March 20, 2004

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina opened its 2004 spring football practice with a two hour and 40 minute session on the practice fields across from Williams-Brice Stadium. Head coach Lou Holtz met with the media following the opening workout of the spring and offered the following comments:

(on the first day of spring drills)
“Our players reacted well with our new coaches and overall I thought we had a good practice for the first session of the spring. We want to keep working on getting better and do so with each and every day of spring practice. I thought we showed some things on each side of the ball.”

(on the quarterbacks)
“Whomever moves the football team best will be the guy, and a lot of that comes from confidence. We will give everyone a fair opportunity and evaluation.”

(on Dondrial Pinkins)
“Dondrial Pinkins has experience at the quarterback position and if he performs better than the others, he will be the starter. From being here, he knows the offense and routes and did some good things last season. I have noticed that he has really become a leader on this football team.”

(on the offensive line)
“The attitude of our offensive line really impressed me. They showed good leadership and camaraderie. Na’Shan Goddard, Jabari Levey, John Strickland and Jonathan Alston are all veterans and showing excellent leadership.”

(on position changes)
“Andre Hemphill is getting a look at safety. Corey Peoples and Rodriques Wilson have been moved to outside linebacker to give us more speed at that position. Brandon Schweitzer and Jaime Peters were moved to fullback.”

The Gamecocks resume spring drills on Sunday with a 3 p.m. practice and will work out again on Tuesday.