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July 27, 2006

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier, senior cornerback Fred Bennett and sophomore running back Mike Davis met with members of the media Thursday afternoon at the annual SEC Media Days in Birmingham, Ala.

Read on to see what Spurrier, Bennett and Davis had to say:

OPENING STATEMENT FROM COACH SPURRIER

COACH SPURRIER: Glad to be with the media boys and girls again. Always reminded first time I came to this thing back in 1990. How many were here in 1990? A bunch of you still here. Yeah, time goes fast when you’re having fun.

It’s nice to be back. Looking forward to another exciting year. Hopefully our team can be competitive. We think it will be. Until we go play, who knows. Looking forward to seeing what happens. Okay, go ahead.

Q. How different is the style of play in the league than it was maybe 10 years ago when you were putting up all those points? Will it ever get back to that, do you think?

COACH SPURRIER: Defense is certainly a lot stronger in our conference than back in the early ’90s. Obviously when we started in the early ’90s at Florida, nobody threw it around the way everybody does now. I think that’s what gave us a little bit of an edge, plus we had outstanding defensive players to go along with that.

I really believe nowadays, there’s so many good teams in the SEC. There’s probably at least about six each year that have a shot at winning the conference championship. Hopefully in a couple years, we’ll be included in one of those six. I don’t think you can put us in that right now.

Very competitive league now, I think, compared to maybe in the early ’90s, maybe there was two or three teams, four at most, that could win it, and now there’s a lot more.

Q. Assuming Blake Mitchell gets off to a good start this year, how soon will you try to get Cade Thompson into the game?

COACH SPURRIER: Yeah, Cade had a very good spring game. Hopefully he’s going to really be ready to push Blake. We also signed a young man, Chris Smelley from Tuscaloosa, who has shown a very strong commitment to try to learn our of offense and be ready to play, if needed, this year also. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Hopefully we’ll have a quarterback that can push Blake a little bit. If he goes bad, we’ll have someone to give them a chance. But hopefully Blake will hang in there and play very well. He’s been a very good leader through the summer. His commitment level has been strong. I’m hoping he holds up well for us.

Q. After being at South Carolina a year, big wins over Tennessee, Florida, other people, how much different is it for you now in year two with this program?

COACH SPURRIER: I think just the biggest difference is you feel like you belong there a little bit more going in the second year. The fans and everybody around there have been wonderful to me, our coaches, our wives. The atmosphere is very neat. We got a ladies’ clinic this Saturday. We’re expecting over a thousand ladies to come for the ladies’ clinic. So interest in football is high in South Carolina. Those of you that live there know, South Carolina is a football state.

For some reason we haven’t done all that much historically, but we got hope that something good’s on the way.

In life, that’s what we all got to have, we got to have hope that something better’s coming. We’ve had two solid recruiting classes. I really like this year’s group of guys as far as the commitment they’ve shown during the summer workouts. From what I hear, they go to about all of them. We’re on the way, we believe.

Q. You said that you need to get the ball back more this year and get the offense on the field more. Isn’t it your biggest concern, though, with the defense, given what you have coming back?

COACH SPURRIER: Biggest concern is stopping the run. We were near the bottom in run defense. I think every team we played had the ball more plays than we did. Our possession time, we lost every game, I think. But anyway, we got to get better on third-down offense, too. We were near the bottom of the league in that, and third-down defense we weren’t very good.

Hopefully we can improve in those areas, try to get the other team off the field. We got an excellent kick-off man, Ryan Succop who can kick it into the end zone almost every time, at least 80 to 90% of the time. We never force the other team to punt from the 20 until the Bowl game.

In the Bowl game, we actually got an intentional grounding early in the game and forced — only time we forced a punt. We got to force some punts. Our team was very good in scoring defense. We didn’t give up a ton of points. We just had trouble getting them off the field.

Q. You said recently you want to coach 10 more years. Is part of that because you feel like a personal responsibility help get South Carolina’s tradition going and get the facilities up?

COACH SPURRIER: Well, I said — I guess I felt pretty good that day, and I feel pretty good today, to tell you the truth (smiling). You know, that age thing is a funny thing. I’ve always said, if I start acting like an old dude and talking like one, they need to get rid of me.

As long as I can do everything I’ve been doing 20 years ago, and obviously I’m lucky health-wise, all that. I found out with those eight or nine months off after the NFL deal that coaching was a lot more fun than being retired. I don’t play golf well enough to play year-round. I look forward to about four months of golf to see how I’m going to do this year. At this time, late July, I’m golfed out. I have no desire to play again. Although we got a media scramble Monday morning if anybody wants to come. I got to go do that one. That will probably be the last time I hit the ball till the season’s over, I guess, ’cause we start getting — your mind just gets into football, trying to get ready that way.

Yeah, I think I’ve got a lot of years, unless something happens to me unforeseen. Yeah, trying to make South Carolina a winner is a challenge. It’s fun. We can tell recruits, You got a chance to come here and do something that’s never been done before in the history of the school. We can tell them that. If you go to Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, they’ve already won SECs. You can come here and do it the first time ever. That’s a challenge. Whether or not we’re going to do it, we can find out. We’ve had two solid recruiting classes. I think we’re on schedule to have even a better one this year.

Q. Can you talk about that Mississippi State game on Thursday night, how you agreed on that, and why you did also? Can you look forward to that game, talk about what you know about Mississippi State?

COACH SPURRIER: We feel very fortunate that ESPN allows us to open up college football again Thursday night, ESPN, in Starkville. Mississippi State is a pretty good team. I know they didn’t win many last year. Their defensive line, I’ve been telling people, I think is as good as probably any team in the SEC. They got a big, strong defensive line that really nobody handled last year.

Their offense struggled last year is probably the big reason they didn’t win more games. But certainly they’re going to be a tough team. Personally I’ve never won a game coaching in Starkville. I’m going to hopefully try to do something for the first time there.

But they’re a tough team. The opportunity to play on national TV, open college football, shoot, all the guys all over the country will be watching. We’re going to try our best to put on a very good performance.

Q. You were talking that you’ve got great opportunity for recruits, and that’s what you can offer them. Is it a real sales job you have to do on recruits to get them interested in South Carolina or have they been really receptive to you?

COACH SPURRIER: Well, it comes and goes. It depends on the individual. A lot of players are very receptive to the idea of playing early, playing as a freshman or sophomore. There’s not a whole bunch of guys to beat out. If you go to a school that is not picked to win the conference or anything. So that’s something you can offer.

But, really, offering them to do it for the first time, how the fans in South Carolina will embrace obviously that team forever, the one that wins the first SEC if it can be done. If you win one at these other schools, you’re just doing something that they’ve already done before you. You’re another championship team. At our place, you can be the first one.

That’s our goal right there, is to win the SEC someday.

Q. How does Sidney Rice compare to some of the elite wide-outs you’ve had in the past?

COACH SPURRIER: Sidney is one of the best. He’s a little taller than Ike Hilliard, Reidel Anthony. Probably not quite as fast, but he’s improved his speed this off-season. Everybody knows about Sidney now. Wherever No. 4 goes, there’s going to be a bunch of guys hanging around him. Our other receiver has to step up and play well for us this year.

Yeah, Sidney, he’s a big-time talent, wonderful attitude, worked hard this off-season. Hopefully he’ll continue on.

RUNNING BACK MIKE DAVIS

(On opening with two SEC schools) “I am glad that we have that. It is good to jump right into the conference and build momentum early on in the season. You can’t slack off. Mississippi State is strong and fast, but we are ready to play.”

(On the offense) “Coach Spurrier passes the ball, but he also runs it which is important. The offensive line is filling out well. We have a lot of freshmen coming in but also a lot of experience. We can always be better. Anything can happen when you have different players coming in and out.”

(On media days) “It is great. It is amazing to see so many cameras and media come together for this. I am really excited to be here as a sophomore.”

(On competing for spot) “Cory (Boyd) and I are good friends. He is like a big brother to me and is easy to talk to. It is just friendly competition. He brings a lot of experience and leadership to the team.” (On the team’s summer)
“The team worked out, stayed in the weight room, went to running, and basically made ourselves get better for the season.”

(On last year’s Independence Bowl)
“We came out and started playing, but then we let it go, so I can’t really say much about that. We learned that when we play a game, we have got to play all four quarters.”

(On incoming freshman quarterback Chris Smelley)
“I’ve had the chance to work with him. He’s a great passer and a great guy and has a great personality.”

(On playing an SEC road game as the season opener)
“I just take that game as any other game. Mississippi State is real good team and they have a lot of good players and good athletes, but we just need to prepare like we would for any other team.”

CORNERBACK FRED BENNETT

(On the comparison of Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier) “There is no comparison. I was fortunate enough to play for two great coaches. Both of them are motivators that make you want to play the game in and game out.”

(On the offensive outlook) “Explosive. We have a lot of talent and have some great young receivers coming in. It’s just going to be explosive.”

(On last season) “It was a great season for us. Coach [Spurrier] came in and did a great job for us. He brought a lot of motivation to the team. It was very contagious and he got everybody to believe.”

(On all the changes on defense heading into this year)
“Our defense this year has got talent. We have guys that are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful. We lost a couple of players and a couple of playmakers, but we now have a lot of young playmakers who just haven’t been exposed yet.”

(On Steve Spurrier)
“Coach Spurrier is real relaxed and a great coach. I respect him a lot. He spends a lot of time with the offense, but if he feels like he needs to, he will come over to the defensive side of the ball to give us some pointers here or there.”

(On the team’s goals)
“We are focusing on winning more games than we did last year. Once we do that, we’ll just try to build from that.”

(On Running Back Cory Boyd)
“Cory Boyd brings a lot to the table. He’s a very emotional leader. He has a love for the game and that bounces off him to the next man and then spreads around to the rest of the team.”

(On Quarterback Blake Mitchell)
“I thought he did a great job last year, being his first year in that offense. I know there are people who criticize him for some things, but I think he did a great job.”

(On Carolina’s wins over Tennessee and Florida in 2005)
“Those wins just let us know that we can play at a high level of competition and they showed that we can play with the top dogs of the SEC, which gives us confidence.”

(On the mindset Coach Spurrier brings to the team)
“Coach Spurrier brought winning attitude into this program and the players bought into what he was trying to do and now everyone is on the same page and has a winning attitude. We go out to practice feeling like we are going to win.”

(On Carolina’s trip to Florida in 2006)
“I haven’t thought about it because we’ve got so many games before that, but I’m sure it will be exciting for the fans.”

(On what he has seen from the offense in summer workouts)
“I think our offense will be very explosive, more explosive than last year. During summer workouts, they were throwing the ball around a lot and they’ve got some different things going here and there. I think the offense will be explosive.

(On Wide Receiver Sidney Rice)
“He’s one of the top receivers in the nation. The guy is unbelievable. You saw what he did last year and he has improved this summer, and that is going to help his game out.”

(On practicing against Sidney Rice each day)
“We compete. I bring the best out of him and he brings the best out of me. It’s a great competition. It’s about an even battle. I’m a competitor and he’s a competitor.

(On any pregame rituals he has)
“Basically, we just come from the hotel to the locker room, strap it on and get it on. I don’t do anything specific. I go into the locker room and listen to a little music, but that’s about it.”

(On the Carolina defense)
“We have got a lot of young players and we are filling a lot of spots. We are humble about the situation we are in. A lot of people have questioned our defense, but we just use that as motivation and we’ll feed off of that. We have a lot of young great talent and we are going to get this thing rolling.”

(On if there are any receivers in the SEC that he loves facing)
“I treat every receiver the same. I prepare the same. The receivers that are in the SEC, they are in the SEC for a reason, and that is because they can make plays, so I just treat them the same.”

(On some of the preseason honors he has received this year)
“It puts pressure on me to perform at a high level. It’s a challenge to me and I love challenges.”

(On Steve Spurrier)
“When we first got him, I knew we were getting a great coach. He came in and brought a winning attitude to this team and everybody bought into it. We had a little success and now we want to have success this year.”

(On his biggest challenges)
“My biggest challenge is trying to lead this team and lead this defense. We have a lot of young talent. My job as a leader is to get their confidence level up as high as I can get it so they can perform like an SEC-caliber player. I lead by example, but if I have to, I lead vocally, because some times you need a vocal leader.

(On Tyrone Nix)
“Coach Nix is a great defensive coordinator. He is very demanding, and that brings out the best in all our players.”

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