Aug. 18, 2005

With the fall semester getting underway today, the South Carolina Gamecock football team practiced for two hours at the Bluff Road practice fields Thursday.

Head coach Steve Spurrier addressed the media following the workout:

“We were able to award two scholarships. Our numbers got to a point where we were able to give two scholarships to Jared June, defensive outside linebacker and special teams player and Lanard Stafford, our starting fullback our first game against Central Florida. So those two young men have been here a couple of years and they are very excited. That’s really one of the fun things for me as a head coach to do, to give a young player like that a scholarship and to see the smile on their face and the effort they put into it. It’s rewarding for me to be in a position to do that.”

“Practice went so-so today. It wasn’t bad. We worked on a lot of situations here and there. Hopefully all the snaps we get we can learn from them, although some of our offensive linemen keep making the same mistakes every day. We’ve got to keep practicing and hopefully some day it will sink in.”

“The backs ran hard – ran well today. Hit some tiny holes. We weren’t playing full speed -we were out there in shorts, but still they wiggled up in there pretty nicely today so that was encouraging.”

“Blake (Mitchell) looked so-so, nothing exciting. Cade made a couple good throws here and there. Blake made a few here and there and a few lousy ones here and there. But it’s good for him. He’s just a little late throwing. Guys aren’t open a long time. You have to understand that. They’re just open for a split second – that ball’s got to be in the air. He’s just a little late a lot of times. We’ve got to quicken him up, but he can do it.”

The Gamecocks will practice again on Friday afternoon from 4:15-6:15 p.m.

INJURY REPORT: No new injuries were reported following Thursday’s workout.