Sept. 5, 2007

The South Carolina Gamecocks worked out for nearly two and a half hours Wednesday afternoon as they continued preparations for Saturday’s SEC opener at Georgia. The game from Sanford Stadium in Athens will kickoff at 5:45 p.m. ET and can be seen nationally on ESPN2.

Several Gamecocks did not participate in the drills on Wednesday including offensive guard Kevin Young, who suffered a left ankle injury on Tuesday, linebacker Melvin Ingram (left ankle sprain), linebacker Yvan Banag (right knee sprain), tailback Bobby Wallace (fractured right clavicle), safety Emanuel Cook (appendectomy) and quarterback Chris Smelley (bruised right shoulder). In addition, linebacker Cody Wells was limited to non-contact drills with a right leg injury.

“We had a normal practice here on Wednesday,” said Head Coach Steve Spurrier following the workout. “We went about 15 minutes longer than normal – just a lot of teaching a whole bunch of new ball plays, so hopefully our guys can run them before the game.”

Young was slated to make the first start of his collegiate career, but that got put on hold with his ankle injury. “Big Kendrick (Ellis) fell into his ankle so Lemuel Jeanpierre is back at guard,” said Coach Spurrier. “Kevin’s going to have to wait probably two or three weeks to play. It’s unfortunate.”

Coach Spurrier turned philosophical about being prepared for the games. “What our guys need to learn is all of this out here, all the meetings, everything we do, is all reflected in the games,” said the Head Ball Coach. “The games are the only thing that counts. You have to do it well out here hopefully to carry it over into the games. You have to take it to the ballpark. Out here it means something, but if you can’t take it to the ballpark it doesn’t mean anything.”

Coach Spurrier said the Gamecocks were focusing on stopping the Bulldogs running attack. “We’re going to try to not get the ball run down our throat,” said the Carolina coach. “Louisiana-Lafayette pretty much did as you know. I think Georgia’s run for over 200 every time we’ve played them so we’re going to try to not let them run for that many if we can help it.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Thursday night. Coach Spurrier’s radio call-in show will take place at Wild Wings Café in the Vista on Thursday night at 7 p.m.