednesday that during the meeting with the NCAA and Ohio State’s panel, she was also asked about wide receiver/cornerback Chris Gamble, linebacker E.J. Underwood and graduated wide receiver Chris Vance. Head Coach Jim Tressel said Wednesday he knew of no in quiries by the NCAA about Gamble, Underwood or Vance. McGill went to The New York Times with her concerns and a story based on her accu sations was published in July. She declined to meet with the Ohio State panel formed to in vestigate charges in the article. In the article, Pierce said of Clarett, “I don’t think, at one point in the class, he was trying. When I started working more closely with Maurice, and pay ing more attention to him, he started to learn more.” Clarett could not be reached for comment Wednesday be cause he has an unlisted phone number. Ohio State spokeswoman Elizabeth Conlisk said the uni versity was conducting the jj 1 “most thorough investigation . possible. We established a com mittee of highly regarded and ethical faculty expressly for that purpose.” McGill said she was hoping her role in the controversy was over, although the NCAA told her they would remain in con tact with her. “I’m tired of the story,” she said. VZ PHOTO SPECIALTO THE GAMECOCK Ohio State’s Maurice Clarett still isn’t eligible for this season. He is under investigation for academic fraud. -1 /The ( Princeton v— Review Better Saxes. Better Schoob. ■ _I ” I Classes Start in the Fall in Five Points! Call j now to reserve your spot! jor visit www.PrincetonReview.com COLLEGE IS EXPENSIVE. 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