April 1, 2005

The South Carolina football team practiced Friday afternoon despite light rain that fell at times during practice. USC is holding its annual coaching clinic this weekend with more than 350 coaches in attendance.

USC will hold its first scrimmage on Saturday morning at 10 am. The west side gates will be open to the public at 9:30 am. The scrimmage is expected to last two hours.

Following are comments from head coach Steve Spurrier:

“We worked a lot on the offense today. We seemed to block the right guys. We seemed to do a little bit better today so that was encouraging. We ran a lot of plays today and nobody got hurt. We were bumping heads pretty good and hopefully we gained some again today.

“Mike Rathe did take some snaps today (his appeal has not been settled yet). The other guys need to learn to make decisions and quit being hesitant. It was good for him to get up there and show the other guys that you have to get up there and throw it to somebody and not wait for someone to get open. Mike understands the offense because he has studied it and he knows what is going on. Blake (Mitchell) did ok, he did some good things, but he needs to learn make quick decisions too. We will let Brett (Nichols) take some snaps tomorrow. It’s all new for them right now.”

On the scrimmage tomorrow:

“The scrimmage is a big deal for everybody tomorrow. Everyday there is a new first one (quarterback) and I don’t know who will be first tomorrow. We will have to look at the tapes to determine who the first one will be tomorrow.”

On USC winning the NIT basketball championship last night:

“It was interesting. When we had the five-point lead it looked like we were in good shape, but then all of the sudden the thing was tied. Then Tarence Kinsey hit nothing but net and it was an exciting finish. Great for Carolina fans.”

Updated Injury Report: RB Cory Boyd: left hamstring (day-to-day), WR/QB Syvelle Newton: left hamstring (day-to-day), DL Matt Raysor: right ankle (day-to-day), WR Travis Lee: neck strain (out). WR Michael Flint (shoulder) and CB Fred Bennett (shoulder) are limited. OL William Brown (low back strain) and OL John Paul Gillis (back surgery) are out.