For a Memorial Day, there’s a whole helluva lot of stuff going down.
First, there was the stunning resignation of Jim Tressel -- trust me, we’ll have more on that in the coming hours -- and now comes word that the suspension of a starting SEC quarterback has tentatively been lifted.
In a press release, South Carolina announced that “quarterback Stephen Garcia will be allowed to participate in voluntary summer workouts with the football team.” Garcia had been serving an indefinite suspension from the program since April 6.
Garcia’s status will be evaluated again before the start of summer camp, the release states. So, provided he goes along with what’s being described as “a list of measurable guidelines”, the senior will be back under center for the Gamecocks this fall.
“Stephen is returning to the team on a probationary basis and still has to do some things here for the next two or three months to prove himself worthy of being a student-athlete at South Carolina,” said head coach Steve Spurrier in a statement. “We will give him another chance and hopefully he can do the right things and represent the University in a first-class manner.”
“Being a student-athlete at the University of South Carolina is a privilege, not a right,” said Athletics Director Eric Hyman. “We explain to all of our student-athletes that there are consequences for their actions. Our main goal for Stephen at this time is to assist him in developing the decision-making skills that are needed for managing life in general, whether as a student-athlete, a person, an employee, a spouse or a parent.
“With assistance from others, we have developed a list of measurable guidelines for Stephen to follow. I want to make it clear those guidelines, which will remain confidential, are designed to help him live a successful life and are not some trivial hoops for him to jump through in order to find a way to reinstate him. So the ball clearly rests in Stephen Garcia’s hands.”
The move is not all that shocking of a development, given the fact that Spurrier had hinted this was the direction the program was headed for nearly a month.
Garcia’s latest suspension reportedly stemmed from an allegedly inebriated incident at a school function. Garcia had also been suspended for the start of spring practice, reportedly due to an allegedly inebriated incident in the run-up to last season’s bowl game.
And, based on those two incidents, we get the feeling we know what at least one of those guidelines that Hyman wants to remain confidential entails.