Dec. 20, 2008

The University of South Carolina football team worked out in shoulder pads and shorts on Saturday morning at the Bluff Road practice fields. The squad continues its preparations for the January 1 Outback Bowl against Iowa.

Following the one hour and 45 minute session, head coach Steve Spurrier addressed the media:

“Pretty good practice today. We were in shorts for the first time. We did a lot of plays, a lot of repetition. We let Stephen Garcia take snaps, hand off, throw – try to get him accustomed to playing a bit. Hopefully we’ve made some improvement. We’re planning a short workout tomorrow after our chapel service and go from there.”

On the progress of redshirt freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia: “He looks a lot better. He’s taking probably two-thirds of the snaps and Chris Smelley the other. He’s getting a lot of repetitions.”

On the status of punter Spencer Lanning, who was at practice today: “Spencer is still alive. We’re not 100 percent sure how his appeal will work. But he was able to come out and punt today. I think he was working on his case yesterday with our compliance people.”

On his team’s overall preparation for the bowl game: “We haven’t really done our short yardage and our goal line. We’ll save that for down there. I think sometimes its good to give your guys something new and don’t put it all in and let it get stale. So we’ll have some new stuff down there ready.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Sunday at 11:45 a.m. They will also practice on Monday at 10:15 a.m. before breaking for the Christmas holidays.