Sept. 7, 2011

The 12th-ranked University of South Carolina football squad (1-0, 0-0 SEC) practiced Wednesday afternoon in preparation for Saturday’s SEC showdown in Athens against the Georgia Bulldogs (0-1, 0-0 SEC). Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. ET at Sanford Stadium and the contest will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Following Wednesday’s practice, special teams coach John Butler was pleased that his punt return unit was able to get a score, the first time South Carolina had returned a punt for a touchdown since the 2003 season. “You have to give the majority of the credit to Ace (Sanders) and our guys holding them up. You have to have a good returner, but then you have to have ten guys blocking for him, and that’s what we had,” said Butler. “I thought our coverage units were solid,” continued Butler. “Other than the one bad punt by Joey (Scribner-Howard) I thought he punted nice for the day. His biggest thing to build on is consistency. I thought (kicker) Jay Wooten did a great job. He had three touchbacks and put the ball where we wanted to put it. Overall, there was a lot to coach off of both positively and negatively.”

Butler knows his troops will have their hands full with Georgia return specialist Brandon Boykin. “I’ve studying a lot of film on him. That kid can fly. We’ve got a challenge this week. That’s a huge weapon for them. That’s field position for them. Anytime he touches the ball he can take that thing to the house. But we’ve got some pretty good players too.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Thursday afternoon.