South Carolina Dismisses Stephen Garcia: A Fitting End to a Disappointing Career

It’s been a roller coaster kind of career for Stephen Garcia at South Carolina and it’s one that finally flew off the tracks today after five bumpy years.

South Carolina has announced that Garcia has officially been dismissed from the team, but did not disclose the terms of the violation that finally earned him the boot.

It may have taken him about seven or eight strikes, but Garcia has finally struck out at South Carolina.

Athletic Director Eric Hyman released this statement:

"Being a student-athlete at the University of South Carolina is a privilege, not a right, and we remind all of our student-athletes that there are consequences for their actions. For Stephen to return to and remain with the football squad this fall, we agreed on several established guidelines. Unfortunately, he has not been able to abide by those guidelines and has therefore forfeited his position on the roster. We wish him the best of luck as he moves forward in life."

Coach Steve Spurrier had this to say.

"We all feel like we've given Stephen numerous opportunities to be a student-athlete here at South Carolina. Obviously, he has chosen not to follow the guidelines of his reinstatement contract. We wish him the best."

Numerous opportunities is an understatement.

The former 4-Star recruit arrived in Columbia with a ton of promise and potential, and the Gamecock faithful expected Spurrier to harness his talent and mold him into one of the best quarterbacks in school history.

The only problem was, Garcia never managed to get his act together off the field.

The troubled signal-caller was a discipline case right from the very beginning of his career, dealing with numerous citations for drinking and alcohol related incidents throughout his five years at the school.

Spurrier seemingly suspended Garcia on an almost annual basis, with his latest suspension coming this spring.

He was ultimately reinstated to the team. However, he never seemed to regain the confidence he displayed as a junior and he finally ended up losing his job for good after a poor performance in a home loss to Auburn two weeks ago.

Garcia finished his career with 7,597 passing yards and 47 passing touchdowns, and he’ll be most remembered for leading the Gamecocks to an SEC East division title and an appearance in the SEC championship game in 2010.

His legacy will be summed up as one of those “what could have been” type of players.

The saying “Million-dollar arm, ten-cent head” is a fitting one for Garcia.

It’s always disappointing to see a young man spit in the face of those who keep giving him second chances and opportunities, but that’s just what Garcia did, and hopefully somewhere down the line, he’ll take a lesson from all of this.

He had all the talent you could ask for but he just didn’t have the mind to cope with it.

It won’t take long for South Carolina fans to forget about Stephen Garcia.

They’ve got another talented quarterback under center now in Connor Shaw, and Garcia’s given him a great example of exactly what you don’t want to be.

In some strange way, Gamecock fans can at least thank him for that.

Official School Statement: http://www.gamecocksonline.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/101111aad.html