PoppyCock: Black Recruits Told To Stay Away From Gamecocks

South Carolina pols call on black recruits to boycott Gamecocks
By Matt Hinton/rivals.yahoo.com

Lingering racial tensions have made their mark on South Carolina sports for years, notably in the NCAA ban on all postseason games in the state in response to the Confederate flag that flies on statehouse grounds, occasionally exercised for conference tournaments as well. The latest protest, though, is coming from within the state's own borders, by members of the legislature -- including a former South Carolina player -- who have begun encouraging black recruits to renege on their commitment to the Gamecocks in opposition to the pending exit of the only black member of the university's board of trustees:

State Rep. David Weeks, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he doesn't think there are enough votes in the Legislature to get lawyer Leah B. Moody appointed to a full term on the 22-member board next month. She is the board's only black member and is finishing the term of a trustee who resigned before pleading guilty to bank fraud.

"We are asking young athletes to be aware … there are folks in this state who say it's fine to play ball but not be on the governing board," Weeks said.

He and several other lawmakers, including former Gamecocks lineman Anton Gunn, a black Democrat from Columbia, said members of the black community were calling recruits and their families and asking them to rethink playing for the school. [...]
Lawmakers would not say how many recruits had been called or whether any were reconsidering their commitments. They also would not identify the callers.

Taking the fight to the football team seems like the last, desperate blow in an ongoing fight over the makeup of the board, which significantly underrepresents South Carolina's black population even with one member. About 11 percent of the university's student body is black, according to South Carolina's largest newspaper, The (Columbia) State, as opposed to about 28.5 percent of the state's population at large. Locally, the battle over that seat has simmered for months, but as a Southern native I say with confidence: If you want to increase the awareness of citizens in any ex-Confederate state about any subject -- even race -- taking it to the gridiron will never fail.

Gunn told The State that All-American running back Marcus Lattimore, the top-rated high school player in the state last year and arguably the most hyped Gamecock recruit in coach Steve Spurrier's six-year tenure at USC, was among the incoming players contacted, though apparently no recruit or current player has made any public indication he's reconsidering his decision. (At least one, linebacker Brandon Golston, hasn't received any calls, according to his high school coach.) Odds are, none will: Players who have already signed letters of intent to attend USC in the fall (which is every player) would have to receive a release from the school, and would lose a season of eligibility if they transferred to another I-A team -- the NCAA, despite its own stances on certain subjects, is presumably not anxious to get in the habit of granting political waivers to its usual rules.

I'm not even going to try and get into the politics of South Carolina. Between a senator jumping town for liasons with their mistress and another screaming "you lie" at our President I'm pretty sure things are pretty assbackwards down there. Any state that saw a man get arrested twice for banging the same horse probably has some problems. But taking out the deep seeded racial tensions on the state university's football team is going too far.

I understand the desire from black South Carolinians to punish the university for not having enough diversity on the board of trustees (I'd be surprised if they were upset about the lack of an old, old wooden ship) but I don't see how Steve Spurrier and his football squad are responsible. Spurrier and the Athletic Department give many young black men an opportunity to earn a free education. So if you're looking to take out your frustration on South Carolina University aim at another arm of the university. Not the Gamecock gridiron squad.

P.S. - Too bad Lane Kiffin didn't stick around Tennessee. Now he wouldn't even have to threaten players with working at a gas station to poach South Carolina recruits.