Aug. 15, 2011

The University of South Carolina football team worked out for about two hours Monday night in full pads at the Bluff Road “Proving Grounds.” The squad practiced in full pads under the lights.

“I thought I’d come over and give you all some good news tonight,” said head coach Steve Spurrier following the workout. “Our assistant athletics director for academics, Raymond Harrison, came over and gave this message to the team today. Our South Carolina football team, in case those want to know what kind of football program we have here … we had the highest grade point average last semester, 2.721, highest in South Carolina history. We graduated, not 25 as I’ve been telling everybody, but 27, the most in one year. We had 30 football players make a 3.0 (GPA) or better, which is number one in the SEC for 3.0 guys. In community hours, our football players were tops of all the sports teams here on campus at South Carolina. So that’s the kind of football program our guys are doing here. I’m proud of our coaches, our support staff, our academic advisors, and proud of our players. That’s the facts for anybody that likes to know them. I’m proud of these guys. Our football program is healthier than it’s ever been here.”

“The defense was fast tonight,” continued Coach Spurrier. “They were flying around. Practice was more of a defensive drill tonight. They were all coming hard and fast. The O-line didn’t block very well today. It was encouraging for the defense. We couldn’t touch (Jadeveon) Clowney a couple of times, or Melvin (Ingram), or Devin (Taylor) or whoever in there. It was tough for the quarterbacks.”

The Gamecocks are scheduled to practice again on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.