March 14, 2006

The South Carolina Gamecock football squad went through their second spring practice under sunny skies Tuesday afternoon at the Bluff Road practice fields. The Gamecocks wore shorts and helmets for the two-hour session. They will take Wednesday off before resuming practice Thursday and Friday afternoons. The squad will don pads for the first time this spring on Thursday. Following the practice, Head Coach Steve Spurrier addressed the media:

“Just another similar practice as yesterday. Nothing too exciting. Thursday we will put the pads on and try to do some blocking and tackling.”

“We’re just letting everybody try to play a little bit. We’re trying to get these linemen – offense and defense – and linebackers ready to play. It’s an important spring for a lot of guys.”

On the limited number of offensive lineman: “We’ve got about nine. If we can stay healthy, we can do our share of scrimmaging. We wish (Clarence Bailey) would be here, but if the best he can do is get here in July, that would be fine, too. He’ll have time to learn what to do.”

“Kenny McKinley had the day. I told somebody we need to send a copy of the tape to his high school coach because he had a field day today. He caught everything he touched. We ought to give him the practice ball.”

Kenny McKinley:

“I just felt good today coming out here. Blake (Mitchell) was putting all the balls on the money. We were just catching everything that came to us.”

Was this the first practice ball you’ve ever received: “Yep. It’s the first practice ball I’ve ever heard about.”

One practice schedule note: The scheduled practice for Monday, March 20 has been changed to Tuesday, March 21.