April 13, 2007

The South Carolina Gamecocks split their squad into the “Garnet” and “Black” teams and practiced separately on Friday afternoon for about 45 minutes in their final tuneup prior to Saturday’s Garnet & Black Game, which will be the final effort of the spring. Coaches Steve Spurrier, Jr. and Ron Cooper led the Black team at the Bluff Road practice fields, while David Reaves and Shane Beamer led the Garnet team through their drills at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Following the abbreviated session, Head Coach Steve Spurrier addressed the media:

“The weather prediction looks good right now. That storm is not supposed to get here until 5 or 6 o’clock, so we should be through by 4:30 tomorrow. We’re looking forward for a fun day for the Gamecocks. We have plenty of players. We’ve divided up both teams. We’re going to kick it off, punt it, play as close to real football as we can and try to stay healthy. Hopefully we’ll have a good crowd and a wonderful day tomorrow. We divided them up as evenly as possible. The coaches took their position players and divided them up. We’ve limited the coverages. There shouldn’t be any confusion. Guys should be able to line up and play football tomorrow.

“This may be as close to a real spring football game as (ESPN) has done in a while. We’re going to try to play a realistic type game. I like having people in the stands and let them play as realistic type situation as possible. We may have an enhanced dinner for the winners. I’m going to wear a mic (for ESPNU). I’ll try to tell the tv folks what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Game time for Saturday’s contest is 2 p.m., following a 1 p.m. concert by Hootie & The Blowfish. Tickets will be available at Williams-Brice Stadium for $12 for adults and $6 for students.