Sept. 13, 2012

The eighth-ranked University of South Carolina football team (2-0, 1-0 SEC) practiced on Thursday afternoon at the Bluff Road “Proving Grounds.” The squad is preparing for Saturday’s non-conference match with the UAB Blazers (0-1), out of Conference USA.

Following the workout, defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said that he expects defensive end Jadeveon Clowney to play on Saturday. “He said he was feeling better today than he did yesterday,” noted Ward. “He practiced today with no problems, so I guess he will be 100 percent.”

With several of the UAB coaches have a background with Bobby Petrino and Arkansas, Coach Ward feels that his defense has to `play the picture.’ “They will do certain things out of certain sets,” said Ward. “It’s similar with Arkansas. We didn’t do a very good job in the past with Arkansas of recognizing that, so hopefully we’ll do a better job this ballgame against UAB.”

Coach Ward anticipates that the defense will get a lift next week with the return of defensive lineman J.T. Surratt and spur Sharrod Golightly, who have been held out for the first three games. “I can see J.T. coming in and playing a lot for us. He’s had good practices and we’ve repped him on everything we’ve done except when we go to scout team. We expect him to be ready to play. Sharrod will hopefully continue to push Jordan (Diggs) and DeVonte (Holloman) and help us at Spur.”

Ward also expects senior cornerback Akeem Auguste back in the fold before too much longer. “I expect Akeem to be back really soon. You could see him as early as next week. He’s out running and feels good, so we expect to have him back real soon. (Athletics trainer) Clint (Haggard) has done a good job with him. We’ll see if he’s ready to play a little bit next week. Jimmy (Legree) is the starting cornerback now. Akeem knows that he’ll have to earn the position when he comes back.”

Approximately 2,500 tickets priced at $35 each remain for the 7 p.m. contest. The game will be televised by FSN with Bob Rathbun and Tim Couch in the booth and Elizabeth Moreau working the sidelines.