Sept. 24, 2013

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Senior cornerback Jimmy Legree

On what practice was like during the bye week

It was more fundamentally sound practices, working on all the small things, fitting gaps right, coming to balance on tackles.

On playing UCF

For us, I feel like this is the opportunity for us to come into their town and shut them down. We haven’t played so well on defense, we have the opportunity to get better.

On being a senior

My time at USC has been great. It’s been wonderful. (I have seen) a lot, (witnessed a lot, and come) a long way. This is my senior year and I am looking forward to the next step in my life.

On next step in life

I want to start a program to help kids that come from bad backgrounds and give them a fair chance at life, to be successful… I never really had much. My mother, she had four kids, raised them on her own. My father passed when I was 12 years old and just watching her struggle with all her kids was something that I did not like. I just want to help every kid out there have a fair opportunity.

Sophomore linebacker Marcquis Roberts

On UCF’s offense

We haven’t watched UCF very much, but the little we have watched, they are very good, balanced team – they can run and pass the ball.

On defense giving up more points than last year

We know we need to turn it around right now. Last year, the team was a lot older, but we can’t make excuses for ourselves, saying we are young and things like that. We just got to try and get better each week.

On his defensive role

I’m just there to do whatever coach asks me to do, make as many plays as I can and do my assignment.

On UCF’s first game on network television

Treat it as another Saturday, another business day. We have to come in here ready to work. They will be trying to beat us, just like any other team that is trying to beat us. We have got to treat them like they are in the SEC.

Senior quarterback Connor Shaw

On what it means to be careful with the ball

I think it is just playing smart. One of the key things that coach talks about is protect the ball and not give the other team any chances. So I think the main thing is just playing smart and keeping care of the ball.

On his play

I do feel like I am playing well, probably better than I have been playing in the past. As far as protecting the ball and doing things differently, like I said, I am just kind of playing smart, I am not forcing things. I’m taking what the defense is giving me. So I think that’s what you have to do as quarterback.

On UCF

They have a lot to be excited about. They just beat Penn State, I think they are undefeated for the first time in awhile, so I think they have every reason to be excited and having us come down there to play is going to be a big game and we are looking forward to it.

On having a healthy foot

(Being healthy) makes all the difference in the world. Last year, I was playing through a cracked shoulder in my throwing arm and a bummed left foot. They are just things you take for granted when you’re healthy. But hey, I am just enjoying playing football right now.

Coach Steve Spurrier

Opening Remarks:

First order of business is to say Coach (Paul) Dietzel was a heck of a guy, one of the best to coach college football, passed away today, I think we was close to 90 years old. He had a wonderful life and we are thinking about him and we send our condolences to his wife.

We are playing UCF, a team that is sky high. A lot of them down there say this might be the biggest game they have ever had in the history of the school. Got an opportunity, if they win, to obviously, jump in the top-25 and have a chance to maybe beat everybody on their schedule, they are that good of a team. So, it’s a huge game for all of us. Huge game for us, and for UCF, so should be something special. I think it is the first time they have been on ABC network TV, they call it, instead of cable, and so they are on the national TV game of the week, I think we are high noon, this coming Saturday. So we know we are going to get their best shot. They got a sellout crowd and I think we got a bunch of Gamecocks going down and so we will have our contingent showing up there in Orlando, also. But it’s a huge game, it’s a big game for us, big game for Central Florida, we are looking forward to it, just like they are. So, supposed to be a good, hot day down there, I told Jadeveon (Clowney) he needs to get in better shape, it’s going to be another hot day. But hopefully, his foot will be alright and all of our other minor injuries will be ready. It’s going to take everybody playing their best if we are going to have a chance to beat Central Florida. So, that’s pretty much the scenario for the game and we are going into it hoping that we can continue to improve from game to game and show a lot of improvement in this game this coming week.

On UCF’s defense

Their defense is sound, they disguise their coverages well and I think they held Akron to seven, they beat Akron 38-7. Penn State did score 31 against them, but they had a big lead. Central Florida went up there and got a nice lead and sometimes when you get a good lead early, the other team comes back a little bit. They are very sound, they try not to give up any big plays, like all defenses do and play with super effort. Their kids are flying around and very seldom out of position.

On going into what the opponent feels is a “big game”

We prepare the same way for everybody. I guess 20, 30, 40 years ago around here people would say, “you can’t overlook these guys.” We don’t overlook anybody. Wofford, last year, we prepared for Wofford just like we did Clemson and Wofford still almost beat us, because they played better than us until the fourth quarter last year. So we prepare for all of them the same and we prepared for this one just like we did Georgia, Tennessee and whoever. But we know it is going to be in a hostile environment, their crowd is going to be loud and screaming and we have been in those situations before. If you don’t have a good team, you’ve got to go into those places and beat the other team, so we know what to expect and whether or not we do it, that’s why we go play games.

On a schedule’s difficulty

We were off last week and Central Florida was off also, so both of us are well rested and ready to go, but they’re sky high and we are going to be ready to play too. We are ready to play all of them and we are ready to play down there. So it should be a heck of a game. It’s a big game. We try to recruit our guys to come here to play big games, so we should like big games – this is another one coming up.

On coaching in the state of Florida and not playing an ACC or SEC school

We don’t look at what conference they are in, we look at how they play the game and look forward to competing against them. Yeah, going into Florida, yeah I get a little extra kick maybe going into the state and competing against a team down there, since I did coach a bunch of games there. But again, it’s South Carolina versus Central Florida and once the ball is kicked off it’s our team trying to beat their team.

On relationship with UCF’s Coach O’Leary

I have known George (O’Leary), oh I don’t know probably the first time I met him back in the 80s and so forth, he plays a little golf, so we met at some of those bowl functions, golf outings and some events and so forth there in the offseason. Of course, we coached against him in my first game here, I think he has been there 10 or 11 years now, something like that.

On Connor Shaw

He is playing well, but there are a lot of plays he can do better. But he has played very well; he takes care of the ball extremely well. I watch some of those NFL guys toss those careless interceptions and I say our guy doesn’t do that. So he is careful where he throws it. Of course his ability to run out is very helpful also.

On Chaz Sutton and Jadeveon Clowney’s foot issues

Yeah, they were running around OK yesterday and should do everything today. What the trainer said this morning is they should do all the drills and running afterwards and so forth. So they are ready to go.

On Jimmy Legree

Jimmy has a lot of ability and sometimes, he doesn’t show it every play. He is a really good cover corner and he is a good tackler and just getting him focused and going every play. But he has had a good year, I guess I just remember one play that he sort of got out of position this year, but he has had a very good solid year.

On getting a turnover from UCF

We haven’t had many turnovers, I guess the ones were special teams. Then last week, of course, Jimmy Legree got one and Jadeveon knocked it loose against Vandy. So that’s a big play, that’s one of Jadeveon’s big plays that he made several games last year, so he’s in there, he’s hustling, he’s flying around. Vandy usually had a running back waiting on him, so they sort of doubled him up over there, but yeah, we are working on getting turnovers, maybe they will start coming. I’ve noticed a lot of teams don’t have any either in college ball, so it’s not like we are the only ones not getting them.