Football . March 29, 2014

Gamecocks Hold First Official Scrimmage of the Spring

March 29, 2014

The University of South Carolina football team held its first official scrimmage of the spring on Saturday morning at Williams-Brice Stadium. The offense scored four times during the 60-play scrimmage, with three touchdowns and a field goal.

“A typical scrimmage,” said head coach Steve Spurrier. “Some good plays on both sides. The quarterbacks all did pretty decent. I’m not disappointed in the quarterbacks. They’re trying as hard as they can. The pass protection isn’t all that super right now, but that’s part of spring football and letting these young guys play that haven’t played much. Hopefully someday they’ll become a player, although we’re not sure if they will, but we hope they will.”

Dylan Thompson marched the offense down the field on the opening series, his only series of the day. The senior quarterback connected on all seven of his passes for 61 yards. Brandon Wilds capped the series with a 5-yard touchdown run.

“Dylan (Thompson) was sharp,” noted Coach Spurrier. “Dylan knows what he’s doing. He knows where everybody is. It’s good to see him dump off to the backs underneath. He has a good awareness of where all the players are and how much time he’s got. That’s what good quarterbacks have.”

The scrimmage ended on the offense’s third touchdown of the morning, a throw-back pass from Pharoh Cooper to quarterback Perry Orth, good for 13 yards after it was deflected high in the air by a Gamecock defensive back.

“We got a nice jump ball deflection that Perry Orth stayed with and our DB screwed up trying to intercept on fourth down, very similar to the Georgia-Auburn play,” said the Head Ball Coach. “Hopefully we can learn from that and learn to knock it down.”

Coach Spurrier singled out a few players who had solid performances. “Darius Paulk made some nice runs at the end. Perry (Orth) did ok. Perry has probably moved up to No. 2 right now. (Brendan) Nosovitch and Connor Mitch are the co-3rd guy right now.” Orth was the second quarterback to enter the scrimmage, followed by Nosovitch and Mitch.

Defensively, Larenz Bryant, Jasper Sasser and T.J. Holloman all had interceptions.

The Gamecocks will return to the Bluff Road practice fields on Tuesday afternoon at 4:15 p.m.

SCORING PLAYS:

Brandon Wilds 5-yard run (Elliott Fry kick)

Fry 22-yard field goal

Connor Mitch 2-yard run (Landon Ard kick)

Perry Orth 13-yard pass from Pharoh Cooper (no PAT attempted)

PASSING:

Connor Mitch 5-8-0-95; Perry Orth 6-13-1-89; Dylan Thompson 7-7-0-61; Brendan Nosovitch 1-5-2-20; Pharoh Cooper 1-1-0-13, 1 TD. TEAM: 20-34-3-278, 1 TD.

RUSHING:

Darius Paulk 3-28; Rod Talley 4-20; Brandon Wilds 2-11, 1 TD; Shon Carson 1-8; Devin Potter 5-3; Connor Mitch 3-2, 1 TD; Perry Orth 5-(-21); Brendan Nosovitch 3-(-23). TEAM: 26-28, 2 TD.

RECEIVING: