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South Carolina suspends Garcia until Aug. 15
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Highly touted South Carolina freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia was suspended from the team on Tuesday after being ticketed for underage drinking, marking his third run-in with police in about a year.
Garcia will not be allowed to practice or meet with the team until Aug. 15, athletics department spokesman Steve Fink said.
Coach Steve Spurrier declined to comment on Garcia’s status Tuesday, Fink said.
Garcia, 20, was one of three football players ticketed Saturday for underage drinking near a campus dormitory, according to campus police tickets. His attorney said Monday Garcia had paid a $257 fine; his brother also was charged with giving beer to a minor.
Garcia enrolled early at South Carolina to get a jump start on spring practice but was suspended from the team a year ago after two arrests. In February 2007, he was charged with drunkenness and failure to stop for a police officer. About a month later, he was charged with malicious injury to personal property after a professor reported that Garcia had used a key to scratch the man’s car.
Garcia has previously successfully completed a pretrial intervention program to clear his record of misdemeanor charges.
The Gamecocks’ first game is scheduled for Aug. 28 against North Carolina State.
© 2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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Posted by yemmusdarb on March 25, 2008 at 8:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe if he murders someone they'll extend it another week.
Posted by IPOrange on March 25, 2008 at 9:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
August 15... nice move, there, Stevie. When is your first game again? Oh yeah - August 28.
Posted by rockyknox on March 25, 2008 at 9:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Adams: USC football needs a change at the top
Posted by geniuspearl on March 25, 2008 at 9:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
britton colquitt, master of disguise.
Posted by andy112382 on March 25, 2008 at 9:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
*sarcasm - on*
Wow, no football until August 15th..... this will devestate the gamecocks, might have to start the season at some point after that just to have a chance.........
*sarcasn - off*
Posted by Buckley on March 25, 2008 at 9:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Man that Spurrier is really a tough coach. I bet he won't let him back before August 18th if the QB hits Spurrier's wife. I heard that John Adams was suspened???
Posted by T0MMYJACK on March 25, 2008 at 10:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Fulmer was behind this..."
"Stay the course..."
"FOOLmore..."
"KrispyKreme..."
"Pound your fritters..."
Just thought I'd get it started for you idiots. It had been several posts and no negatives.
Posted by huntined on March 25, 2008 at 11:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And Spurrier always said FSU let their players do anything and still play. He learned a lot from ole Bobby.
Posted by BigOrangeInCarolina on March 26, 2008 at 12:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Adams was down in Columbia today in a high-level meeting with Carolina's AD. They were burning the midnight oil, at last report, creating a huge flowchart illustrating Fulmer's crucial involvement in this young man's running afoul of the law.
Posted by VOLINSC on March 26, 2008 at 12:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This has to be a joke - Aug. 15? Just enough time for game prep for the first game on Aug 28.
This is worse than any alleged excessively light punishment by fulmer.
Posted by GreerVol22 on March 26, 2008 at 7:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Garcia is the only Qb worth a crap on the team, did you really think he is going to dismiss him entirely?
one more and he should catch up with Britton.
Posted by Bigger_Al on March 26, 2008 at 7:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wouldn't you love to see what Spurrier would do to a Columbia sports editor that wrote an article like Adam's, and went on sports talk radio in Athens, GA to continue the crusade?
Posted by GreerVol22 on March 26, 2008 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bigger, yes I would. He would never make it out of Athens alive.
Posted by juicetke on March 26, 2008 at 9:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Fulmer has lost total control!
Posted by sjt18 on March 26, 2008 at 9:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Greer, whatever happened to Smelley? SS seemed to put alot of eggs in that basket a couple of years ago.
Oddly, I think UT basically took a pass on that kid... Maybe they knew something?
Posted by sjt18 on March 26, 2008 at 9:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Greer, whatever happened to Smelley? SS seemed to put alot of eggs in that basket a couple of years ago.
Oddly, I think UT basically took a pass on that kid... Maybe they knew something?
Posted by JohnAdamsIsTrash on March 26, 2008 at 10:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Where is JA at?
This has to be Fulmer's fault!!
Steve is too good a coach to let this happen, right? SC has an outomatic suspension policy I thought everyone wanted us to copy. Just like they wanted us to copy Florida's offense!
Here is an idea, Steve should resign and SC could then hire John Adams to keep this under control. Then we could finally be rid of John here!!
Fire John Adams!!!
Posted by adamsck on March 26, 2008 at 10:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is how you get the discipline results you want. When your guy keys a car you suspend him. Quick and with authority. That way it never happens again and you save the program. Wait, isn't this like the third time Garcia has been in trouble? Oh yeah, my bad.
In that case, here's how Spurrier should handle this. Make Garcia run windsprints at night. Me and my buddy that have never coached were talking and we agreed that's how you fix this. Let's hope some supersmart SC journalist (maybe they can hire Adams to do an op-ed piece) can save the day and make the right proposal for the OBC to follow.
Posted by gator4life on March 26, 2008 at 10:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If Garcia is as stupid as he appears, he wont ever beat out Smelley for the QB position anyway. It looks to me like USC should suspend the kid for a minimum of a year, but by the time he serves the suspension he will probably get into trouble again.
Posted by GreerVol22 on March 26, 2008 at 11:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Smelly is still there, its just that he doesn't have the head and maybe the arm now he needs for SEC play. Just had surgery on his throwing shoulder from and injury in their first game last year. He will have to start now and carry the load, unless Garcia gets his act together.
Posted by orangebloodgmc on March 26, 2008 at 11:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Garcia's a freshman and he's 20?
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