April 13, 2004

Columbia, SC –

o Tuesday marked practice #14 for the South Carolina Gamecocks this spring. This Saturday, April 17, marks the conclusion of spring football practice for USC. The annual Spring Game will start at 1 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium. The USC Lettermen’s Association uses this game as a fund raiser. Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for youth. USC students and faculty and staff will be admitted free upon showing their USC ID.

o Prior to Saturday’s Spring Game, the USC players will be available for autographs and pictures on the field beginning at 11:15 a.m. 2004 football posters, schedule cards and spring media guides will be available to the public.

o Following Tuesday’s practice, head coach Lou Holtz met with the media. Here are some of his comments:

“I wasn’t particularly pleased with how we practiced today, but overall, these 14 practices have been pretty good. We’ll have some type of game Saturday; exactly what kind I don’t know right now because of our limited numbers along the offensive line. Fran Person (backup center) is still out with a concussion and that really depletes our depth at that position. We had way too many fumbles today. We’ve got to eliminate those. Defensively, we still give up too many big plays and on offense, we’re not consistent enough. Are we satisfied where we are right now? No. Have we made progress? Significant. We’ve still got a long ways to go. It’s like we’re going to California and we’re not even at Irmo yet. It will be interesting to see how some of these players react in front of a crowd on Saturday. That’s one good thing about a spring game; it gives you an opportunity to see how people play in front of your fans. Troy Williamson has had an excellent spring. He’s played as well as any of our wide receivers. Matthew Thomas has also had a good spring. Syvelle Newton and Blake Mitchell have been more impressive than most of the other first year quarterbacks I’ve been around.”

o Offensive lineman Chris White said that with some of the injuries to the offensive line, there hasn’t been much rest time for the healthy linemen. “I saw Fran on campus today and I said ‘you’ve got to be able to go on Saturday.’ We are going to need some kind of break. Seriously, I hope he’s able to play, but I know what it’s like to be bothered by an injury, so he should only play if he’s able to.”

o Tailback Demetris Summers says he feels comfortable in USC’s I formation offense. “I played a lot of I formation in high school and I like lining up in the I,” said Summers. “The line has been blocking pretty well and I’m going to work hard Saturday to find some running room.”

o Coach Holtz said that the format of Saturday’s spring game should be finalized by Thursday. This Friday night, USC will hold its annual reunion of the Gamecock Lettermen in the Zone.

o There were no new injuries to report. Coach Holtz stated that redshirt freshman wide receiver Derrick Harper, who has been out most of the spring with a broken hand, is currently under suspension while he attends to some academic and personal matters.