Sept. 25, 2003

The Gamecocks put the finishing touches on their preparation for Saturday night’s game at eighth-ranked Tennessee with a workout on the practice fields west of Williams-Brice Stadium.

Head coach Lou Holtz met with the media following practice and offered the following comments:

(on readying for Tennessee) – “We have had a very good week of practice. I feel like our team is really ready and eager to play. We still have a lot to do mentally yet, but we are looking forward to Saturday. I feel pretty good about our team except for obvious concerns in areas of the kicking game.”

(on the team) – “It has been a fun week and we are excited about going to Tennessee. We have a good solid football team, but still a young team. We will find out a lot about ourselves on Saturday.”

(on avenging previous losses to the Volunteers) – “Tennessee is aware that we have played close games against them in recent years. But this is a different team. They are the best and most complete Tennessee team we have faced. This is a new game and what has happened in recent years does not matter on Saturday.”

(on the kicking game) – “We are taking both Josh Brown and Daniel Weaver on the trip. Both really have kicked well this week. Today they each made all three of their field goal attempts in practice. We probably won’t decide who plays more until the game.”

PERSONNEL UPDATE: WR Matthew Thomas and WR Troy Williamson are probable … LB Ricardo Hurley will play …DL Brandon Schweitzer will make the trip.