Sept. 11, 2012

Head Coach Steve Spurrier met with the media Tuesday afternoon to preview Saturday’s non-conference game against UAB. The Gamecocks and Blazers will kick off at 7 p.m. on FSN.

South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier
Opening Statement
We’re getting ready for Alabama-Birmingham. UAB is what they prefer to be called. They are 0-1; got beat by Troy last week, two weeks ago actually. They had an open date. They’re getting ready for the Gamecocks. Their coaches, including the head coach, was at Arkansas the last several years so they know how to beat the Gamecocks. They’ve beaten us thoroughly, Arkansas has the last few years. From what I understand this coach they have knows the formula to kick our butts. We expect a difficult game. We’ll be ready to play these guys. After reviewing the tapes of the game last week we didn’t play all that great at all. We could’ve thrown for 600 yards against East Carolina if we were sharp. It was better than what we usually do, but it wasn’t anything to brag about. Hopefully we can get better. UAB made about 460 yards in their loss to Troy a couple of weeks ago. They have good players and know how to move the ball. We’re expecting a tough game here Saturday night at 7pm

On Connor Shaw
Connor did not throw any yesterday. He may throw a bit Wednesday from what I’ve heard. We won’t know his status until at least Wednesday, Thursday or so forth. Other than that we’re in good health. Jadeveon Clowney had bruised ribs. He should be fine to practice. Other than that, going into the third game of the year we’re unknown. We don’t know if we’re any good or not. We’ll keep trying to get better and see if we can improve as the season goes.

On if the passing game improved
It did improve a bit that’s for sure. We threw a lot of balls that we had a chance to hit that we didn’t quite hit. Our pass route running was not real good. We’re still working on it to see if we can become a good passing team. Again we haven’t proven too much yet. We’ll find out if we can throw against these guys. Our offensive line needs to play better, blocking-wise and for runs. East Carolina pretty much stuffed us up front. Marcus (Lattimore) got the ball and had no where to go. We’re looking at our running game too. We’re not averaging a bunch of yards per carry. We’re going to try and get better this week.

On Jimmy Legree
Jimmy has played very well. Jimmy had a really good game last week, not only the interception for a score but tackles, playing his assignments and playing tough and so forth. Jimmy is coming around. That part of coaching, the first or second years (some) guys don’t look like they’ll do much to develop and all of a sudden they do.

On approaching 200 collegiate wins
I’ve already got 200. I was a pro coach. I had 47 as a pro coach. I think it was the Mississippi State game back in 2006 (that I earned my 200th career win). I guess I will be as far as college is concerned, but it’s not really that big a deal. I think a bigger deal would be hopefully when we get 10 more or eight more to win the most here. That’s sort of a neat deal because nobody’s ever done it. There’s a bunch of dudes who won 200 games (collegiately). That just means you’ve coached quite a few years and been fortunate enough to stay healthy and not get fired.

On if he wants to break records like Bear Bryant’s coaching records
If I wanted to try and go for that I would’ve stayed at Florida. Personal goals of total wins have not been my thing. Trying to win some championships is most important. That’s something we haven’t done here yet. If we can walk out of Atlanta a winner, I’ll be a happy Gamecock some day.

On if he’ll hold Connor Shaw until Missouri
We don’t operate like that. We try to win each game. This one is the most important game of the season because it’s this week. We’re getting ready for UAB. Their coaches have indicated they know how to beat the Gamecocks. Coming from Arkansas, they’ve made us look like an average bunch of stiffs the last two years. We’ve really gotten clobbered. Their offensive line at Arkansas has blocked our guys. They punted one time last year and we got roughing the punter, so they did not have an official punt against a defense that was third in the conference and fourth or fifth in the country. They went through us like we were standing around watching last year, and we had Melvin Ingram. This guy is used to beating us, that’s for sure. We’re trying to win the game this week. That’s the only thing we need to worry about this week.

On Brandon Wilds
Brandon is jogging around. I don’t think he’s expecting to play this week. We’ll wait and see when he’s healthy.

On Bruce Ellington
I didn’t put any parameters on him. Bruce just made a commitment on his own. He wanted to be a good football player and dedicated his time this summer to get ready for this season. When our regular season is over he’s going back to basketball. He decided I want to see how good I can become at football so I better be there with the guys all summer. He did have an excellent game last week. In fact Bruce and D.L. Moore will be our offensive captains this week with Reggie Bowens and Byron Jerideau on defense. We have different captains up until (SEC) open day and then we let the guys vote on permanent captains then. Bruce is doing well. I think he’ll be more involved in the offense as we get through the year.