Two Wednesdays ago, four-star defensive end Shameik Blackshear was the first South Carolina recruit to officially sign with the Gamecocks. Flash forward two weeks and Blackshear's career in Columbia may be over before even playing a down in Williams-Brice Stadium.
Blackshear, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound Bluffton High School senior, was arrested last Friday, Feb. 13 after being accused of stealing a purse and safe from a home on Feb. 7, just three days after he signed with the Gamecocks.
Blackshear was charged with petit larceny and was released from the Beaufort County Detention Center Saturday morning after agreeing to a $1,092.50 personal recognizance bond, court records showed.
The price of the items stolen — a purse, a safe and everything inside — was valued at $1,390.
Blackshear has a court date scheduled for March 3.
According to GoGamecocks.com, South Carolina Assistant Athletic Director/Media Relations Steve Fink issued a statement on the matter.
“We are aware of the situation and will let the legal process work its way out,” Fink said.
After the incident, Blackshear posted the following message on his Instagram account (gwopo_7): “Still carolina bound and ya allll still mad, hate on me when im on YOUR tv real soon. #BMG GOD BLESS.”
South Carolina makes agreement with i1 Biometrics
I1 Biometrics, a sports wearable technology company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, announced on Wednesday that the company had signed an agreement with South Carolina.
As a result of the deal, Gamecock football players will wear i1 Biometric’s Vector MouthGuard during spring practice as a way to see how the brain reacts to hard hits in both games and practices.
The technology associated with the Vector MouthGuard can “measure, translate, and transfer data to a handheld, mobile device used by trainers on the sidelines,” according to a press release by the company.
The data generated by the technology can show trainers the force and location of hits, which can help training staffs assist in their treatment of injured players.
“Concussion management is an area football and other sports programs at all levels are trying to improve in an effort to elevate player safety,” i1 Biometrics CEO Jesse Harper said. “The Vector MouthGuard with ESP Chip Technology leverages a highly sensitive and accurate micro electronic technology to relay critical head impact information back to the sideline in real-time, reducing some of the guesswork for trainers and coaches. It is our hope that this is seen as a very positive move in the right direction for all who participate, coach or care for athletes in contact sports and we appreciate industry leaders like the University of South Carolina adopting our technology as a way to help remove some of the guesswork involved in head impacts.”
South Carolina isn’t the only major NCAA program to strike a deal with i1 Biometrics.
LSU wore the company’s technology in 2014 and Kansas has agreed to do the same beginning in the 2015 season.