Aug. 16, 2008

The South Carolina Gamecocks went through a 90-minute scrimmage Saturday afternoon at Williams-Brice Stadium. The offense struggled to put points on the board, scoring just one touchdown during the regular portion of the scrimmage, then added two more touchdowns while the team was working on overtime situations. Senior field goal kicker Ryan Succop was the offensive star of the day, connecting on all four field goal attempts – from 42, 41, 47 and 27 yards out.

“The offense struggled most of the day,” admitted Head Coach Steve Spurrier following the scrimmage. “In the overtime period the offense managed couple of touchdowns. We probably have been doing a little too much. We’ll condense the offense down. You usually add this time of the year, but we’re condensing. All the motions, all the shifts – we’re trying to do too much. That clock runs down real fast as we learned today. Hopefully it was good for us. We’ll watch the tape, try to make some corrections and try to find out who we can count on.”

Projected starting quarterback Tommy Beecher completed 9-of-14 passes for 89 yards. The redshirt junior did not throw a touchdown pass or an interception. Sophomore Chris Smelley guided the second unit and completed 7-of-15 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. He was also intercepted once. Redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia worked with the third team most of the day and completed 5-of-9 passes for 74 yards with an interception. The other four quarterback on the roster all got some work in as well. Aramis Hillary was 1-for-1 for 11 yards, Reid McCollum was 3-for-5 for 40 yards with an interception, Zac Brindise was 3-for-4 for 26 yards and a touchdown, while Michael McQueeney’s only pass attempt was intercepted.

“The quarterbacks weren’t too bad,” noted Coach Spurrier. “Chris Smelley made a couple good throws, Tommy (Beecher) made a couple good ones here and there. We didn’t sustain many drives at all. (Stephen) Garcia struggled. Zac Brindise came in there and hit a couple of passes for the third group. He might be number three now. If you based it on performance, he’d be ahead of Garcia right now.”

Freshman Eric Baker did most of the work in the ground game, carrying a dozen times for 32 yards. Taylor Rank added 31 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Freshman Kenny Miles had six totes for 27 yards.

Senior Kenny McKinley was the top receiver, hauling in four passes for 35 yards. Junior tight end Jared Cook added three catches for 54 yards.

In the battle of the punters, Spencer Lanning averaged 44.3 yards on three punts, while freshman Ryan Doerr averaged 39.0 yards on two punts.

The only injury reported from Saturday’s scrimmage was to junior safety Darian Stewart, who suffered a left foot injury. Earlier in the scrimmage Stewart intercepted a pass thrown by Smelley.

The Gamecocks will work out again on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in helmets and shorts. That practice is closed.

SCORING PLAYS:

Ryan Succop 42-yard field goal

Ryan Succop 41-yard field goal

Taylor Rank 1-yard run (Succop kick)

Ryan Succop 47-yard field goal

Ryan Succop 27-yard field goal

Freddie Brown 15-yard pass from Chris Smelley

Bryan Kingrey 2-yard pass from Zac Brindise

PASSING: Tommy Beecher 9-14-0-89; Chris Smelley 7-15-1-109, 1 TD; Stephen Garcia 5-9-1-74; Reid McCollum 3-5-1-40; Zac Brindise 3-4-0-26 1 TD; Aramis Hillary 1-1-0-11; Michael McQueeney 0-1-1-0. TEAM: 28-49-4-349 2 TD.

RUSHING: Eric Baker 12-32; Taylor Rank 9-31 1 TD; Kenny Miles 6-27; Brian Maddox 5-18; Aramis Hillary 2-1; Bobby Wallace 4-0; C.C. Whitlock 1-0; Zac Brindise 1-(-2); Stephen Garcia 3-(-4); Dion Lecorn 1-(-4); Tommy Beecher 3-(-17); Chris Smelley 2-(-18). TEAM: 49-64 1 TD.

RECEIVING: Kenny McKinley 4-35; Jared Cook 3-54; Taylor Rank 3-8; Andrew Power 2-47; Freddie Brown 2-38 1 TD; C.C. Whitlock 2-38; Mike Triglia 2-25; Jason Barnes 2-15; Weslye Saunders 1-24; Stephen Flint 1-22; Moe Brown 1-20; Eric Baker 1-14; Bobby Wallace 1-9; Bryan Kingrey 1-2 1 TD; Brian Maddox 1-(-1); Scott Spurrier 1-(-1). TEAM: 28-349 2 TD.