Dondrial Pinkins feels for Anthony Martinez. The South Carolina quarterback is familiar with the emotions that flood a backup quarterback who is thrust into a starting role.
Pinkins, a redshirt junior, spent most of last year second on the Gamecock's depth chart. He suffered an ankle injury early in the season, but was called on soon after his recovery to replace another backup, Corey Jenkins. Pinkins made his first collegiate start on national television, in an SEC match-up played at Florida. The hostile crowd at The Swamp didn't stop Pinkins from completing 8-of-17 passes for 74 yards and rushing for a game-high 84 yards. Although the Gamecock's fell to Florida, 54-17, Pinkins held on to his starting slot for the next week's season finale against Clemson, a 20-15 victory for South Carolina.
Pinkins has been South Carolina's solid starter throughout the spring and is relishing his more clearly defined role as the general of the offense.
"Being in the backup role is like a fire extinguisher," Pinkins said. "It's like, 'break glass when needed.' But being in a starting role, you know you're going to be out there the whole time and that your team is depending on you."
Pinkins' first performance in his new role for the Gamecocks, a 14-7 win over Louisiana-Lafayette, did not go as well as the quarterback had hoped. He completed 16-of-34 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown, a performance he attributed to "first-game jitters." Yet South Carolina Coach Lou Holtz still had plenty of praise for his rising star.
"Pinkins did a pretty good job of making decisions," Holtz said. "He showed some courage in the pocket."
The 82,227 South Carolina fans that packed Williams-Brice Stadium were not quite as pleased. With the score tied 7-7 in the third quarter, boos could be heard from the home fans as the offense took the field.
Despite early doubts in Columbia, Pinkins pulled out the win against the Ragin' Cajuns. The 6'5", 245 lb. quarterback possesses the physical tools needed to raise his level of play as the season wears on. Poised and confident, Pinkins also has the temperament to take charge of an offense that stumbled Saturday.
"Pinkins is a Donovan McNabb look-a-like," Virginia coach Al Groh said."He's the same size. He's a 235-, 240-pound quarterback who's got running ability, a strong-arm and wears number five."
The Gamecocks had difficulty establishing a running game against Louisiana-Lafayette and scored only twice despite entering the Ragin' Cajuns' red zone four times.
"Our offensive line got beaten physically and we did not control the line of scrimmage," Holtz said. "We had 10 dropped passes that hurt us."
Both Pinkins and Holtz think highly of the Virginia team they will face Saturday and acknowledged that their squad has work to do before the Cavaliers come to town.
"I think it is great to play Virginia at this time," Holtz said."It will be a tremendous challenge. They are exceptionally talented, probably as talented as any team I have seen."
Groh also had praise for his opponent this week.
"I thought for the first game playing it against real competition, they played it well the other night," Groh said.
Dondrial Pinkins and the Gamecocks see their season opener as a learning experience, and are looking forward to a chance for improvement and redemption Saturday.
"This week, we're going to show our fans that this is a better team and a better offense," Pinkins said. "We're going to focus and try not to turn the ball over, and if we do that I think we have a good chance to be successful."
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