March 20, 2010

The University of South Carolina football squad held its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday morning in Columbia. The team worked out in front of about 1,000 sun-splashed fans at Williams Brice Stadium.

“We had a nice scrimmage because I don’t think anybody got hurt,” said head coach Steve Spurrier following the workout. “We had some good plays here and there and some careless plays here and there. Overall it was a pretty good effort. Maybe the practice helped us today – we’ll find out during the season. I thought our pass protection was pretty good most of the day. Most of the quarterbacks got the ball out of their hand better. We still had too many sacks, but had some good plays here and there.”

Sophomore tailback Jarvis Giles drew a nice round of applause when he broke through a crease and dashed 50 yards in the game’s longest play from scrimmage. Giles finished the day as the leading rusher with eight carries for 82 yards and a touchdown.

“Jarvis had some long runs. He hit some nice little cracks there. We ran the ball pretty decent a lot of the time today,” noted Coach Spurrier.

Junior Stephen Garcia and freshman Connor Shaw took the bulk of the snaps at quarterback. Garcia was 6-of-15 for 88 yards, while Shaw went 8-for-13 for 110 yards. Shaw is trying to prove he can push Garcia for playing time in the fall.

“We’ve been trying to push Stephen since he’s been here,” admitted Coach Spurrier. “We’re still trying to push him. I think Stephen can throw better than he did today. He missed a few here and there. Connor Shaw threw some nice passes. He can throw and run. He can throw in the pocket. He’s a natural passer. We will have two (quarterbacks) ready to play next year. We will play two if the first guy doesn’t play the way the coaches ask him to play.”

The defense picked off three passes on the afternoon, two by walk-on cornerback Marty Markett, a former Gamecock track athlete, and one by junior college transfer linebacker Qua Gilchrist, who retuned his pick 25 yards for a score.

“Markett is a tough little guy, a fast guy,” said Spurrier. “He may be the fastest guy on the team. He’s got a wonderful chance to earn a scholarship.”

Wide receiver Dion Lecorn looks much improved from last season. “He’s a lot better,” noted Coach Spurrier. “His ankle and foot are now 100 percent. He was never 100 percent all last year. He’s done some good things in there. He and Tori (Gurley) are fighting for that position right now. Alshon had a good day. We’ve got guys that can go deep. We need to learn how to throw it down there.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

SCORING PLAYS:

Jarvis Giles 3-yard run (Joey Scribner-Howard kick)

Qua Gilchrist 25-yard interception return

Kevin White 10-yard pass from Andrew Clifford (Adam Yates kick)

Weslye Saunders 5-yard pass from Stephen Garcia (Jay Wooten kick)

Dion Lecorn 25-yard pass from Connor Shaw (Joey Scribner-Howard kick)

Adam Yates 50-yard field goal

PASSING:

Connor Shaw 8-13-0-110, 1 TD; Stephen Garcia 6-15-1-88, 1 TD; Andrew Clifford 3-3-0-33, 1 TD; Zac Brindise 1-3-1-30, 0 TD; Aramis Hillary 0-2-1-0, 0 TD. TOTALS: 18-36-3; 261, 3 TD.

RUSHING:

Jarvis Giles 8-82, 1 TD; Brian Maddox 4-42; Aramis Hillary 2-18; Bryce Sherman 4-15; Kenny Miles 2-9; Connor Shaw 3-2; Tori Gurley 1-(-6); Stephen Garcia 3-(-7); Zac Brindise 1-(-7). TOTALS: 28-148, 1 TD.

RECEIVING:

Alshon Jeffery 4-75; Dion Lecorn 3-56, 1 TD; Bryce Sherman 2-32; Stephen Flint 2-31; D.L. Moore 2-28; DeMario Bennett 1-22; Kevin White 1-10, 1 TD; Weslye Saunders 1-5, 1 TD; Kenny Miles 1-2; Brian Maddox 1-0. TOTALS: 18-261, 3 TD.