March 18, 2010

The University of South Carolina football squad worked out at the Bluff Road practice fields Thursday afternoon. The team practiced in pads for the first time this spring.

“Just another day of practice, trying to get better,” said head coach Steve Spurrier following Thursday’s session. “Overall, the defense is still pushing the offensive guys around. We’re going to try to scrimmage a little bit Saturday around 11 o’clock. Hopefully the O-line can hold their own and the offense can make a few yards here and there and see what happens.”

The Gamecocks are spending a little more time working on kick coverage this spring. “We’re trying to cover kickoffs better, trying to return some also. We covered pretty well most of the year, but when you have three runbacks on you (for touchdowns), that’s not real good. We’re trying to get better in a lot of areas – every area,” added Coach Spurrier.

The quarterbacks continue to make progress. “They did ok (today). Connor (Shaw) got a lot of snaps and did some decent things. We’ll keep giving him a lot of snaps. He’s probably number 2 right now (on the depth chart) after three days.”

The Gamecocks may use more no-huddle offense this season, according to Coach Spurrier. “We haven’t huddled yet. We’ll try to no-huddle most of the day Saturday also. I like it, but the guys need to communicate a little bit better.”

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