Sept. 6, 2006

The South Carolina Gamecocks worked out for two hours Wednesday afternoon on the Bluff Road practice fields as they continued preparations for Saturday night’s contest with 11th-ranked Georgia. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN. Official game time kickoff is set for 7:47 p.m.

Several notes came out of practice today:

• Sophomore Matt Raysor has been moved to offensive guard from the defensive line. His number has been changed to 68.

• Yvan Banag has changed jersey numbers from 54 to 30.

• Redshirt freshman cornerback Jeremy Ware has quit the squad.

• Quarterback Blake Mitchell (right leg contusion), center Chris White (shoulder) and fullback Lanard Stafford (ankle) all practiced. Tight end Andy Boyd wore the “yellow” jersey, signifying no contact.

• ESPN’s Desmond Howard and a crew of camera men were on hand to do a special feature for “GameDay” with wide receiver Sidney Rice.

Following practice, Coach Steve Spurrier addressed the media:

“We’ve got (Matt) Raysor over there to see if we can get a little punch, get a little fire, get a little physical play on the offensive line. We’ve got to try to coach him up a little harder and see if we can get him in there some if we can Saturday night. He’s a little heavier and maybe he’s got a little bit more punch than what we’ve got right now.”

On ramping up the tempo: “We tried to a little bit. We need to play a little tougher and a little faster, but we had a fairly decent practice today so hopefully we can match Georgia’s team speed.”

On the Georgia game: “It’s a special game for all of us – me too. We had a chance to beat them last year – a play or two here or there. It didn’t work out. We were fortunate in a lot of games – we’re not complaining ¬- we want to try to play without a lot of big errors. Hopefully we’ll play well. If we do, maybe we’ll be in it to have a chance, who knows.”

The team will return to the practice fields on Thursday afternoon.