Oct. 19, 2004
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina’s football team (5-2/3-2) worked out in full pads Tuesday afternoon, concentrating on fundamentals and preparing for the next opponent — the Tennessee Volunteers. The Gamecocks are idle this weekend before hosting the nationally ranked Vols, Saturday, Oct. 30 at Williams-Brice Stadium. Jefferson Pilot Sports will televise that game with kickoff set for 12:30 p.m.
* Injury update from the Gamecock camp: QB Dondrial Pinkins (bruised rotator cuff) did some limited throwing again on Tuesday. He did not participate in team drills … QB Syvelle Newton (ankle sprain) did not practice and is not expected to this week. He is still on crutches and in a walking boot … DT Stanley Doughty (neck strain) did not practice but could return by Wednesday …WR Travis Lee (broken finger) did not practice and is out for right now.
* Head coach Lou Holtz met with the media following the workout. Here are some of his comments: “It was a good, physical practice. I’m concerned about our pass protection. It seems that we get a better pass rush from our defense in practice than we get from them in a game. We’ll treat this pretty much like a game week, except we will give them Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. We’ll practice again in pads on Wednesday and go lighter on Thursday. We’ll have a JV game Sunday against Georgia Military. I’d like to scrimmage some of the younger players this week. We may do that before the week’s up. We’ll probably play Michael Rathe, Blake Mitchell and Brett Nichols at quarterback in the JV game. Two things we want to accomplish this week — get better fundamentally and work on Tennessee. I have to credit all of our backup quarterbacks. They may have not gotten all the reps, but they have prepared mentally and paid attention. They have taken advantage of the situation when called upon. I think Syvelle (Newton) will be okay by Monday. I’m not sure about Dondrial. Hopefully, by Monday he will be able to do some more things. With the type of injury he has (rotator cuff), only time can heal that. I had an injury like that once and I couldn’t throw a tennis ball across this room. Josh Brown has been kicking well. His confidence level is up and he improved fundamentally. I have confident in him from inside 50 yards on field goals. Last night, one of the first things we did at practice was put the ball on the 19-yard line, right hash, and say, ‘okay, Josh, we need this kick to win.’ (simulating what could have happened last Saturday at Kentucky). He made it. I think he, Joey Bowers, Ikey Crofoot and (Scott) Morgan have done a nice job on special teams. They’ve developed a pretty good camaraderie … I believe we have a more complete team this year as opposed to last. We don’t play as well at home as we do on the road. I told the team that they don’t need to try to live up to everyone’s expectations when they play at home. We need to be more loose and have more confidence at home … This is the best Tennessee team in the past 4-5 years. They are playing extremely well. Their defense is a typical Tennessee defense. You put on the film and the only thing that changes from year to year are the numbers … Matthew Thomas has been reinstated. He’s done everything he was supposed to do academically … I’ve talked to our team. They know we’ve been here before (5-2 record). We’re not dead in this conference race yet. We know we have an uphill battle, but we still have a heart beat.”
* Tim Frisby, USC’s 39-year-old walk-on wide receiver, taped an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles. The show was scheduled to air later in the evening. Frisby presented Leno with a #1 Gamecock jersey with his name on the back. NBC’s Today Show will be on campus Wednesday to do a piece on Frisby, the former 20-year Army veteran who is living a dream playing college football.
* For the media — assistant head coach Skip Holtz will be available to the media following Wednesday’s practice at approximately 6:45 p.m. outside the players’ entrance. Requested players will also be available at that time.
