Aug. 4, 2008

The University of South Carolina football team worked out for about 90 minutes Monday night at the Bluff Road practice fields. It was the squad’s fourth practice of the fall, and they were dressed in helmets and shoulder pads on another steamy night in Columbia.

The practice was cut short of the scheduled two-hour session by Head Coach Steve Spurrier soon after linebacker Eric Norwood leveled wide receiver Moe Brown with a hard hit during the pass skell period.

“We did a lot of running,” said Head Coach Steve Spurrier following the practice. “We thought that it was better tonight to just run. We had a few issues amongst the team. We had a couple collisions that we don’t need and we have got to learn to practice as a team and practice with teammates. We weren’t doing very well so we just shut it down and ran a whole bunch. Hopefully tomorrow night we can come out here and practice like a team – take care of your teammates when you practice and not have a lot of giggling guys when somebody hits somebody. Hopefully we learned something tonight. We got a little out of hand tonight for some reason and I don’t know why,” continued the Gamecocks’ fourth-year head coach. “If some of these guys don’t want to practice like a good team does then we’ll just run all night, and that’s what we did. The worst part was we had some giggling guys who think a hit like that is cute. That was the worst part – the gigglers.”

Junior college transfer Jarriel King was given his medical clearance and took part in all the drills for the first time. He is competing for a spot on the offensive line. Jay Spearman (shoulder), Matt Clements (hamstring), Ladi Ajiboye (right hand) and Reggie Bowens (shoulder) were in yellow jerseys as they continue to nurse their injuries. Tight end Jared Cook remains sidelined with a right foot injury.

Walk-on quarterback Zac Brindise was not at practice on Monday and has elected to transfer to another school.

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. That practice will again be open to the public. Cameras will be allowed for the first 15 minutes only.