Oct. 2, 2006

The University of South Carolina football squad (3-2, 1-2 SEC) returned to the practice fields on Monday night. It was their first trip back to the “Proving Grounds” following last Thursday’s 24-17 loss to second-ranked Auburn. The Gamecocks will travel to Lexington, Ky. to face the Kentucky Wildcats (3-2, 1-1 SEC) on Saturday night. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and the contest will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Carolina fans attending the game in person will be able to hear the Gamecock Sports Network in the stadium on 88.7 FM.

Following the practice, Head Coach Steve Spurrier addressed the media:

“We looked fresh – pretty healthy. I think the guys will be ready to play. We’ll try to play our best one of the year. We didn’t play our best the last game. We had some good plays here and there, but overall we had a lot of mistakes that prevented us from winning the game. We’ve got to play with less errors if we can.”

“We’re over it. We weren’t good enough to beat Auburn. That’s just the way it worked out. The last play of the game we had five freshmen on the field – two offensive linemen and three receivers. It’s hard to play error-free your first year. We’ll keep pushing for it.”

“Kentucky is a team that has the same record we have. They’ve beaten teams almost similar to what we’ve beaten. We’re right there together.”

On Kenny McKinley’s bruised collarbone: “Kenny (McKinley) missed today. I’m hopeful he’ll be ready Saturday. He says he will. He tried to run a little bit and that’s it. They x-rayed it and say he’s ok, just a bruise.”

On Andy Boyd: “I think he’s out another three weeks or so. That was some bad luck the other night.”

The team will return to the Bluff Road practice fields again on Tuesday afternoon.