Aug. 8, 2015

The University of South Carolina football team practiced in full pads for the first time during the fall preseason camp on Saturday morning at the new practice fields. The squad used the final hour of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour long open practice to go 11-on-11 in a scrimmage format.

“I thought it was a pretty good scrimmage in that fact that nobody really got hurt,” said Head Coach Steve Spurrier. “Terry Googer sorta landed on his head and got bumped a little bit, but he’ll be alright. But other than that, there was a lot of good work. You find out what players are ready to step in there and play.

“Some of the young guys need to pick it up,” continued the Head Ball Coach. “But again, they are freshmen or redshirt freshman, so it’s probably expected that they’re not all that sharp right now. The reason you have these scrimmages is you find out who your ballplayers are. We’ve got a long ways to go, but I thought there was a pretty good attitude. I thought the defense was in position of where they were supposed to be most of the day. It was a decent scrimmage.”

The quarterback situation remains up for grabs, but redshirt sophomore Connor Mitch had a solid day. “Connor Mitch threw a lot of good balls, and the ones he threw that were picked off were not his fault. He threw it in the open area. He did ok. Perry (Orth) and (Michael) Scaranecchia did ok. Nobody was extremely good, but Connor Mitch probably played a little better than the other guys today. We’ll keep going. We’ll let them keep playing. They’re all doing pretty well.”

After All-America candidate Pharoh Cooper, the wide receiving corps is mostly untested, but Coach Spurrier is confident that some players will step up. “We think Deebo (Samuel) is a very talented player. Terry Googer has been doing well. Carlton Heard has been coming around. He really looks good at times.” Cooper did not participate in the scrimmage, due to a sprained hand and a sore knee.

Former college head coach Rick Neuheisel attended Saturday’s practice and spoke briefly to the team. Neuheisel currently works for CBS and had a crew on hand to tape a story on Coach Spurrier.

The Gamecocks will hold their annual Media Day on Sunday before returning to the practice fields on Monday morning. That practice will be closed.