An update on the giant Gamecock, A'ja Wilson statue

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

The Gamecocks have an idea on when the university's giant Gamecock statue should arrive on campus.

At Friday's Board of Trustees meeting, the university announced it's expecting the statue to be done soon and arrive to Columbia by November with the installation some time potentially after football season ends.

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The tail is the final piece that needs to be build by the sculptor, who's located in San Diego, California and then it will be shipped to Columbia in three pieces and then welded together and completed on campus.

At the board meeting, the presenter said this has been the sculptor's hardest project to date and has been an extreme undertaking but is entering the final stages before completion.

It was expected to be here this summer before the start of the 2019 football season but that was delayed and it's looking more like the statue should be in later this year.

The biggest question now is how the university will unveil it. No plan was decided on as of Friday’s board meeting.

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The A'ja Wilson statue was also approved Friday with a budget from South Carolina of $275,000 made up of private donations.

The sculptor is Julie Rotblatt-Amrany, who's located in Chicago and has done sculptors for NBA teams that include Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Michael Jordan.

The sculpture will be roughly 8-feet tall from Wilson's foot to head and then comes with a black base. It's scheduled to be up at the front of Colonial Life Arena before the start of next basketball season in 2020.