Aug. 18, 2011

One day after holding their second scrimmage of the fall, the University of South Carolina football squad returned to the Bluff Road practice fields on Thursday afternoon. The team was dressed in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts.

After practice, offensive line coach Shawn Elliott addressed the media:

On the play of the offensive line in the scrimmage: “As an overall group, it wasn’t too bad. The first group played about 35 or 40 plays. A lot of progress is being made. We still have a lot of work to do. We’re trying to work hard. We have two weeks left to get as good as we can. They didn’t do bad. They didn’t do great either.”

On who will be the starting five: “We haven’t found five, but everybody sees that first group that rolls out there everyday, so I don’t envision that changing much. We’ll see how it works out. You never know. Injuries might occur so we’ll wait and see until the first game. “

On Brandon Shell: “He’s actually come around here in the last three or four days. He’s really picked up the game of football, so to speak. He’s started to learn a lot. Intelligence is huge with freshmen, because if they’re not picking up on the plays, they play hesitant, they don’t play up to their ability. That’s the problem with a lot of incoming guys. I think he’s starting to understand the concepts and what we’re trying to get across and he’s really playing hard. We’ll see. He’s got to keep getting better, but he could potentially be out there. I think Mike (Matulis) is doing about the same as Shell. They’re both physical players. He’s a smart guy. Those are two really good freshmen coming in. I’m really excited about and just thrilled to have them here.”

In other news, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery sat out the practice with a calf contusion suffered in Wednesday’s scrimmage. Victor Hampton returned to practice after missing a couple of days with a quad contusion.

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Friday afternoon at 4:15 p.m. Practice is closed to the public and media.