Oct. 17, 2005

The South Carolina football squad worked out for 90 minutes Monday evening in preparation for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. contest against Vanderbilt. Following Monday’s practice session, head coach Steve Spurrier met with the media:

“Everybody’s here. We’re getting ready for the second half of the season. Hopefully we’ll play our best ball starting Saturday at 3:30 against Vandy. Looking forward to this game. They’re a good team. One of the best teams Vandy’s had in the last 20 years. Hopefully we can play our best game of the year.

On Syvelle Newton’s progress at tailback: “He’s doing ok there, ok at wide receiver and every now and then we let him throw a few at quarterback. So he’s all over the place.

On Vandy’s recent slide: “They lost to Georgia last week and to LSU – too pretty doggone good teams. They just had a bunch of turnovers and had things happen. But they seem to have a lot better athletes than they used to have and Bobby (Johnson) has done a great job with them. They’re a well-coached team and have good players. Simple as that.

“Bobby and I come from academic schools – he comes from Furman and I come from Duke. We’re more of the academic guys.

On Blake Mitchell: “He looked ok. His throws were a little off. He should throw better than that. He’s got a lot of ability to play. We’re trying to get it out of him.

On the offensive line: “I don’t know what we’re going to do there. We’ve got (Na’Shan) Goddard available, we’ve got Fran Person, we’ve got Gurminder (Thind) who hasn’t played all year. Maybe it’s time to give Gurminder a shot over there if Jamon (Meredith) struggles at right tackle.”

Those who continue to wear the yellow (limited practice) jerseys include Johnathan Hannah, William Brown, Chris Hampton, Taylor Rank and Andy Boyd.