The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 22, 2005, Page 9, Image 9
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