March 29, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – – The South Carolina football team returned to the practice field Tuesday after soggy conditions rendered the field unplayable on Monday. The Gamecocks practiced Tuesday in shorts. Following are comments from Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier:

“Today was a so-so day for the offense. The defense played hard and our pass protection wasn’t very good. Offensively, we were up against a lot of 3rd-and-15s and 4th-and-15s, which set things up for the defense to do well and they did. The defense looked very sharp today. The defensive line was ripping and flying to the quarterback. They were ahead of the offense today, but the other day, the offense scored four or five times. We had an excellent pass rush today. Cory Boyd hurt his hamstring and will probably not do too much this spring. Brett Nichols took a lot of snaps with the number one offense and looked good today. We’ll look at the tape and see if he’ll continue to run the number one offense tomorrow. Antonio Heffner came in and did some good things as well. At receiver, Noah Whiteside and Syvelle Newton were with the first team and Sidney Rice did well. Travis Lee has a hurt neck, but he is probably in the top three. The other guys have done well, Kris Clark, LeMoriell Williams and Michael Flint from Wando High School. I’ve always been a believer that you earn your way. What you did last year doesn’t mean a whole lot this year. We’ll be in full pads for the rest of the week. We’ll scrimmage Saturday at 10:00 and it will be open to Carolina fans.”