The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 12, 2003, Page 10, Image 10
Ellis
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
a big study night. He constructs
charts of the opposition’s two
deep starting line ups for the of
fense and defense. Ellis admits
this seemingly simple task takes
several hours. Tuesday is more
studying. The previous night’s
charts begin to take shape with
stats and color commentary. Ellis
also starts drafting his opening.
After work on Wednesday, Ellis
heads out to Pulliam Ford for the
Lou Holtz Call-in Show. The rest
of that night and Thursday night
is spent studying. On Friday, if it
is a home game, Ellis gets to have
dinner with his family; otherwise
he is traveling.
Saturday, it’s show time. Ellis
arrives at the stadium three
hours before the game starts. He
reads his open, meets with sports
information directors, talks with
the play-by-play man from the
other school, gets pronunciations
down, finds out any interesting
background and checks for in
jury updates. Eighteen minutes
before kickoff, he goes on air for
the duration of the game.
Then he wakes up at 6:45 a.m.
the next morning to prepare for
the Lou Holtz Television Show.
“Hopefully, the play
by-play, like the
quarterback memories,
will get fonder with
time.”
TODD ELLIS
GAMECOCK FOOTBALL ANNOUNCER
Holtz arrives at about 8:25 a.m.,
and the half-hour show is shot
straight through. Then it’s time
for a nap.
“Every week is different. That
is why I love my law practice be
cause every file is different.” Ellis
said. “For 12 weeks you just have
to go as hard as you can.”
Every week also offers up
time for reflection.
“I always say you have to be
natural. You have to be re
laxed and say what you want,
and use your sense of humor
if you have one,” Ellis said.
“My probably one inappropri
ate or right-on-the-edge re
mark occurred when Carolina
had off-setting penalties. I said
that is kind of like kissing
your sister, not much going on
there. And I think that was
fine to say, but at the time I
wondered if I should have said
that or not.”
As a lawyer, Ellis has to
think on his feet, adlib, be con
cise and speak directly. These
attributes have come in handy.
So has practice.
“If you sit down in that
booth, and you are trying to
tell everyone out there what
is going on, and you have to
say, ‘Dondrial Pinkins is at
the 24-yard line, and he has
three receivers to the right
side and one to the left.
Summers in the backfield be
hind him, split to his right,
snaps and it’s theirs in the
shot gun and rolls out right,’
you have to get a rhythm
down,” Ellis said. “I wanted to
be good game 1, but I really
want to be good game 12.”
Being remembered as both
the quarterback and the an
nouncer would suit Ellis just
fine.
“Hopefully, the play-by-play,
just like the quarterback mem
ories, will get fonder with
time.”
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SEC NEWS AND NOTES
SEC awards week’s
best performances
Ole Miss quarterback Eli
Manning, Arkansas free safety
Tony Bua and Tennessee wide
receiver Derrick Tinsley re
ceived SEC Player of the Week
honors on Monday.
Manning, in a thrilling 24-20
victory over Auburn, went 19
of-30 for 218 yards passing and
two touchdowns. The win over
the Tigers represented
Manning’s third fourth-quarter
comeback performance of the
year and the seventh of his ca
reer at Ole Miss. Manning was
four-of-five 72 yards passing in
the 80-yard game-winning drive
that ended with a 2-yard run by
runningback Brandon Jacobs.
Bua managed 12 solo tackles
and a team-high three quarter
back pressures in Arkansas’ 28
6 handling of USC on Thursday
night. The senior led a defense
that only allowed two field goals
and 123 yards rushing against
the Gamecocks. After last
week's performance, which in
cluded 19 total tackles, Bua is
now only three tackles short of
the all-time Arkansas career
tackle record of 382. The USC
game marked Bua’s 19th double
digit tackle game and his fifth
this season.
Tinsley netted the Special
Teams Player of the Week
award by getting two tackles
and recovering a fumble off a
kickoff in the fourth quarter to
cement Tennessee's 10-6 victory
over Miami.
Two SEC players up
for Lombardi Award
The SEC has two of the four
Lombardi Award finalists, ac
cording to an announcement by
the Rotary Club on Tuesday.
Arkansas offensive lineman
Shawn Andrews and Georgia
defensive end David Pollack
were named to the finalist list,
which also includes UCLA de
fensive end David Ball and
Oklahoma defensive lineman
Tommie Harris.
Andrews is the first
Arkansas player to be a finalist
for the award since 1982. The
Arkansas lineman earned this
honor by being graded at over
90 percent and playing every
snap in the Razorbacks’ seven
overtime epic battle with
Kentucky.
Pollack worked his way onto
the finalist list by consistently
pressuring opposing quarter
backs. In Georgia's win over
Tennessee, Pollack recorded
two sacks, two pass defections,
two hurries and eight tackles.
The last time two SEC play
ers made the Lombardi finalist
list was in 1988 when Tracy
Rocker of Auburn and Derrick
Thomas of Alabama were
named to the list. Rocker later
won the award that year.
SEC turns to BCS
for East tiebreaker
On Nov. 7, the SEC athletics
directors voted unanimously to
replace the seventh tie-break
ing procedure for a divisional
representative to the SEC
Football Championship game.
The old rule mandated a vote of
conference ADs that were not
involved in the tie. The new
rule states that the tied team
with the highest ranking in the
Bowl Championship Series poll
at the end of will be the divi-au
sional representative in thi „
championship game. However,
if the two tied teams are within
five points of each other,
whichever team won the head
to-head match-up earlier in the
season would be the divisional
representative.
11 SEC teams in
action this week
This weekend's SEC action
features No. 15 Florida on the
road against USC, Mississippi
State at Tennessee, New Mexico
State at Arkansas, Kentucky at
Vanderbilt, Auburn at No. 7
Georgia and No. 3 LSU at
Alabama.
Auburn-Georgia will be or ^
CBS at 3:30 p.m., Florida-USC
will be on J-P Sports at 12:30
p.m. and LSU-Alabama will be
on ESPN at 7:45 p.m.
Interested in taking The Gamecock’s Sports Challenge?
If you can beat the editors, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt. Send in your picks to
gamecocksports@hotmail.com by 2 p.m. Thursday. We’ll select ONE person at random to be our
reader of the week, whose picks will appear in Friday’s issue.
This week’s games:
Auburn at 7 Georgia
3 LSU at Alabama
Kansas State at 18 Nebraska
19 Minnesota at 20 Iowa
11 Purdue at 4 Ohio State
21 Michigan State at Wisconsin
Texas Tech at 6 Texas
N.C. State at 13 Florida State
Duke at Clemson
15 Florida at USC
Rankings are from
The Associated Press.
\
♦ FOR TIE-BREAKING PURPOSES, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SCORE FOR THE FLORIDA-USC GAME.
AND DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME!
BRIEFLY
Two USC baseball
stars named to team
The National Collegiate
Baseball Writer's announced on
Tuesday afternoon that USC se
nior catcher Landon Powell and
junior infielder Kevin Melillo
each were named to 2004
Preseason All-America Team.
Powell finished last season
with a .339 batting average in
his junior year, along with 10
home runs and 61 RBIs. He also
started all 67 games for the
Gamecocks and finished with
a .994 fielding percentage be
hind the plate. Melillo hit .317
last year with 12 home runs
and 43 RBIs. Powell, Melillo
and senior infielder Bryan
Triplett will serve as captains
for the 2004 squad.
The Gamecocks reached the
College World Series for the
second-consecutive year in
2003 and won their fourth SEC
Eastern Division title in the
last five seasons.
The USC baseball program
is the second-winningest pro
gram in the past four seasons
in Division I baseball.
Carolina begins the 2004 sea
son on Feb. 7 at Wofford.
ESPN2 to televise
USC-Clemson game | >
The USC-Clemson game will
be a nationally televised contest
scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN2
on Nov. 22, the SEC announced
on Monday. It will be the 101st
meeting between the in-state
schools in a rivalry that dates
back to 1896.
It's the ninth time the
Gamecocks will be televised and
the sixth time nationally this
season. Carolina has totaled five
appearances on ESPN or ESPN2
and was televised once by CBS.
The game against Florida this
Saturday is scheduled for 12:30
on Jefferson-Pilot Sports' re
gional network.
_
Where will it take you? Through
USAC, a consortium of U.S. universities, you,
can choose from 31 programs in 21 countries.
With 20 years of experience, you can be sure
that you have someone to turn to throughout
your educational adventures.
■ Month, summer, semester & year-long programs
■ Wide range of academic courses ■ Internships
■ Field trips & tours
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at all levels
■ Small classes
■ University credit
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