COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Basketball’s best player came out for football. The quarterback was suspended twice. And South Carolina’s head ball coach was handcuffed by the Columbia police chief with TV cameras rolling.
It was certainly a crazy spring for Gamecock football and Steve Spurrier, who had hoped to build on the strides his team took last year in reaching its first Southeastern Conference championship.
It began with the first of two suspensions for starting quarterback Stephen Garcia and continued with basketball’s leading scorer Bruce Ellington deciding to come out for football next fall.
In between came the bizarre scene of Spurrier in handcuffs, the coach’s springtime skit after top recruit Jadeveon Clowney was briefly cuffed and detained by Columbia police.