Sports

Colleges

Jefferson's Garcia gets first TD as Gamecock

Associated Press
Published August 12, 2007

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COLUMBIA, S.C. - Stephen Garcia took his first, nervous steps at South Carolina, the former Jefferson High passer tossing a touchdown during the Gamecocks' scrimmage Saturday.

Garcia was 5-for-8 for 50 yards, including a 5-yard TD to tight end Jared Cook in the team's workout at Williams-Brice Stadium before about 6,000 fans.

"I was a little bit nervous, a little bit of butterflies out there," Garcia, 19, said. "But I was glad to get out there and get a chance to play."

Garcia was supposed to be further along by now. He was the centerpiece of coach Steve Spurrier's incoming class. Garcia enrolled in January, but two arrests in his first two months got him booted from spring practices and the annual Garnet and Black game in April.

For the record, Garcia faked a handoff to fellow freshman Brian Maddox his first time under center and rolled left for a gain of 4 yards.

His first pass came two plays later, an easy toss to tight end Weslye Saunders.

The young quarterback got the ball into the end zone on the next offensive sequence. On fourth and goal from the 5, Garcia found Cook breaking to the left far corner.

"Stephen Garcia did some good things, threw a beautiful pass there at the end," Spurrier said. "Threw it down, guy's wide open; that's all we ever ask them to do."

No matter what Garcia does in camp, he may wind up watching in the fall as a redshirt.

Spurrier said Garcia was a "solid fourth" on the depth chart behind fifth-year senior Blake Mitchell and sophomore Tommy Beecher and redshirt freshman Chris Smelley.

CLEMSON: Freshman Willy Korn threw three touchdowns in a scrimmage and starter Cullen Harper had two. Korn was 6-for-13 for 91 yards. Harper, a junior, was 8-for-11 for 80 yards.

GEORGIA TECH: Coach Chan Gailey was not pleased to see quarterback Taylor Bennett involved in contact after his only interception in a full-pads scrimmage. Gailey was even more upset to see the resulting altercation escalate into a melee involving as many as 15-20 players. Offensive players were upset because Bennett, who was wearing a no-contact jersey, was blocked by safety Joe Gaston on an interception return. Bennett then threw down defensive end Darrell Robertson. An exchange of pushes and shoves lasted less than a minute.

TENNESSEE: A scrimmage focused on no-huddle offense. Tailback Arian Foster ran for 47 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries with the first team, and Montario Hardesty had 14 yards on five attempts running plays with the first and second rotations.

[Last modified August 11, 2007, 23:40:34]

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