Oct. 7, 2009

The University of South Carolina football team worked out Wednesday afternoon at the Bluff Road practice fields as they continued preparations for Saturday’s SEC showdown with Kentucky. The 25th-ranked Gamecocks (4-1) will host Kentucky (2-2) in a 12:30 p.m. contest at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.

Offensive center Garrett Anderson did not practice on Wednesday. “Garrett’s got a little bit of a bad back,” said head coach Steve Spurrier following the practice. “He should be fine by Saturday, but was held out today.”

Kentucky reportedly will be missing its top two cornerbacks, both out with injuries on Saturday, which should be helpful for the Gamecock offense. “I hope so,” said Coach Spurrier. “Don’t you?”

Tight end Justice Cunningham, who is expected to make his first start of the season in place of the injured Weslye Saunders, suffered from cramps on Wednesday. “Justice is a guy who sweats a lot and he gets cramps if he doesn’t drink a lot of Gatorade. We’ll try to hydrate as well as we can before Saturday in case we do get a real hot one.”

Coach Spurrier is not concerned about playing a day game for the first time this season. “We like them all. We like 12:30, 7:30, 8. I hope we start liking 3:30 games too because that’s when the big SEC game is and we haven’t fared too well in that one.”

The offensive line appears to be set for Saturday with Jarriel King returning to the starting role at left tackle. Heath Batchelor is expected to start at left guard, with Lemuel Jeanpierre getting the nod at center. T.J. Johnson continues to hold down the right guard spot, while Hutch Eckerson will make his second straight start at right tackle. Terrence Campbell remains out indefinitely with a neck sprain.

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Thursday afternoon.