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South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier

Opening statement…
This was another Media Day that rolled around quickly. It was good to see all of our guys out there. It was good to see about 35 freshmen jump in the picture with me. That means we have a lot of ball players down the road here at South Carolina. I think a lot of them may play this year. We’ve got a good group of guys. I think we’ve assembled what is hopefully one of our best teams ever. Time will tell if it becomes a really good team or not. The first four days of practice have been pretty good. Again, it’s just practice. We’ve got a ways to go, as we all know. We were not a dominant team by any means last year. We were seventh in (the SEC) in offense and seventh in defense. Special teams didn’t do much either. We’ve got to play some ball a lot better than we have been lately. We’re looking forward to the season. Everything is on schedule, and hopefully it will work out well when we meet back here in January.

I’d like to mention the GPA of our football team. We continue to set records here. I think it was 2.71. And we graduated 25 football players in the last calendar year, which is an all-time record here. Raymond Harrision, our head academic advisor and Maria Hickman deserve a lot of the credit for making sure our guys are going to classes, in the right classes and going to study hall and tutoring. We’re very proud that our guys are graduating at a really high percentage now because it hasn’t always been that way around here. Our guys do a good job in the classroom, and we’re proud of it.

On freshman defensive end Jadeveon Clowney…
Jadeveon is a well-rounded young man. He’s not a cocky kid. He’s not coming in here and talking. He’s just trying to be the best player he can be, and he’s blended in very well with the guys. He realizes he has a long way to go, so he’s practicing hard. We definitely plan on him getting a lot of action from the first game on.

On the expectations for sophomore running back Marcus Lattimore…
We’re expecting him to have another super year. And we’re expecting him to stay healthy. He’s beefed up a little bit, not too much though. He’s ready to play. Hopefully he’ll get just as many carries and hopefully more touchdowns. He’s ready to go. He’s a wonderful team guy. In offseason workouts, he leads the way. He’s a super player that’s also a super teammate.

On what makes junior wide receiver Alshon Jeffery special…
His ability to catch the ball is his best quality. He’s so big and strong that if a guy is even hanging on him, he has the tendency to come down with the ball. He’s running better routes. He’s got excellent feet, and we’re trying to get him to use them just a little bit more to get open. He’s working hard. He stays out after every practice to catch a few balls. He and Marcus (Lattimore) are both excellent teammates. We tell our quarterbacks to just get it up where he can just get his hands on it, just try to put it where he can get his hands on it because those are good odds.

On the quarterbacks…
You look around the country and most teams say they don’t have a great quarterback. Our quarterback play hasn’t been that poor. Our receivers are setting all kinds of school records. Somebody has to be throwing to them. Kenny McKinley, Sidney Rice and Alshon (Jeffery) hold about every record here. So, our quarterback play hasn’t been that bad. I guess we’re waiting on an All-American, Heisman Trophy type guy. They’re playing pretty well, but obviously we think it can be better. I think it will be better.

Stephon On improving during summer practices …
We are just trying to come out and practice everyday and trying to do a great job. The coaches are just trying to simplify for us so that we can just go out and do what we do.

On covering Alshon Jeffery …
Alshon (Jeffery) is a great athlete, you can play good defense on him and he would end up catching the ball, probably with one hand. A lot of people don’t know that he has great speed too; he has sneaky speed. He is a great player.

On the number of fans at practice…
We knew there were going to be a lot of people at our first practice because we have great fans and they always support us. They are behind us no matter what and we are just trying to take it one day at a time and play hard.

Devin On the talent of the defensive line…
the starting line this year I would say is probably one of the fastest lines that we have had. It seems that every year we get faster and faster and more athletic. It’s by far one of the best lines that we have had.

On the number of fans at practice…
It’s just one of those things. They have high expectations from last year so they wanted to come out and see us perform at practice to see what we are going to do for this year. It was a good feeling to come out to practice and see even more people than what there were last year.

On Jadeveon Clowney’s impact…
It basically should take some pressure off of all four of us on the front line, because not only do they have to worry about one of us, they have to worry about four of us on the front line.

Jadeveon On handling the publicity…
I just play hard and do what the coach tells me to do.

On Stephon Gilmore’s influencing his decision to play at South Carolina…
It played a big factor. I said that I was going to play with him regardless of where he went. I told him that before he went to college. I said I’m going to play with you.

Living up to the hype…
I just take it as coming out here to play with better and faster athletes, and the speed of it is speeding up so I have to speed up. It has turned out pretty good. I am getting the hang of it now.

On his comfort level with the team…
I have been around these guys since last year, coming in and visiting, talking to them and it’s a great group of guys. They play hard, they are here to win, everybody is here to win and accomplish something that hasn’t been done here and I am here to help be a part of that.

Stephen On what he has done this offseason…
The quarterbacks had to run with these guys (the receivers and running backs), and it was pretty painful trying to keeping up with them. I lost a little bit of weight. I think it was a pretty good offseason workout. Probably the best summer workout I’ve had here.

On his legacy at South Carolina…
I’m not really worried about my legacy. I’m more worried about the team in general. The ultimate goal is to win the SEC Championship, and if you do that you have a pretty good shot to win the National Championship. The last five years have indicated that. That’s all I’m really worried about to be honest with you.

Marcus On being close as a team…
Yes, definitely. We’re here together all day, every day. We have no choice but to build relationships and be close as a team. I feel like I can trust all of these guys. We’re going to have some positives come out of this year.

On how the end of the season motivated them over the summer…
We don’t want to feel the way we felt after the Auburn game and the Florida State game. I hate losing, and it was motivation going into the summer. We’ve worked as hard as we can, and now we’re even working harder to get ready for the season.

Alshon On being picked to win the SEC East…
It’s a normal feeling to me. We just have to listen to our coach and stay humble about it. You can pick anyone to win. I don’t think anybody picked Auburn to win last year. It’s not the way you start; it’s where you finish. We just have to stay humbled and focused.

On potentially being the all-time receiving leader at South Carolina…
I don’t really think about it. It would be a great accomplishment. If it happens, I’ll give credit to my teammates, my coaches and everybody helping me. My main concern is the team winning, staying focused and taking it one game at a time.