Aug. 28, 2012

The ninth-ranked University of South Carolina football team went indoors to practice on Tuesday due to rains in the Columbia area. The squad is in its final preparations for Thursday night’s season opener at Vanderbilt. The 7 p.m. ET contest will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Following Tuesday’s workout, defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward confirmed that Jimmy Legree and Victor Hampton would be the starting cornerbacks on Thursday. D.J. Swearinger and Brison Williams will get the nod at the starting safety positions. “I think (Jimmy) has been in the system a lot longer,” said Ward of his decision to start him ahead of redshirt freshman Ahmad Christian. “Ahmad is still learning, but Ahmad is close. Ahmad will play. They both will play, but Jimmy will definitely start. It’s going to be hard for me to take D.J. or Brison out of the ballgame,” continued Ward. “We’ll probably play those guys as many plays as we can.”

Coach Ward is expecting big games from his two standout defensive ends, senior Devin Taylor and sophomore Jadeveon Clowney. “If they are as good as advertised, then they will have a big ballgame. I’ve talked to Jadeveon about it and I’ve talked to Devin about it. If we’ve got big-time players, then they need to play big time in big-time games. And this is a big-time game.”

The Gamecocks will practice on Wednesday afternoon before boarding their charter flight. The squad is expected to arrive in Nashville around 4:30 p.m. CDT.

Single-game tickets ($50 each) remain available.