Sept. 13, 2006

University of South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier addressed the Blake Mitchell situation following practice today. Mitchell was indefinitely suspended from the team earlier in the day:

“Blake got into a little scuffle last night. I don’t know all the details, but I heard the other guy pressed charges so we suspended him until it was all cleared up. He’s under suspension right now until all the facts come in. We’ll make a later decision exactly what to do.”

How long the will the suspension be: “I have no idea. He’ll be out at least this week and see where it all clears up next week.”

On whether there is a curfew: “We have one on Thursday night but we really don’t have one on Tuesday night. I’ve checked around to see what other schools do. They just try to educate their players to be in around midnight or so.”

On his disappointment: “I don’t know exactly what happened – I don’t know all the details. He probably was not going to play this week anyway. He hadn’t practiced much. He had a little bit of a bad finger, so he wasn’t really in our plans this week to be honest with you. We’ll give some other guys a chance to play quarterback.”

On who will start Saturday: “I’m not announcing the starter yet – that’s a secret that we’re going to hold until at least tomorrow.”