June 22, 2006

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier met with the media on Thursday afternoon (June 22) to discuss the summer schedule and answer various questions.

(Opening statement)
“As far as the summer conditioning program that has been going on since the 1st of June, it has been a little disappointing. Our attendance from our team is not as good as it should be. We got about eight or 10 players that have not attended regularly. That’s disappointing but we’ll work on that. It’s voluntary right now in the summer, as it is at all the schools, but as we’ve checked the opponents and teams we play, they have close to perfect attendance. Right now we don’t have that. That’s disappointing to us coaches but hopefully our guys will pick it up for the rest of the summer. Our incoming freshmen arrive the latter part of this month around the first of July so they will be here for the second part of summer school. We are looking forward to seeing if maybe their attitude and their commitment level is better then some of the guys we currently have on scholarship. If that’s the case then they will have an excellent chance moving right past the guys we have right here who haven’t shown a solid commitment to our football team.”

(On voluntary strength and conditioning program)
“We’ve got some lazy guys that don’t have the commitment necessary to be winners. We’ve had some problems with most of the same guys. Now a lot of them have not played yet and are guys we have signed. If the commitment level doesn’t improve then obviously they don’t have much of a chance playing or being a student-athlete here at Carolina. We are working with them and trying to get them past the growing stage of being a freshman and now they are sophomores. They need to show if they really want to be a football player here or not.”

(An update on Syvelle Newton)
“His injury progress has been very good according to the trainer. Dr. Jeff Guy did an excellent job with his surgery and he has come a long way. If Syvelle gets through the summer, I think he will again be a combination player, quarterback in the shotgun and tailback. Right now Mike Davis is our starting tailback. He’s having an excellent summer. He is stronger, faster and really works hard. There is a guy that is as good a leader, he and Fred Bennett, as good of leaders in going to the lifts and being here.”

(An update on Blake Mitchell)
“Blake has done an excellent job trying to be a leader. He’s organizing the guys, trying to throw the ball around from what I hear. He’s doing an excellent job.”

(More on strength and conditioning program)
“We still have plenty of players that are really busting their tail and trying to get ready to have a big season. We just don’t have the 98 percent. Our overall percentage is not as high as most teams. That’s our job as coaches to find out the players who really care; they care about their teammates, coaches, the university, to play the best that they can.”

(On new graduate assistant)
“Cedric Williams is with us. He was hired two, three weeks ago. He played offensive line here and finished in 2002. He and John Hunt will coach offensive line.”

(On status of Andy Boyd)
“Andy is doing well. He’s back from his injury. He’s not quite 100 percent but he’s a good leader. A solid tight end, it is good to have him back.”

(On status of Stanley Doughty)
“He’s trying to lose weight and is on a special diet. If we can get him down to 300 or inside of that, about 295, he can be a really good player. If he can get his motor going that way, he can really help us and be an outstanding player. At 330, like he was last year, he was always tired and not much in there. If he does get in shape, he has a chance to help us and help himself.”

(On upgrading athletic facilities)
“In the month of May we were able to renovate the dorms somewhat. We got some new carpet in there, bigger beds for most of our players. I think almost all the lineman got a king size bed and the smaller players got bigger beds as well. The dorms look much better.”

“What’s next is the overall facility improvement. The cafeteria area, our trainers’ room down here, we are way behind with that. We have a stadium expansion a couple years away. Hopefully we can get more luxury suites and close the other end zone. The academic learning center is a major building we hope to have here soon also. We are setting a goal right now to raise at least 75 to 100 million.”