Aug. 18, 2014

Season Tickets | Gamecock Gear | Facebook | Twitter | Media Guide | Camp Central

After taking Sunday off, the South Carolina Gamecock football team returned to the Bluff Road practice fields Monday afternoon. For the first time during the preseason camp, the Gamecocks fielded a scout team, as they began game plan preparations for Texas A&M, their season-opening opponent on Thursday, August 28.

Junior offensive guard Mike Matulis, who was injured in Saturday’s scrimmage, has been diagnosed with a left knee sprain. He will be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks. “We don’t need anybody else hurt, that’s for sure,” said head coach Steve Spurrier. “Hopefully Mike may have a chance to get back by mid-year. We’ll just have to wait and see. They’re going to try to treat him for a while and not operate. Offensive linemen don’t have to plant and cut and jump too much. If he can stay solid in there and he’s got a pretty good range of motion, they can play offensive line without a real super knee. So we’ll see if we can get him to that point.”

In addition, sophomore cornerback Jamari Smith suffered a broken left foot in Saturday’s scrimmage and will be out for the 2014 season.

Defensive line coach Deke Adams said if he had to put four linemen out there tonight, he would start the two Dixons – Gerald and Gerald Jr. – along with J.T. Surratt and Darius English. “Deon Green has had a great camp,” said Adams. “David Johnson has done really well. Phillip Dukes has done well. Abu (Lamin) is coming on. All those guys are working hard. We have some depth to work with.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields Tuesday night at 7:15 p.m. That practice is closed.