Oct. 17, 2007

The sixth-ranked South Carolina Gamecock football team (6-1, 3-1 SEC) continued preparations for Saturday’s SEC showdown with Eastern Division rival Vanderbilt (3-3, 1-3 SEC) by working out at the Bluff Road practice fields Wednesday afternoon. Saturday’s game is set for a 12:30 p.m. kick at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. The game will be televised throughout the Palmetto State on a pay-per-view basis and will also be available throughout the rest of the country as part of ESPN’s GamePlan package.

“We had another Wednesday practice,” said Head Coach Steve Spurrier after the two-hour session. “We’re looking forward to the game. Hopefully we’ll have a good crowd here. Vandy’s a very good team. They’ve lost to three good teams. We’ll have to play well if we expect to be in the ball game with them. We think we’re going to play better, but we always think that. Hopefully we’ll show it this Saturday.”

Coach Spurrier indicated that offensive line tryouts are continuing in practice this week. “We’ll have a new guard or two in there. Hopefully Web Brown (will play). He’s had an infection (in his right elbow) and hasn’t practiced yet this week, but he should be back and ready to go. Garrett Anderson has been in there at center this week. We’ve got play better on the offensive line – we all know that. Hopefully our guys will rise to the challenge we’ve given them this week.”

Coach Spurrier mentioned earlier in the week that senior quarterback Blake Mitchell could see some action, along with redshirt freshman starter Chris Smelley. “They’re both going to play. They’ll both be in the first half and then we’ll go from there.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Thursday.