Oct. 28, 2015

The University of South Carolina football team continued its preparations for Saturday’s SEC matchup with the Texas A&M Aggies by working out for two hours at their new indoor practice facility on Wednesday afternoon.

The Gamecocks (3-4, 1-4 SEC) and Aggies (5-2, 2-2 SEC) will meet at newly-renovated Kyle Field in College Station. Game time is set for noon Eastern and the game will be televised on the SEC Network with Tom Hart, Andre Ware and Laura Rutledge providing the commentary.

Following practice, wide receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. talked about his last couple of weeks, which saw his father step down as head coach and also witness the birth of a daughter, McKinley, his seventh child.

“I’ve had some highs and lows and some sideways,” said Spurrier Jr. “I’ve had a lot of different emotions going through, good and bad. But it is what it is. Especially in this profession, anything can happen so you move with the punches and do the best you can. My job is to get these guys as ready to play the best they can and get these receivers ready to go out there and execute as high of level as they can and we’ll go from there.”

Spurrier admitted that the loss of Deebo Samuel, who continues to be sidelined with a hamstring injury, has had an effect on his unit. “Hamstrings are tough,” noted Spurrier Jr. “He might come back and he might not. That’s certainly been a tough loss for us, a guy that we had planned on having a pretty big year for us.”

Spurrier Jr. knows the Carolina offense will be challenged by a solid A&M defense. “They’ve got a lot of good players,” said Spurrier Jr. “They’re fundamentally sound and tough and they’re going to fly to the ball. All of those guys can play. The secondary moves around. The safeties get involved in the game. The corners are physical. You’ve got to get ready to play these guys. We’ve got to run the ball well, we know that. They’ve given up some rushing yards. We’re going to have to stay on the field and rush the ball as well as we can along with catching it when we throw it.”

Spurrier Jr. confirmed that wide receiver Jalen Christian would be redshirted this season.

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Thursday afternoon.