Aug. 14, 2005

The South Carolina Gamecocks went through a two hour practice Sunday night on the Bluff Road practice fields. With the team dressed in helmets and shorts, the bulk of the session focused on agility drills and conditioning, along with some special teams work. Head coach Steve Spurrier addressed the media following the workout.

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“Today was a good practice – one of our best all pre-season. We didn’t do much of anything on offense or defense, we just worked out a little bit. We did some special teams and some conditioning. It was a very good practice tonight.

“The quarterbacks just threw the ball around a little bit. Hopefully they made some improvement but overall as a team it was just a good night of conditioning. One thing I’m been preaching is that our team will be in shape. I can’t guarantee you a lot of things, but we hope we can guarantee that we can play all day and all night.

“On Saturday’s scrimmage: “We were a little better than last spring, but overall as a team we were not very good. We’re way behind where we need to be if we are going to beat some good teams. Assignment-wise we were very bad on offense and defense and our team has to play a lot faster than they did yesterday. We have a ways to go, but the guys are trying. They’ve had a wonderful attitude, so we have a chance.

On naming a starter at running back: “If we had to play today, probably Mike Davis would line up there with Bobby Wallace (second).

“The kickers were not very promising yesterday, but better to miss when they don’t count.

“A lot of freshmen are going to play. We can’t practice without the freshmen. They are a fourth of our team or maybe a third.”

The team will return to the practice fields on Monday at 4:15 p.m. Practices through Wednesday are open to the public.

INJURY REPORT: Noah Whiteside (ankle) wore the garnet jersey for the first time this fall. Those in yellow jerseys Sunday included Fred Bennett (hamstring), Michael Glass (right foot), Sidney Rice (broken left little finger), Taylor Rank (concussion), Nathan Pepper (left ankle sprain), Michael Flint (broken right hand), Marque Hall (left ankle bruise and Gurminder Thind (ankle and neck).