Aug. 10, 2005

The University of South Carolina football squad went through its first two-a-day practice on Wednesday at the Bluff Road practice fields. The Gamecocks worked for two and a half hours in the morning in full pads, then went for another two hours in the evening, donning helmets and shorts.

Following the morning practice, Head Coach Steve Spurrier made the following announcement:

“We did renew another one of the six that got letters. So six guys got letters, two have been renewed. They stayed here, remained quiet, didn’t burn any bridges and did what they were supposed to do, so they have been renewed. As it turned out, we ended up not renewing four .”

The Head Ball Coach addressed the media following the evening workout:

“The freshmen overall grade point average for summer school was 3.202 to be exact. We’re proud of those guys. We had 26 of them here. Gerrod Sinclair and Nathan Pepper had 4.0’s, so they were the leaders of the freshmen group. So there’s something positive about South Carolina football players.”

“We just practiced a little bit tonight. So-so practice – nothing exciting happened. We’ll be out here tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock ready to practice again.”

On Saturday’s scrimmage: “We’re just going to play a little bit. Just let everyone play and see what happens.”

“(David) Laggis came over to offense. We feel like he has a chance to play a little bit more and help us at guard or center. He’s a little light right now, but we’ll try to put a little weight on him between now and the first game.”

“O.J. (Murdock) was running around pretty well. He should start practicing full go tomorrow.”

On the offensive line: “They’re coming around. We’ve got some big guys in there. They can play. If they know what to do and play with effort, this line has a chance to be pretty good.”

INJURY UPDATE: Fullback Michael Glass injured his right foot on the last play of the morning workout and was on crutches for the evening practice. Wide receiver Sidney Rice remains out with a broken left little finger. Cornerback Fred Bennett (strained hamstring), offensive lineman Jeremy Burgess (lower back strain), and wide receiver Noah Whiteside (ankle) wore yellow jerseys for both practices. Wide receiver O.J. Murdock (bruised left shoulder) returned to full go for the evening workout after wearing the yellow jersey in the morning, Offensive lineman Fran Person returned to full practice after being ill Tuesday. Linebacker Terrell Davis was limited with a right hamstring strain.

OTHER NOTES: ESPN had a crew on campus to tape a segment for an “Outside the Lines” story centered upon the return of Head Coach Steve Spurrier to the college football ranks… Saturday’s scrimmage, which begins at 4:15 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium is open to the public. Gates open at 3 p.m. on the west side. One concession stand will be open for the public. No coolers will be allowed in the stadium. Seating will be restricted to the west lower grandstand.