March 31, 2007

The University of South Carolina football squad worked out for two and a half hours Saturday morning at Williams-Brice Stadium in its eighth of 15 spring practices. The Gamecocks ran 102 plays of a scrimmage along with some special teams work in front of approximately 3,000 fans, who soaked in another beautiful Columbia spring day.

“We had a lot of good plays by a lot of guys,” said Head Coach Steve Spurrier following the scrimmage. “Our quarterbacks did not play well at all. We threw careless interceptions – all three of (the quarterbacks). Whoever is coaching the quarterbacks needs to do a better job. I’ve done a lousy job with those guys so far. We may be a heck of a running team this year,” added Coach Spurrier. “Our quarterbacks right now are not good enough to throw 30 times a game. We may have to throw about 20 and pick our spots a little better.”

The Gamecocks rotated three quarterbacks – Blake Mitchell, Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley – on every play. None of the three was especially effective, as they combined to complete 32-of-55 passes for 307 yards and one touchdown with five interceptions. Interceptions were made by Chris Hail, Dustin Lindsey, Mike Newton, Eric Norwood and Damien Wright. Wright returned his pick 42 yards for a touchdown. The Gamecock offense also turned the ball over twice on fumbles, one which led to a 43-yard touchdown return by Jonathan Williams, and missed a pair of field goals by walk-ons Spencer Lanning and Thomas Hooper.

“We rotated (the quarterbacks) every three (plays),” said Coach Spurrier. “They had a plan before every play, so you would think they could make a better decision than what they did. We threw about four interceptions in the end zone. I thought our guys could throw better. We’ve got to see if they can do it – that’s why we practice. The defense made some good plays.

“We’ll have a lot of freshmen coming in, too (in the fall). This is our spring practice team,” added Coach Spurrier. “We’ll have a different team in the fall.”

The only injury reported from the game was offensive tackle Jamon Meredith, who sprained his left ankle.

The Gamecocks will take Sunday off before returning to the practice fields on Monday at 4:15 p.m. All practices are open to the public.

SCORING PLAYS:

Jonathan Williams 43-yard fumble return.

Cory Boyd 2-yard run.

Jared Cook 38-yard pass from Tommy Beecher.

Thomas Hooper 31-yard field goal.

Damien Wright 43-yard interception return.

FINAL STATISTICS:

PASSING: Blake Mitchell 18-11-1-79; Tommy Beecher 20-11-3-140; Chris Smelley 17-10-1-88.

RUSHING: Cory Boyd 12-72; Bobby Wallace 8-56; Taylor Rank 11-46; Calvin Parks 4-43; Moe Brown 1-16; Bryan Kingrey 1-2; Ryan Brown 1-0; Tommy Beecher 1-(-6); Chris Smelley 5-(-12); Blake Mitchell 3-(-19).

RECEIVING: Moe Brown 5-54; Jared Cook 4-51; Kenny McKinley 3-32; Mike West 3-32; Nick Prochak 3-31; Bobby Wallace 3-10; Taylor Rank 2-19; Larry Freeman 2-11; Alex McGrath 1-25; Cory Boyd 1-11; Bryan Kingrey 1-8; Marquise Brown 1-6; Scott Spurrier 1-7; Foxy Foxworth 1-5; Freddie Brown 1-5.