South Carolina closed the book on an interesting and transitional spring with the annual Garnet and Black Spring Game Saturday, in which the Black team won 14-13 in front of 22,580 spectators at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Scarnecchia tossed the game-winning touchdown pass to redshirt freshman Terry Googer with 26 seconds left.
Starting anew after a 7-6 2014 season, South Carolina is in the process of replacing former starting quarterback Dylan Thompson and leading rusher Mike Davis while also breaking in a new defense under new co-defensive coordinator Jon Hoke.
Saturday’s game served as an opportunity for several Gamecocks to make a statement as South Carolina continues to search for players to step up on both sides of the ball.
In particular, head coach Steve Spurrier is still looking to see who will lead his offense.
Redshirt sophomore Connor Mitch, who is unofficially the leader of the quarterback race between himself, redshirt junior Perry Orth and Scarnecchia, finished with 183 yards and one touchdown, completing 10 of 16 attempts on Saturday.
Mitch opened up the scoring on the first drive of the game, as he connected with country music star and celebrity guest Darius Rucker for a 22-yard touchdown pass.
Rucker, a South Carolina alumnus and big-time supporter of the Gamecock program, seemingly snuck past the defense before hauling in the pass in the back of the end zone.
“[Rucker] loves South Carolina,” Spurrier said. “He wears that Gamecock hat everywhere he goes, every show he does. I’ve never seen one of his shows that he doesn’t have that Gamecock hat on, so he’s a wonderful ambassador for our university.”
Orth also threw for 137 yards on 11 of 19 passing but was picked off twice by sophomore safety Jasper Sasser. Scarnecchia also completed 12 of his 19 passes for 191 and a touchdown.
Although Mitch did much of his work with South Carolina’s first-team throughout the spring, Spurrier still hasn’t named him the starter, and both Orth and Scarnecchia view it as an open competition. Spurrier said that if none of the quarterbacks can separate themselves from the pack, he’s open to playing more than one guy.
“We’re always trying to find out who the best player is and if they’re pretty close in ability, you play more than one,” Spurrier said. “Simple as that. We still have a lot of time to decide who’s our quarterback.”
That said, many expect Mitch, a former four-star recruit out of high school, will win the job eventually, even though he’s not subscribing to the mentality that it’s his job to lose.
“I’m never satisfied,” Mitch said. “There’s always room to improve, especially in this conference. I think I did well. Definitely made a lot strides from last fall and last spring, so I just got to keep the momentum going.”
On the other side of the ball, Spurrier seemed pleased overall with the play of his defense on Saturday as the Gamecocks forced two turnovers, despite keeping things very simple from a schematical standpoint.
“I think the defense looked good playing just two coverages,” Spurrier said. “There were no mistakes.”
Now done with his first spring practice in Columbia, Hoke is happy with the way South Carolina has progressed since he arrived in February, although there’s a long way to go, he said. After all, South Carolina finished 94th nationally in total defense and 91st in scoring defense in 2014.
“Just to watch the players get better everyday, that was a big plus,” Hoke said. “I thought we improved and kept improving from an effort standpoint.”
Overall, Spurrier was glad with how things went on Saturday, especially since there were no serious injuries.
“I don’t think anyone got hurt seriously," he said, "and there was some good hustle out there."