Aug. 11, 2004

Columbia, S.C. –
o South Carolina’s football team practiced in full pads for the first time on Wednesday. The hard-hitting session featured a lot of offense vs. defense.

o Injury report: DT Eric Stroman re-injured his left foot and had it placed in a boot by the medical staff. Stroman broke his foot last season and had to have it surgically repaired. C John Strickland turned his ankle; RB Cory Boyd sprained his wrist; and OG Kris Mick bruised his shoulder. Following the practice, head coach Lou Holtz met with the media and here are some of his comments: “It was our first day in pads and we kind of got banged up. The defense did some good things. We’ll have to wait until the scrimmage before we can really evaluate this football team. At quarterback, Dondrial Pinkins has had a nice camp. Blake Mitchell had a good day (Wednesday). He really took some hits out there, but he kept getting right back up. Sidney Rice will make an impact at receiver. He’s on the two-deep right now. Woodly Telfort is doing a nice job at left guard. Two freshmen – James Thompson and Gurminder Thind … I call him the Royal Mounty – look like they can help us along the offensive line. On defense, I’ve been impressed with Darrell Shropshire, George Gause, Moe Thompson, Ricardo Hurley, Rodriques Wilson and Marcus Lawrence. We may look at Curtis Rice (redshirt freshman LB) at fullback. I haven’t heard anything new on the three freshmen (Sidney Rice, Matt Raysor and Antonio Lamar). I’ve been so busy with preseason practice, that I figure when there is some news, someone will inform me. We’ll have a walkthrough Thursday morning and practice again in the afternoon. Jason Capers is a very valuable player on defense. He can play both end and tackle. He’s a very positive and upbeat individual. We’ve done a lot of work with the ones vs. the threes and the twos vs. the fours.”

o The team went back to wearing their white helmets for practice on Wednesday. They wore the all black helmets the first three days to break them in. The block C logo will be placed on the sides of the new helmets and saved for game days.

o Thursday’s practice is closed. Assistant head coach Skip Holtz and requested players will be available to the media outside the players’ entrance following practice at approximately 6:00 p.m.