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Pag, 9 SPORTS Monday, Aug. 22,2005 * ~ ■ ~ ' --: Walk-on standouts June, Stafford receive scholarships Jonathan Hillyard SPORTS EDITOR After an offseason riddled with off-the field problems, two positive stories came out of USC football camp Thursday. Coach Steve Spurrier announced after practice that he was awarding athletic scholarships to former walk-on football players and S.C. natives Jerod June and Lanard Stafford for the 2005-2006 school year. “It’s really one of the fun things for me, as a head coach, to do,” Spurrier told the media. “To give a young player like that a scholarship and see the smile on his face and effort he put into it and all that kind of stuff. It’s rewarding for me to be able to do that.” June, a 5-foot-11-inch, 194-pound redshirt junior linebacker, said his excitement almost B brought him to tears. “The first thing I did, I just gave (Spurrier) a big hug,” June explained. “I wanted to cry to tell you the truth.” Jcrod A Bonneau native, June J11116 has been on the football team since 2002 as a linebacker. June caught the coaching staffs attention during spring practice when he was named Most Improved Defensive Back before being moved to linebacker. June said he realizes the financial significance of the honor. “My parents have worked hard all their life to send me to college,” June said. “They were paying for it by themselves, but now I can take that burden off of them and save that money. It felt good not to have to pay for my books today.” Stafford, from Hemingway, is a 5-foot 9-inch, 253-pound sophomore fullback who will get the nod as a starter for the Gamecocks’ opener next week against Central Florida. Senior Daccus Turman will be serving a one-game suspension for his role in the Clemson brawl. “Not many people have the chance to come (to Division I-A) and play football, especially walk-ons,” Stafford said. “(Spurrier) told us, as walk-ons, that as long as we came out and worked hard we all had a chance to earn scholarships.” Attending USC since 2003 on a LIFE scholarship, Stafford is an electrical engineering student and has been on the team since walking on in the spring of 2004. He said the scholarship will give him an opportunity to start paying back some of his student loans. An offensive lineman in high school, Stafford said graduate assistant C.J. Frye moved him to defensive line. Eventually he was moved to fullback during this year’s spring practice, where he was Laiiard the recipient of the team’s Stafford Outstanding Blocker Award. Scholarships were made available to Spurrier when he sent letters t& six players saying their scholarships might not be renewed. Two' of the scholarships were renewed, but the other four players ate no longer team members. Among the players who will not return _ are wide receiver and punter Grayson Mullins, who earned All-State honors playing quarterback at Irmo'High School. Also among the players was redshirt freshman defensive back Trent Usher, who was named South Carolina’s Mr. Football by the High School Sports Report during his senior year. Earlier in the summer Spurrier announced he was awarding scholarships to senior wide-receiver Michael Flint and junior long snapper Ike Crofoot. / Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Hockey, Hawks, i huge hoopsters: } a few sure things in 2005-2006 * We sports fans don’t make predictions: we state the cold hard truth of reality Another school year is upon us, and with it comes new goals and expectations for my life. And by “my life,” I mean “sports.” Athletically, 2004-2005 was a pretty good year for me. Other than my devastating loss in the intramural basketball championship game (I’d really rather not talk about it — just forget I even brought it ’ up), I was pretty entertained all last year. Hopefully 2005-2006 should be just as good. JdH8 Here are a few things to BrOOITI lookfor: Third-year ♦ Rafael Palmiero will political once again declare he science never knowingly took stu^ent steroids, even though a drug test says otherwise. He will then declare that the Earth is indeed flat. ♦ Former Arkansas quarterback and current Jacksonville Jaguar Matt Jones will fail a drug test. Have you seen this guy? Everything about him just screams ( pothead. He is an amazing athlete, but he is entirely too calm. It really freaks me out. I simply refuse to believe that someone can be that cool without the aid of some type of narcotic. ♦ Shawn Bradley will get dunked on. A lot. It’s one of the few certainties in life. There are only a few things that happen every single day during basketball season: The sun rises', the sun sets and Shawn Bradley gets embarrassed on national television. It’s like he has become a walking benchmark on the road to basketball fame. When he gets in the game, opposing players literally argue over who gets to dunk on him next. ♦ NASCAR still won’t be a sport. I keep thinking maybe I’ll wake up one day and the thought of grown men driving around in a circle for hours will appeal to i . .. .. me, uui, iai, mu uiec. ♦ Sports agent Drew Rosenhaus will get a reality TV show. I’m honestly surprised this hasn’t happened yet. If they followed him around with a camera and taped him telling people like Terrell Owens that making a minimum of $7 million a year just isn’t cutting it, I’d watch it. I’m thinking about hiring him to talk to a few of my professors. Give the man 10 minutes, and he’d have them “re negotiating” the attendance policy and dumbing down the grading scale. ♦ New York Knicks President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas will make another dumb trade, which will start rumors that maybe he really is just that stupid. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if the Knicks drafted ME this year. ♦ The Atlanta Hawks will still suck. At least the Braves wait until the playoffs to blow it. The Hawks don’t even tease us. ♦ Nobody will watch hockey. Yeah, apparendy the NHL lockout is over. Don’t feel bad — I didn’t realize it either. At this point I’d rather watch the WNBA, and that’s really saying something. ♦ Map Leinart will get hurt. Any time BROOm • 10 Katie Kirkland /THE GAMECOCK USC's Mark Smith helps a football team member stretch before practice earlier in the month. Smith leads Carolina’s strength and conditioning program. Smith builds faster, stronger Gamecock Jonathan Hillyard SPORTS EDITOR At 5:30 a.m. Mark Smith awakens before the hot summer Carolina sun. What he does throughout the day goes largely unnoticed by the entire footbalL community, but his job might be as important as any other on USCs football coaching staff. e_:.L _ __ would wake up and be at the Bluff Road practice fields by either 5:30 or 6 a.m. for their conditioning routine. Is this a light run to get the players up and at ’em for their long day? Not exactly. On the first day the new staff was in place, every player on the team ran 18 100 yard sprints, and as the summer wore on, reps grew little by little. Players are given a 45-second recovery time between sprints. r^rr i captain linebacker at N.C. State in 1987 and a one-time member of the Dallas Cowboys. His official title at USC is director of football strength and conditioning, which means it is his job to make a bigger, stronger, faster Gamecock. “When people come to games on Saturday they see the finished product, but they don’t realize what (the players) go through off the field and in the offseason,’’ Smith said at USC’s preseason Media Day. Not only does every USC football player go to practice every day and compete in games on Saturday, but they Mark Smith, Director of Football Strength and Conditioning ♦ Team Captain on 1987 North Carolina State football team as a linebacker and eventually signed a free agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys ♦ Has served worked at North Carolina State, Florida and Kansas at the collegiate level, as well as for the Washington Redskins and the New Orleans Saints at the NFL level. ♦ Worked for USC coach Steve Spurrier as Florida’s Strength and Conditioning Coordinator from 1998 2001. WlIV-llOlYV, dUU defensive linemen have to run the sprints in 18 seconds or less, the middle group (consisting of linebackers, tight ends, fullbacks and quarterbacks) has to run the sprints in 16, and skill position players and backs have to run the sprints in 15. “It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Smith exclaimed. “And if somebody thinks it is, they can come out and try it one time.” After conditioning during the summer, players would break to take their respective summer classes, but also found time to hit the weight room four times a week. Workouts took place Monday through Thursday and were also have to keep a very specific strength and conditioning program. With most players taking summer classes, the summer workout session is the most strenuous. Four times a week players scheduled around each student-athlete’s class schedule at the new Dr. Charles Crews Football Facility. Smith said the newcomers were sent a workout program to keep, but that it’s not comparable to being on campus in the thick of things. “You can try to kind of prepare yourself and think of how it’s gonna be but its never gonna be the same,” Smith said. “It’s always gonna be a shock to them. If you go and ask every one of them now and they’ll tell you ‘it’s something I wasn’t expecting.’” The new staff also changed the team’s workout. Smith said his staff, now emphasizes more Olympic-style lifts such as the power clean, snatches, clean-and press and a greater focus on sfjuats. “The guys have done a real good job,” Smith added. “I think the biggest thing when we came in was getting them to go to the level of intensity that we wanted them to go to as far as finishing every drill and doing it the right way. Other than that, they’ve done a great job.” While Smith has been impressed with the team’s work in the weight room, team speed has been the biggest surprise to him. “When I got here, I compared their speed results to some of the teams we had at Florida, and it surprised me that we had more guys that ran the 40 in 4.6 (seconds) or under than some of the teams we had at Florida, so that was pretty impressive.” USC coach Steve Spurrier also raved about the speed of the team early in fall practice. “This might be the fastest team we’ve ever had here, especially with those young freshman receivers and running backs,” Spurrier said after the first day of fall practice. “We have some talent out here. I know the other teams are getting faster and faster too but these guys can run, we know that.” True freshman quarterback Cade Thompson said he also had issues adjusting to the speed at Carolina. “That’s the first thing you recognize when you come up here and srart throwing to Carlos Thomas and O.J. Murdock and they’re outrunning your balls,” Thompson said. The new staff, including Spurrier, has emphasized conditioning, as Gamecock teams the past three seasons have gone a combined 1-10 in November. “One thing I’ve been preaching is that our team will be in shape,” Spurrier said. “I can’t guarantee you a lot of things, but we hope we can guarantee that we can play all day and all night.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 10 DAYS In less than two weeks, the Steve Spurrier era will officially begin at USC, as the Gamecocks play host to the Central Florida Golden Knights. To provide Carolina fans the most in-depth Gamecock coverage, Gamecock Sports will publish the Friday Football Blitz, an in-depth special section released the day before every USC football game. Check out the first installment Aug. 31 for the latest news, statistics, analysis and a full page action pinup. www. dailygamecock. com