Aug. 7, 2006
The South Carolina Gamecocks put on the shoulder pads for the first time this fall, as they went through their third day of practice on Monday at the Bluff Road practice fields.
Junior running back Cory Boyd, who injured his right hand on Sunday, took part in practice while wearing a glove for protection and did not participate in the contact drills. Sophomore running back Mike Davis missed his third consecutive day with an infection in his foot. Safety Brandon Isaac was held out of drills with a right hamstring injury. Defensive tackle Stanley Doughty also practiced for the first time.
Prior to practice, freshman wide receiver Chris Hail switched jerseys with Thomas Hooper. Hail is now wearing number one, while Hooper dons number 48.
The team will return to the Bluff Road practice fields on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Following tonight’s workout, Head Coach Steve Spurrier addressed the media:
“It was pretty even. The offense did a little better tonight. We’re just trying to get the guys to do their assignments. We’re not trying to compete against each other. We’re trying to encourage our players to play your assignments the best you can and go from there. We’re not trying to see who wins. We’re not keeping score when we practice.”
On the running backs with Boyd and Davis sidelined: “Taylor (Rank) did fine. I think he had some nice runs in the inside period. He did okay. Bobby (Wallace) did okay.”
On Cory Boyd: “He’s back practicing. He’s got a little bruise on his hand. We’ll keep him out of contact for awhile, but he’ll be okay.”
On Sidney Rice returning punts: “We may put him back there. He can catch them as well as anybody we’ve got and he’s a pretty good runner after he catches it too. We may let him punt too. He’s our emergency punter too.”
On the quarterbacks: “They threw a little bit better tonight. Blake (Mitchell) was a little sharper tonight than he was last night, so that’s encouraging.”
On putting on the shoulder pads for the first time: “The linemen got to bump around a little more full go, so it was a little more realistic when they do that.”
On the team overall: “We’ve got a lot of good players start looking at our offense – tight ends, running backs, receivers – we may be a little better off at all the position there. Defensively we’ve got new guys who we think will play just as well, maybe better than guys last year. Who knows? We’re the unknown team.”
