March 26, 2011

The South Carolina Gamecocks held their first official scrimmage of the spring on a cool morning in Columbia Saturday. The offense produced four touchdowns during the scrimmage and overall had a better performance than a week ago.

“It was a typical scrimmage,” said head coach Steve Spurrier following the two-hour practice. “We had some good plays and some bad plays and hopefully we can learn from them. The O-line played decent. There weren’t as many whiffs as we’ve been having. The walk-ons did better than last week. The defense wasn’t quite as good as they’ve been. The running game was so-so today. The offense did a lot better (than last week).”

Four quarterbacks saw action on Saturday and combined for 21 completions in 43 attempts for 267 yards and two touchdowns. Redshirt senior Stephen Garcia was 5-for-13 for 51 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide out DeAngelo Smith. Sophomore Connor Shaw hit on 4-of-11 passes for 47 yards and an interception. Redshirt freshman Dylan Thompson hit on five of his first six passes before finishing the scrimmage 7-for-12 for 86 yards. Sophomore Andrew Clifford was 5-of-7 for 83 yards, including a 46-yard scoring strike to junior receiver D.L. Moore.

“All four quarterbacks statistically probably were about the same,” noted Coach Spurrier. “Dylan Thompson had a real good scrimmage going until the end when he had a few errant throws. Dylan made some real nice throws early. I wish one of them would hit them all, take their steps and throw it where they’re supposed to, but that doesn’t happen. That’s why we’ll probably run the ball about 50 times a game.”

Smith was the top receiver with four catches for 58 yards. Ace Sanders also had four receptions for 46 yards. Lamar Scruggs caught three passes for 41 yards, while Moore had two catches for 56 yards.

Kenny Miles was the top rusher with four carries for 36 yards. Eric Baker added 34 yards on 10 carries, including a pair of scores. Marcus Lattimore carried four times for 28 yards.

Walk-on running back Jacob Baker injured his knee at end of the scrimmage. “Hopefully it’s not too severe,” said the Head Ball Coach.

The Gamecocks, who have reached the halfway point of spring practice, will return to the Bluff Road practice fields on Tuesday at 4 p.m. They will scrimmage again next Saturday morning at Williams-Brice Stadium. All practices are open to the public.

TOUCHDOWN PLAYS:

Eric Baker 1-yard run

D.L. Moore 46-yard pass from Andrew Clifford

DeAngelo Smith 27-yard pass from Stephen Garcia

Eric Baker 6-yard run

PASSING: Dylan Thompson 7-12-0-86; Andrew Clifford 5-7-0-83, 1 TD; Stephen Garcia 5-13-0-51 1 TD; Connor Shaw 4-11-1-47. TOTALS: 21-43-1-267, 2 TD.

RUSHING: Kenny Miles 4-36; Eric Baker 10-34 2 TD; Marcus Lattimore 4-28; Joshua Blue 6-24; Connor Shaw 5-9; Jacob Baker 3-5; Stephen Garcia 1-5; Dylan Thompson 2-1; Josh Hinch 1-0. TOTALS: 36-142, 2 TD.

RECEIVING: DeAngelo Smith 4-58, 1 TD; Ace Sanders 4-46; Lamar Scruggs 3-41; D.L. Moore 2-56, 1 TD; Nick Jones 2-16; Jason Barnes 1-18; Billy Byrne 1-9; Bryce Sherman 1-7; Chaun Gresham 1-6; Matt Coffee 1-5; Kenny Miles 1-5. TOTALS: 21-267, 2 TD.