Aug. 11, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – The University of South Carolina football team continued practice on Thursday with a two hour and 15 minute session in the morning in full pads. South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier met with the media following practice.

“The defensive line was coming off the ball a lot better today. The d-line sort of knocked the o-line backwards today, but sometimes that is good. The o-line knocked them backwards a little bit yesterday. Hopefully they will keep doing it when we play the opposition.”

“With these one-a-days I don’t think they (players) are too tired at all to tell you the truth. Realistically, two-a-days probably have been overrated forever. You watch these NFL guys who have their holdouts and they show up the week before the first ball game and they don’t miss a beat. As long as you are in shape and are running you should be fine.”

(On O.J. Murdock)
“He did some good things. He dropped one or two. They are all dropping too many right now. Dropping way too many as a matter of fact. If we are going to throw it around we have got to catch the ball. But we are making some progress.”

(On quarterbacks)
“Blake had a decent day, nothing special. Cade Thompson threw some good ones in the end of the team period but other than that just a very average practice.”

(On receivers)
“They all have decent hands. Some of our tight ends struggle catching the ball. Most the receivers have very good hands. They just are not concentrating as well as they need to. Carlos, Noah, Syvelle, all those guys, we have some talent there, hopefully we can use it.”

(On being three weeks away from season opener)
“In the old days you would report and the third week you play so we got a good full two weeks that they give you now. So we got plenty of time and hopefully will be a lot more polished then we are right now. We are not where we hope to be.”

(On Blake Mitchell)
“Blake is really a pretty passer. He can make all the throws. When he does his legs and all that stuff right, he’s got a lot of potential; there is no question about it. We just have to get repetition, confidence, decision-making all that kind of stuff. He’s got a chance to really be an outstanding quarterback. He can throw and I think he is pretty tough. He’s got good average intelligence, which is all you need. Hopefully he can make decisions, that’s what he just has never had to do. He’s just learning how to be a passer.”

(On Saturday’s scrimmage)
“Just let everybody play and see what happens. We are not going to let the defense blitz much and we’ll let a lot of the young guys play a lot and see if they are ready to play.”

SOUTH CAROLINA INJURY REPORT

There are no new injuries to report for the Gamecocks.