Gamecocks Scrimmage on Saturday

Aug. 22, 2009

After surrendering more than 600 yards of total offense in each of the previous two scrimmages, the defense had the better of it on Saturday as the South Carolina Gamecock football team scrimmaged at Williams-Brice Stadium.

“The defense got the best of the offense today,” admitted head coach Steve Spurrier. “Our quarterbacks struggled a bit today. Our pass protection struggled a bit too. The defense looked a lot better than the offense today. Hopefully we can tighten up and get ready to go Monday. Hopefully we can watch the tape and learn from it.”

The highlight for the offense was the continued impressive play from walk-on tailback Bryce Sherman. The 5-6, 155-pound redshirt freshman from Winston-Salem, N.C. rolled up 113 yards on just 10 carries, including a 45-yard burst. He also had runs of 26 and 16 yards and caught a 17-yard pass.

“I think Bryce Sherman was our most valuable offensive player today,” said the Head Ball Coach. “He’s a good little player and we’re looking into see if we can get him on scholarship. He deserves it. He’s a valuable player. Jarvis Giles hurt his hand a little bit, Kenny Miles pulled a muscle, Brian Maddox is out with a shoulder, so we ended up with two running backs and Bryce Sherman did some nice running out here today. He’s a tough, little player. I had no idea he was a football player. We thought he was a little track guy who could run fast, but he’s a football player. He’s probably a better football player than he was a track guy. He came out of nowhere, but he was the offensive most valuable player of the scrimmage.”

After going 14-for-16 for 150 yards in the last scrimmage on Wednesday, sophomore signal-caller Stephen Garcia had a “so-so day” completing 10-of-23 passes for 100 yards on Saturday. Reid McCollum completed 7-of-15 passes for 93 with a touchdown and an interception. According to the head coach, both quarterbacks were just “average.”

Freshman Alshon Jeffery was the top receiver with three catches for 49 yards, including a pair of touchdowns. Stephen Flint, who was tabbed “the most valuable receiver today” by Coach Spurrier, had three catches for 48 yards, including an impressive leaping 33-yard grab between two defenders. Tori Gurley also had three receptions for 26 yards.

The kicking game showed some improvement as Spencer Lanning nailed a 53-yard field goal, his longest in one of the fall scrimmages.

The Gamecocks will enjoy an off day on Sunday before returning the practice fields on Monday night at 7:30 p.m.

SCORING PLAYS:

Alshon Jeffery 12-yard pass from Reid McCollum (Joey Scribner-Howard kick)

Spencer Lanning 53-yard field goal

Joey Scribner-Howard 23-yard field goal

Alshon Jeffery 25-yard pass from Aramis Hillary (Spencer Lanning kick)

Jarvis Giles 1-yard run (Spencer Lanning kick)

PASSING:

Stephen Garcia 10-23-0-100; Reid McCollum 7-15-1-93, 1 TD; Aramis Hillary 4-9-0-48, 1 TD. TOTALS: 21-47, 241, 2 TD.

RUSHING:

Bryce Sherman 10-113; Jarvis Giles 9-13, 1 TD; Kenny Miles 3-12; John Guerry 1-12; Patrick DiMarco 1-5; Aramis Hillary 2-4; DeAngelo Smith 1-4; Dalton Wilson 1-3; Reid McCollum 2-(-5); Stephen Garcia 4-(-9); DeMario Bennett 1-(-10). TOTALS: 35-142, 1 TD.