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COLUMBIA (WACH) – Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia is back with the team. The school announced Monday that Garcia will be allowed to participate in voluntary summer workouts with the football team. Garcia had been serving an indefinite suspension from the program since April.

"Stephen is returning to the team on a probationary basis and still has to do some things here for the next two or three months to prove himself worthy of being a student-athlete at South Carolina," said head coach Steve Spurrier in a release. "We will give him another chance and hopefully he can do the right things and represent the University in a first-class manner."

"Being a student-athlete at the University of South Carolina is a privilege, not a right," said Athletics Director Eric Hyman . "Our main goal for Stephen at this time is to assist him in developing the decision-making skills that are needed for managing life in general."

Hyman added that the University has developed a list of guidelines for Stephen to follow.

"I want to make it clear those guidelines, which will remain confidential, are designed to help him live a successful life and are not some trivial hoops for him to jump through in order to find a way to reinstate him," added Hyman.

Garcia’s status will be evaluated again prior to the start of fall camp.

This is not Garcia’s first run-in with trouble.  It's his fifth suspension during his college career, and second this year.  In March, the senior was suspended for the first three spring workouts for violating team rules before the Gamecocks’ bowl game last December.

During his first 15 months at South Carolina, Garcia had three run-ins with the law. The run-ins caused him to miss all off-season practices in 2007 and 2008.

The team is scheduled to report to camp in August 2.

Garcia has started 28 consecutive games for the Gamecocks and owns an overall record of 17-13 as a starter. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University in May.

The Gamecocks are coming off a 9-5 season in which they captured the SEC Eastern Division title for the first time in school history.

What do you think about Stephen Garcia being allowed to rejoin the team this summer despite numerous disciplinary issues? Vote in our poll and leave your thoughts in our comment section below, or have your say on the WACH Fox Facebook page.