Aug 27, 2013

With just two days remaining until the 2013 football season gets underway, the University of South Carolina football team worked out at the Bluff Road practice fields Tuesday afternoon. The Gamecocks are making their final preparations for Thursday’s season opener against the North Carolina Tar Heels. The 6 p.m. ET game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

“North Carolina is a good team,” said head coach Steve Spurrier. “They could have easily won 10 games last year. We’ve got to be ready to play our best if we’re going to beat North Carolina.”

“I think we’ve had pretty good practices this week,” said defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward. “Assignment-wise, especially with the starting group, we’ve been on point.” Ward indicated that Cedrick Cooper will not play Thursday, but could be ready to participate when the team returns to practice on Saturday.

Several players will don new numbers for Thursday’s opener. Those players include Darius English (5), Kaiwan Lewis (8), Pharoh Cooper (13), Austin Hails (15), Kelvin Rainey (16), Jody Fuller (19), Mohamed Camara (31), Larenz Bryant (32), Kwinton Smith (82) and Matthew Harvey (84).

Those who remain on the injury list include Rory Anderson (hamstring), Bruce Ellington (hamstring), Cedrick Cooper (elbow), Cody Gibson (knee), Carlton Heard (hamstring), James King (foot), Mike Matulis (shoulder), Kyle Morini (elbow), Gerald Turner (ankle) and Devin Washington (concussion). “Busta (Anderson) is out probably,” said Coach Spurrier. “Bruce is questionable. He’ll try to run around tomorrow.”

The ESPN crew began to roll into town on Tuesday. Rece Davis, who will be calling the game on Thursday, attended practice, along with analyst Jesse Palmer. They will be joined in the booth by David Pollack with Samantha Ponder working the sidelines. ESPN Radio will also have a national broadcast with Bill Rosinski describing the action, along with color commentary from David Norrie. Joe Schad will be the ESPN Radio sideline announcer.