Spurticus Fall Practice Reports 2006

[Spurticus]

Despite an ugly looking beginning to practice with some rain and lightning, the Gamecocks were able to go through their first practice of the year looking very good. Quinton Richardson was at practice tonight along with Stephen Garcia. Both guys hung out mostly with Sidney Rice, and Garcia was looking like he was enjoying the evening. He got a lot of shouts of encouragement from the fans there asking him to come to USC, and got a good round of applause as he left the Proving Ground.
Guys, it was a fantastic practice to open up with. Very pleased with what I saw tonight starting with the standout performances. Moe Brown is going to make a lot of noise this year. That kid has got loads of talent, good hands, and is as fast as we’ve heard. All night, I only saw the guy drop one pass that hit him in the hands, and I talking warm ups, one on ones, Skeleton Drills, and Eleven on Eleven. Very impressive looking receiver there!
Captain Munnerlyn had a very good night too. He got a loud round of praise from Coach Cooper while doing the skeleton drills. He ran up to the line and held up OJ Murdock and completely took him out of his route. Murdock didn’t get 3 yards off the line, and Munnerlyn was on his chest like glue. Coach Cooper was yelling “That’s it, that’s it, that’s the way”!! All the way over to Captain after the play, and slapped him on the helmet. I was also very impressed with the way Emanuel Cook looked out there. That guy plays like a second year DB instead of a true freshman in his first college practice. He looks very confident, and wasn’t getting beat by the upper class receivers. All-in-all, I was very excited the way the Defensive backs looked tonight. One of my biggest fears was that we’d still be letting the receivers take the ball away, but there were some very nice plays by the deep guys tonight. No picks, but a lot of batted balls, and deflections. In fact, it was pretty much they way you’d like to see the skeleton drills, and eleven on eleven look. No one side had a big advantage (With the exception of Sidney Rice). We made good catches about 50% of the time, and the DB’s covered well the other half of the time. I’ll reserve the praises for our being solid here right now, but if the rest of the fall goes like the first practice, we won’t have a lot to worry about after losing Ko and JJ. Nick Prochak was another guy who looked good tonight. He covered well, and didn’t seem nervous about being one of the young guys working against Kenny McKinley, Noah Whiteside or OJ Murdock. Nick held his own, and if he gets to play this year will add some good play to the depth chart at safety, and if he decides to RS this year, he’ll be a very good deep cover guy for us in the future.
Sidney Rice was in rare form tonight from the time he stepped on to the field, until he left. He made the catch of the night (again), while doing the one-on-ones on the far field. He ran a deep route, and Tommy Beecher launched one about 35 yards deep to him, and it fell short and behind Sid to his left. Sidney reached back and was able to tip the ball with his left fingertips up in the air, but slipped on the wet grass. Guys, you had to see this to understand it, but as he was falling, and the ball hanging in the air, he managed to turn his back to the ground, and fall straight back, and grabbed the ball again before his back hit the ground. UNBELIEVEABLE! The crowd that was all along the hedges at the NG Armory, started yelling, and clapping and Sidney stood up holding the ball over his head to show them he caught it. Kenny McKinley looks like he has gotten better since this spring, and just continues to look like a big time college receiver to me. During the skeleton drills, he made some very nice over the shoulder catches, and looks like he knows what to do, once he brings the ball in. The big difference in his game this year, than last is now when he makes the catch, he’s looking for the end zone and not just a place to land after the catch. Mike West had a bit of a slow night tonight. He dropped a couple of balls during the one-on-ones, and fumbled the ball on a reverse play near the end of scrimmage while running Eleven on Eleven, but looked very good during the skeleton drills (7-on-7). He was beating the defenders, and a couple of times, had gotten behind them, and they had to grab him to keep him from getting the completion. They knew if he caught it, they were burned. I think Mike will progress nicely this week, but didn’t seem as sharp as some of the other wide outs tonight. Syvelle was there, but didn’t run any pass routes or plays. He and a small group spent the whole night running and stretching. This group included Newton, Doughty, Andy Boyd and Mike Davis. Don’t know what kind of injuries these guys had, but none of them took snaps tonight.
On Defense, Jasper Brinkley who had a very good spring may be one of the most impressive looking Linebackers we’ve seen here in Columbia in some time! Brinkley was everywhere, and looks stronger and faster than what he looked like 3 months ago. This guy will be a holy terror this year. Can’t wait to see him pad up next week. Paulk looked good tonight as well. He was used a couple of times inside, but looked much better when lined up at the left outside spot. He’s quick, and is around the ball, and I think you’ll see his number a lot on the field this season.
Of our quarterbacks, I can say this. The reports of Blake bulking up this summer were not exaggerated. Mitchell looks more like a quarterback now! Blake had a good night throwing the football, and spread his throws out. He was going to the middle a lot with very good results, and it looks like he and McKinley are working well together. You could tell a couple of times, Blake’s primary target was covered, and he found McKinley on the outside. Blake’s getting comfortable now, and his confidence is increasing. Cade looked good throwing the ball tonight and it looks like Thompson has been in the weight room some this summer as well. He still has a thin-ish frame, but his arms and upper body are definitely bigger than last year, and he was throwing with a bit more zip than this spring. Chris Smelly has some work to do, but looks like a good QB in the making. He has a quick release, and is very accurate on the shorter routes, but almost everything he threw from 20 yards out was low of the receiver. It’s clear he’s not used to the speed of the guys he’s throwing to now, and it looks like it’ll take him a while to adjust. I think he’ll be OK, but he’s not going to be the guy that comes in and takes over.
In the Eleven on Eleven, Cory Boyd and Bobby Wallace took most of the snaps on the running plays. Both looked extremely quick off the snap, but Cory was the better looking of the two without question. Taylor Rank was used as a check down receiver a couple of times, and looked good at it. Looks like Taylor has been working out steadily, and worked on his blocking skills too.
Not much to tell about the offensive line except to say that Gurminder Thind and Jamon Meredith looked very good at Right and left tackles. Both these guys were quick off the ball and looks like they’ve added a few pounds of muscle to their frames. Garret Anderson seems to be bigger than the couple of times that I saw him last fall when he was being recruited, and visited the practice field. I’ll be able to tell if that will equate into some playing time this fall, once the put on the pads and start hitting.
That’s a good place to stop tonight. Lots of good things took place out there, and hopefully this will continue throughout the fall practices. I hooked up with HotSpur and his family tonight, and I’d like to say it was a pleasure meeting him, his wife and daughter. Hope to meet a few more of you guys this fall if you can make it down. .. . . . More tomorrow.

[Spurticus]

Tonight’s practice was completely dominated by the defensive units, especially the defensive backfield. Once again Captain Munnerlyn and Emanuel Cook had solid workouts, and both were in mostly with the first unit defense. Both players are very good cover backs, and Munnerlyn is a very physical safety that will stick his man at the line of scrimmage, and take him completely our of this route. He did this again a couple of times tonight.
I don’t know what happened in the last 24 hours to wake Carlos Thomas up, but he was a totally different player out there tonight. Last night, he was getting beat a lot, and tonight, he had his best practice since joining the Gamecocks! He knocked down at least 5 passes against different receivers, and was all over his man this evening. Thomas needs to continue this performance into the season, and solidify our starting defensive backfield. My personal opinion is that Carlos may have been watching the performances of Munnerlyn, Cook and Prochak last night, and decided he needed to get his butt in gear or get it used to the bench.
However, as good as Carlos looked, his performance paled in comparisons to Stoney Woodson. Stoney also was like flypaper on his man, and had several knock downs as well. He also picked off a deflected pass for an interception. Fred Bennett got into the act by picking off a pass intended for Freddie Brown, and did a victory lap around the observation tower before returning to the group. He almost picked off another pass on the next play of an ill-advised pass to the middle from Tommy Beecher to Sidney rice. The pass was batted up in the air by Jasper Brinkley, and almost caught one handed by Sidney, but Fred knocked it out of Sid’s hand before he got control, and then almost caught the ball himself before it hit the ground. Nice night to be a Gamecock DB tonight.

Brinkley still looks like the standout defensive player this year. He had another fantastic effort in the middle of the Line backing Corp, and he seems to get better each practice. Rodney Paulk was in and out of the first unit switching in and out with Cody Wells at Right OLB. Marvin Sapp is the other first unit OLB.
Stanley Doughty, Kenrick Ellis and Marque Hall ran and walked the entire practice around the fields. They didn’t take a snap during practice, or work with the team during Drills. My guess is that coach Spurrier has a weight limit for these guys to reach, and will not see any practice or playing time until that weight is reached. I heard someone on the sideline tonight say that they were told before practice that Stanley was two pounds over his maximum weight. ( I’d say it’s more like 12). These guys ran last night and tonight, and it’ll be interesting to see if they’re out there again tomorrow, and how long it will take them to get back to the field.. . Dakota Walker was not on the field anywhere tonight. Not sure what’s up with him?!

On Offence, the team looked a little sluggish tonight. I think most of it was just because the defensive backs were playing like madmen all night. Blake had probably his worst outing since late last spring. He was overthrowing his receivers, and missing badly pretty much the entire night. Chris Smelly is still trying to get his timing down, and was about 50/50 tonight. He either looked good or totally ugly when he released the ball. He fumbled a couple of snaps from center as well while throwing one-on-one’s. Tommy had a few nice passes, but he was also picked off a couple of times. One by Jeremy Ware, and the one by Fred Bennett mentioned above. (almost threw the other to Fred too), and had a couple of passes thrown into areas he should not have passed to (double coverage) over the middle. The only decent performance from our QB’s was from Cade Thompson. Cade misfired some as well, but of all the quarterbacks, Cade threw the best passes of the night as well. A couple of very nice passes to Kenny McKinley that I can remember. Kenny continues his outstanding transformation and looks to be the second best receiver we have on the team now. Moe Brown who lit up the field last night, caught a couple of passes tonight, but wasn’t as “Visible” as he was last night. Mike West had a better performance tonight, but after beating his man 2-3 times, none of our QB’s could find the mark. Over throwing or under throwing Mike who had gotten a step or two on his man. Very frustrating to see that. Syvelle Newton returned to the field tonight to take a few reps with the second unit offense, and seemed to running very well when he was in. Again, our QB’s just couldn’t seem to hook up with him except for one long completion from Blake when Syvelle put a nice move on Jeremy Ware and beat his man by 4 steps. The ball was still under thrown, but Syvelle was able to adjust and make the catch. Normally I’d be very concerned about our quarterback play if this was going on with one of the players, but to see all three struggle so much tonight, I’m guessing they may be a little sore or fatigued from their first good workout since Spring last night. I hope this is the case, and the guys all bounce back strong tomorrow night. The only solid performance on offense tonight was from (you guessed it) Sidney Rice. Sidney made several catches of poorly thrown balls, and sucked in the ones that were on target like a black hole. He was the only guy who seemed to be able to make a grab against the good coverage of the DB’s tonight, and when he did have a man on him, Rice would just jump up and bring the ball in like a center going up to grab a rebound. I hate to make any kind of pre-season predictions, but if there’s a better WR in the nation than Mr Rice, go ahead and give him the Hiesman Trophy, because he truly is the best player in college football.

Cory Boyd had a very strong performance again tonight during the eleven on eleven drills. Cory was running well, and catching the ball very well too. Mike Davis was not on the field tonight and took no snaps from center again for the second night. Reports are that he’s recovering from an infected foot. Bobby Wallace got a few reps at the tailback position tonight, and made the most of them, by breaking off some nice runs outside the tackles.
On the offensive line play: The first unit is basically the returning players from last year, but Jamon Merideth and Gurminder Thind at first unit Tackles replacing Na’shawn Goddard, and Jabari Levi. I think the starting unit may change some next week once the pads go on, and the coaches can tell how the rest of the guys do in their blocking schemes. If some players don’t learn some discipline at the dinner table, the Defensive front unit will be a lot different this year too.

** Brad Lawing quote from tonight:
Brad was working with the D/Line on how to fight off blocks tonight. He was working with Terrance Campbell on how to knock a man’s hand off his shoulder, and duck inside with his head and arm, and force his way past him. Terrance did it correctly, but did it gently. .. . .
“Do that again the right way !. Son, you might think you’re a Freshman player, but you’re going to have to play this year. Just look around you (lack of Defensive Ends). You’ve got to grow up son” . . Turned as he was walking away from Campbell. “ Well, Grow up” !!

I’ll end with this note. About half way through the practice, Gary Gray, Quinton Richardson, and Brian Maddox came in to watch practice. They came down the line shaking hands, and talking to the fans on the sidelines. Nice to see that group hanging together at the Proving Ground.

[Spurticus]

The team went at it in shells tonight and got in some “light” contact. It was good to hear the sound of pads crashing together when players met. It’s starting to sound like football season now. Stanley Doughty, James Thompson, and Kenrick Ellis were back with the team tonight after doing nothing but running the last two days. All three guys saw some action on the field at one point, but were limited to third units. My guess is now, they are challenged to keep the weight off, and work their way back to the first and second units. Mike Davis was still not on the field tonight, and Brandon Isaac was running drills with the team, but was wearing the yellow jersey. Jamon Merideth got a little banged up in an early running drill play, and limped around for a while, but was able to get back to practice with the starting unit later in the evening.

Good news is that Cory Boyd came out wearing a Garnet Jersey, and received some punt and kickoffs early in warm-ups, and looked good doing these. I heard a report on the Cheap Seats this afternoon, the Cory would wear a yellow jersey for a couple of weeks and do no contact. Although Boyd didn’t work with the offense running 7-on-7’s, or 11-on-11, it was still good to see him fielding kicks and punts. He should be OK to go full strength in a few days.
I wouldn’t say the offense made up for last night’s performance, but they did hold their own against a young defense that once again played extremely well. Captain Munnerlyn continues to impress, and for the first time, Stoney Woodson and Chris Hampton were working with the first unit defense following a very impressive performance Sunday night. Cody Wells continues to get snaps as a first unit Rover / LB, and made a couple of outstanding hits during the 11-on-11’s. Ryan Brown’s performance of Saturday and Sunday night earned him some reps with the first unit as well, but he was lined up as a defensive End.

Our Line Backers are playing EXTREMELY well as a unit right now, and I think it’s one of the reasons the pass defense is looking so good early this fall. Brinkley, Sapp and Wells did a fantastic job with their drops into coverage, and completely shut down the middle of the field against our receivers. The same thing can be said of Rodney Paulk when he is in. It’s hard to make predictions based on what takes place when you’re working against your on team mates, but I just think we have the best Line backing unit across the board since the end of the 80’s.

On offense, Blake Mitchell was 100% better than last night’s weak showing. Blake looked very sharp pretty much the entire practice, and continues to find Kenny McKinley when Sidney is doubled up on. He also threw some nice passes on the outsides to Syvelle who is starting to look more like the Syvelle of early fall last year. You can tell he’s still not at 100% yet, but he’s beating some of the coverage’s right now, and that means once he is at 100%, our offense is going to explode. Blake hooked up with Mike West on a couple of longer passes tonight as well. Mike is starting to look more and more like a Wide Receiver now, and less like a line backer playing WR. The most impressive thing about Blake tonight is that Sidney didn’t see as much action as he has the past two nights, and Blake was the main reason for that. Sidney was doubled up on most of the entire evening, and the coverage was smothering the receivers down field, and when that happened, Blake would just check down and throw the ball to Taylor Rank, Bobby Wallace, or Clark Gaston, and the play would gain about 5-15 yards. This tells me that Blake is starting to recognize the cover schemes quickly, and make quick adjustments for that, instead of trying to force the ball into Rice or McKinley. . . . . .Take my word for it guys, it’s starting to come together now!

Got to tell y’all this to get your blood pumping:
Cory and Davis are out of contact drills right now, so Taylor Rank stepped in as a starting Tailback tonight. The team broke up into two units. One unit worked at the North end of the near field, and another at the South end. The South end was used to run 1-one-1’ with Blake and Cade running the offense. On the North end, (where we were standing), the units ran Running plays only. Taylor Rank made the most of this chance to shine. From the time they ran the first play from scrimmage, both offense and defense were trash talking with each other, and got into these small “skirmishes” after the play. On the third play from scrimmage, Taylor broke through the left side of the line, and made a very nice run down field, for about 20 yards before making contact with Carlos Thomas. Dakota Walker was trailing the play, and Taylor stepped out of bounds when Thomas grabbed him. Rank was walking back to the huddle, and Walker came over to him and said “you’d better step out”! You could tell Taylor didn’t like that too much, and it got his motor going. He busted off a couple of very nice runs up the gut, and he was looking for someone to make contact. Unfortunately for Nick Prochak, he found someone. Guys, there is now a greasy spot somewhere along the 35 yard line of the North side of the Proving Ground!! Taylor hit a hole up the middle clean and was 10 yards past the line when Nick stepped in to tackle him. Taylor hit Prochak in the chest with his helmet, and my name ain’t Spurticus if Nick wasn’t lifted off the ground 12”, and straight backwards about 2 yards. Taylor went about 5 more yards before finally being wrapped up and stopped. We’ve got to get this kid on the field some this year! He is a load when he gets in full gear.

Moe Brown had another good night and made some outstanding moves to get open. They were working with Moe on receiving punts too, but he needs a bit more work there. He dropped a few easy catches, and made a couple of errors trying to pick up a ball that bounced in front of him. He fumbled a couple of those, and just looked like he was a little lost. I’ll tell you who is starting to impress me. Scott Spurrier! That guy is not the fastest guy on the team, but he plays fast. He can scoot when the catches the football and has some very nice moves after he pulls the ball in. He is a small guy, but I’d love to see this guy get some playing time because he has the game to make some defensive backs look bad. I know because he did it a few times to our guys. Everyone’s starting to call him Waterbug on the sidelines now.

All in all, I think we’re back to an “Even Up” state with the team. Both sides made some outstanding plays, and neither side got a big advantage over the other. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if we stayed at this level for the next two weeks. I know the coaches seem to think there’s something good going on, because you can hear a lot of praise coming from them the last few days. Something they were very stingy with last fall and Spring.

There was one number change that finally got sorted out. Chris Haile, who had been wearing #48 and playing WR, has gotten the number 1 jersey now. And Thomas Hooper who was wearing number 1, is now wearing #98.

[Spurticus]

The practice started out a little relaxed tonight. No one really stood out while doing position drills, with the exception of Joel Reeves and Rodney Paulk. These two players seemed to get a lot of “atta boys” from coaches Wommack and Lawing. Coach Lawing told Joel after one drill that “you would not believe how much better you’re looking doing your drills now, if you compared them to the Spring” Joel is working with the second unit defense right now, after spending most of the Spring with the third unit.
On the far field all of the quarterbacks were throwing well just working with the receivers on their routes. Chris Smelly seemed to be a bit sharper tonight than the first three workouts, but still is just a little off on some of his outside (timing) routes. Getting better, but just not quite there yet. Cade and Blake continue to be the two front runners for the QB spot.
At the other end of the far field, the remainder of the offense ran running plays only, with Tommy Beecher and Brett Nichols taking the snaps there. Again, no outstanding performances by any of the backs and it looked like the team was just going through the motions. This may have been planned because the guys will suit up in full pads tomorrow and will not be holding off any on their contact.

Things did heat up a bit when the team came over to run Skeleton Drills. Two names stood out in that performance. Blake Mitchell and Moe Brown. Blake went 7 for 7 before having a pass tipped away by Fred Bennett on a pass intended for Lanard Stafford. Blake made a nice throw to end his snaps during this drill hitting Moe Brown on a nice hitch and go by Brown. Moe’s inside juke froze Stoney Woodson just long enough for him to get a step and a half past him, and Blake laid the pass out to Moe in stride. Moe also took a low outside pass from Chris Smelly earlier, and stretched out like Andrew Jones diving for a sinking line drive to make a nice pick before the ball hit the ground.
Guess it doesn’t need to be said, but I’ll include it anyway. Sidney Rice missed nothing. High, low, or on target, Sidney made his catches.

The guys ran a controlled scrimmage tonight while doing the 11 on 11 drills. Starting from the South Endzone 20 yard line, Blake ran the first unit offense against the first unit Defense and moved the chains on 3 separate sets of downs. Jared Cook and Sidney Rice were Mitchell’s primary targets, and Jared elevated his game during the scrimmage to make some nice runs after bringing the ball down. They also ran a nice little Clearout route with Rice and McKinley lined up on the same side of the field (to the left), and they went out on a deep crossing route. Cook who was lined up at the right TE spot would come across the field on a Drag route underneath the dropping linebackers and took the pass for a nice gainer. They did this two or three times using that same alignment and it clicked each time. This is the same play that Missouri kicked our butts with in the second half of the Independence Bowl. My opinion, this will be a play we’ll see a lot of in our first game against Mississippi State. I think they’ll gear up to stop Rice and McKinley, and this play should rack up some yardage if that is the case.
The first unit offense did very well against the first string Defense, but that wasn’t the case with our second and third unit offenses. The defense in both group was getting way too much penetration against our line, and were getting back to the QB’s way too quickly. There was about 5-7 sacks (stop plays) with the 2nd and 3rd deep groups on Defense, and that will be a problem area for us this fall I’m sure. Even at this, Smelly was able to sustain one good drive and throw a scoring route to Jared Cook just before the end of practice. Jared beat Aubrey McKay down the left side line (going South to North) to score from 20 yards out.

There was no Fireworks on the last play tonight, and that pretty much was in line with the way the practice went from start to finish. Short report tonight, but it was really just a plain night.

One note before closing: Someone told me that Mike Davis was at the field early tonight, but wasn’t in uniform. I never saw him on the field after I got there, but hopefully it won’t be long until we get to see #25 back on the field.

[Spurticus]

It’s always fun to get out to practice the day full pads go on for the first time. Today was no exception. After the stretching and warm-ups, the team split into their groups and ran position drills. On the near field in front of where we were standing, Brad Lawing had the defensive front line hitting the spring pad. This is an exercise to build your hips and arms to explode of the snap of the ball. Lawing in his usual manner did not just accept the fact that the guys did the drill (went through the motions), he expected the players to do the drill properly, and if one guy messed up during the drill, the entire team lined up and started over from the start. Lawing is a stickler for detail when running line drills, down to the proper way to stand, proper leg and hand position in your stance, and execution to perfection. The players get frustrated with him a lot, but end result is the drill gets done right.
Eric Norwood continues to impress me. He is quietly developing into a guy that could end up as a first unit player if Lindsey and Brown don’t watch out. Eric is clearly the fastest of the linemen, and looks to be one of the smarter of the group. He’s not one of the players that has to be called back to re-do the drill again, because once it’s explained to him, he has it down.
Kenrick Ellis was back with the team tonight, so it’s safe to assume that he has finally gotten to his maximum weight limit. Ellis is not a hard guy to spot in the crowd. He’s clearly the biggest player we have on the team, and even with the excess baggage he brought in this fall, he finally showed in practice tonight that he has the quickness and skills to develop into a stellar Down Lineman. Hopefully he and Doughty have gotten the message by running that over indulgence at the dinner table equals hours of running during practice, and a chance you might be watching the game on Saturday instead of contributing.

Rodney Paulk is another player that is developing in leaps and bounds. He came in to camp with some good Credentials and hasn’t failed to live up to them. Rodney had an excellent workout tonight, and was working some with the first unit defense again. That third position at OLB has not been decided yet. Cody Wells has been the guy there the past two days, but a few players got looks there tonight running with the first unit Defense. Beside Paulk, Dakota Walker and even Ryan Brown, who had been lined up as the first unit Defensive End all week, got a chance to take a few snaps at the Left OLB spot. This evening however, Paulk was the best of the group. It was that way for all the squads all night. The coaching staff was mixing up the depth chart using different combinations of second and third unit players working with the first unit. This was done on offense and defense. So all the previous reports of “so-and-so” playing first unit at this spot, and this player working with the second unit should not be taken as a certain player nailing down that spot for the season opener. I think there are only a few players that are pretty much assured a starting position against Mississippi State, and the battle is underway for the several remaining spots.

Mike Davis finally made his first appearance of the fall wearing a yellow jersey. He did no drills, or running, but it was just good to see him on the field with his team mates tonight. As was the case last night, Cory Boyd fielded punts, and ran some pass routes, but did not participate in any of the Contact drills. He and Davis probably will see no action in the scrimmage Saturday (although that is strictly a guess by me).

As is the custom, the team lined up right after positional drills on the far sideline of the near field, for the Oklahoma Drill. This was the original version of the drill, having several lanes marked off by pads (approximately 5 yards wide, and an offensive Lineman lined up head to head with a Defensive Lineman and the object is to block the Defensive man for the running back who would take a handoff, and try to read the block and move past the Defensive player without being tackled. Of course, the Defensive players objective was to fight off the block and tackle the runner.
Stanley Doughty was CLEARLY the dominant Defensive Player of this drill on all but two plays. When he was up, he whipped the lineman in front of him, and the running back paid the price. Taylor Rank was CLEARLY the best Running back of the group. Taylor failed to be brought down by any of the defensive players, and more times than not, got around the block without being touched. But when the occasion called for it, Rank simply lowered his head and powered through the attempted tackle. I know I said this last night, but Taylor needs to play. This young man has got game!
Now, I said above that Stanley was the dominant D/ Player on all but two plays. . . . Gather round and listen to what probably was the play(s) of the night. On the last set of blocks, Stanley was lined up across from Heath Bachelor, and Brain Kingrey was the ball carrier. It was hard to see the entire play from our vantage point, with the players standing in front of the pads, but we saw enough to know that Mr Batchelor put Stanley Doughty on his ample kister, and Kingrey went by untouched. The coaches all jump about 2 feet in the air at the same time, and the offensive players swarmed around Batchelor liked he’d just hit the $200 million Lottery. If that wasn’t impressive enough, the coaches lined the tow of ‘em back up again for one last chance for Doughty to save face. Once again, Heath put Doughty on his backside, and Kingrey ran by Doughty untouched. Now THAT was impressive!!

The teams lined up for some Kickoff, and Kick coverage practice but only did the “shell” part of the lineup (Kicker, Kick returners and a couple of outside cover guys. No full lineup, or any contact. Mike West, Kenny McKinley and Noah Whiteside (who’s back in the #1 jersey) were the Kick Returners. They practiced this for about 20 minutes to let the rest of the team take a quick break, and then they ran through the Skeleton Drills. Not much to report here with the exception of Chris Smelley’s progress. He still misfired on a few passes that should have been completed. However, Chris is getting better and on the ones that he finds the range on, he makes them look very good. He’s still a work in progress, but he’s definitely starting to get into the flow. Moe Brown continues to raise eyebrows. It’s very apparent that he has made a place for himself on the depth chart. I think once Syvelle is back at full speed, It’ll be a dogfight between him and Brown for the third starting WR, but right now, Brown has distanced himself as the leader at that spot from Murddock, Whiteside, West etc. . . . Blake wasn’t quite as outstanding as he was last night, but still the very clear leader among all the quarterbacks. Blake had a few passes knocked down tonight, but so did the rest of the QB corp. as once again, our Linebackers and DB’s continue to lock down the middle of the field. Blake was the only one of the group who was able to recognize the coverage and check down to the underneath man (mostly Taylor Rank), and get some yardage. The Linebackers have gotten their pass drop assignments and cover support down! They even stopped the Drag route to Jared Cook that clicked last night. The offense tired to run that play a couple of times again tonight, but the stingy defense would have no part of that.

The team ran a controlled scrimmage once again for the 11-on-11 drills, and the defense controlled most of that part of practice. Blake was able to move the chains from the south end 20 yard line to the north end 35 Hitting Sidney Rice and Kenny McKinley and Moe Brown with some nice play action passes. One nice play to McKinley early in the drive was a crossing route where Sidney lined up wide left, and McKinley in the slot to that side. Rice slanted to the inside about 15 yards deep and McKinley started straight downfield. Mitchell pumped faked to Sidney and the DB’s froze for a half step, that allowed Kenny to break outside toward the sideline, and past Captain Munnerlyn for a very nice completion of about 25 yards. This drive also saw a mix of impressive runs by Bobby Wallace that made the play action passes much more effective. The drive stalled out at the 35, and Chris Smelley came in to take some snaps. He drove the ball down to the 2 yard line on a couple of inside runs by Taylor Rank and Bobby Wallace, and a nice reverse to Mike West to get them to the two. Mike went head to head with Carlos Thomas, but fumbled the football near the goal line, but fortunately, Whiteside was able to recover the ball. After an illegal procedure penalty moved the ball back to the six, a halfback option pass from Wallace was throw to high to an open David Laggis in the end zone, Wallace carried the ball to the 4 yard line, and on a forth and goal from the four, Taylor carried the ball over for the TD with a nice dive play inside the right tackle.
Cade and Blake took turns trying to move the third unit team back to the north side of the field, but the defense took over sacking both Cade and Blake over and over. And the passes they were able to get off were way off target because of the high pressure put on the QB’s by the linebackers and front line. After both Cade and Blake went about 6 reps each, the evening ended. No trick plays again tonight.

[Spurticus]

Just got in from the morning practice and I can tell you this, I’ve already gotten spoiled to those night practices! Man, it was steamy out there this morning.
Not much to report on the standout side. The team was in shells, and the practice was much like the one Tuesday night, with the team just running drills, and going through the motions. I missed the first 45 minutes due to work, and when I got to the field I asked someone out there “what did I miss”? This guy told me “not much” He said the first hour was pretty much position drills, that we run all the time.

When I got there, the punting and punt return team was working on the near (East) side field, and the quarterbacks and O/Line was on the far field doing drills. The quarterbacks were taking snaps and working on their drops, and throwing to coaches standing downfield about 20 yards deep. Coach Spurrier was supervising this
I can tell you that Spencer Lanning had a very good morning. During the punting practice, I saw him put three balls over the receiver’s heads, and they were in their normal depths. He doesn’t have quite the height that Nate Spurrier or Ryan Succop has, but his distance is definitely getting better. The Kickoff units worked on Kickoffs, and some half-speed kick coverage, concentrating on staying in their lanes, and working on pursuit and containment. It’s still not clear who’ll be returning Kickoffs right now, because today, pretty much every skill position player was in the end zone taking turns fielding kicks. However, the entire week, there have only been a few players used receiving punts, and today it was narrowed down to Cory Boyd, Sidney Rice and Kenny McKinley. Rice looks extremely good fielding punts, but I’m hoping that the coaches will not let him handle this chore during the season. That’s simply my opinion, but I’d hate to loose Sid to an injury during a punt return, and you know some of these teams are going to lay into Rice if they get him contained. Especially if he’s having one of his outstanding performances catching passes.

Ryan Succop is still able to boom the ball deep into the end zone even with the shorter tee. He’s a lock on the kickoff duty, and I’d also say he has the Field Goal kicking spot. He’s made 3 of 4 kicks from 55 yards this fall so far, and the only one he missed, skimmed the cross bar on the way down and fell under the goal post. If he’s that consistent during the season, we should be in very good shape for putting some points on the board once we get inside the opponents 35.

They lined up for some 1-on-1’s for about 10 minutes and again, nothing outstanding here. Blake Cade and Smelley all connected on most of their throws. The last part of the practice was the 7-on-7, and Blake looked the best of the three here, hitting all his throws when he was up. Cade had one batted down, and misfired on another overthrowing OJ Murddock. Smelley threw two or three nice touch passes out on the corners to McKinley and Marquise Brown, but also threw a pass to Taylor Rank that was picked off by Fred Bennett. Just before practice ended, OJ Murddock was running an outside route, and being covered by Bennett. Cade overthrew Murddock, and when Bennett jumped up to try to intercept the pass, he landed on his feet, and then went down to a knee and stayed there for a few minutes. I was watching this through the binoculars, and when he was trotting back to join the DB’s you could tell he was in some pain, but unsure of what part of his body he injured, or how sever it was. I’ll keep an eye on this tonight to see if he makes it back out to the field tonight, or is wearing a yellow jersey. Speaking of which, Line Backer Gerrod Sinclair (#31) and Rover Douglas Peterson (#34) were wearing yellow jerseys along with walk-on WR Leon Gamble (#89). Gamble has been wearing the yellow shirt since Sunday night.
Didn’t see Mike Davis out there this morning, but should be back out tonight, at least with the yellow on, and one last note: Syvelle Newton spent the entire practice with one of the GA’s running sprints at full speed the width of the near field’s North End Zone.

[Spurticus]

The practice tonight started off with the punting and field goals units on the field working on their distance and accuracy. Nate Spurrier and Spencer Lanning were on the far side of the near field punting to Sidney Rice, Kenny McKinley and Cory Boyd. Cory was wearing a yellow jersey along with Leon Gamble, Gerrod Sinclair, Douglas Peterson and Mike Davis. Davis came out on the field wearing a yellow jersey with no pads, but left just after warm-ups were completed. Andy Boyd came out with the team with no pads, but hung around to do work on the stationary bike, and some light running.
Ryan Succop looks to be a much improved field goal kicker over last year. He was the only one of the kickers who made anything past the 40 yard line, and hit 3 out of 4 from 55 yards!
Just before doing the team exercises, Spencer Lanning moved into the North End Zone to let the team’s put blocking personnel get in some practice. Captain Munnerlyn, Mike West, Moe Brown, and Jasper Brinkley all blocked punts, but Moe Brown was the most Technical Perfect player doing these drills. He blocked about 3 punts lying out just in front of the kicker’s leg. We may see some of our early standouts on Offense and Defense make some plays for us on the Special teams as well this year.
One other note here:
Captain Munnerlyn was given the number 1 tonight replacing his number 30. Now both he and Chris Haile are wearing that number. No doubt this was give to him as a reward for his outstanding play so far this week.

After stretching and exercises, the teams went through some more intense positional drills, than those they usually run. The pace is getting a little faster, and more demanding as the season approaches. They started out with a nice routine switching stations tonight. They had a single man sled set up in the north end zone, and to foam dummies held by the GA’s near the middle near sideline, and at midfield, coach nix was standing in an area to run a cover drill. The defensive line worked on hitting the sled, for about three reps each, and the linebackers had to run parallel to the sideline, then tackle the foam dummy held by the GA’s, and in the center, coach Cooper did shadow drills with the defensive backs. They had to move in the direction he moved the football, and then sprint in towards him when he backed up as if dropping back to pass.
Once each unit did about three reps each of these drills, the coaches blew the whistle and the units rotated to a different coach and station to run another station drill.
Some standout performances were done by Eric Norwood, Ryan Brown, Emanuel Cook and John Guerry on the sled. Stanley Doughty, Rodney Paulk and Jasper Brinkley on the dummies, and Captain Munnerlyn and Carlos Thomas on the shadow drill.

Over on the Westside Field, the quarterbacks did a different drill tonight too. They ran 2-on-2’s for the first time, and Blake Mitchell and Chris Smelley had outstanding outings there. Blake was 8 of 10, and Chris was 7 of 10 throwing. Cade Thompson had his second rough day in a row, and just couldn’t find the range at all. He was 2 of 7 with an interception by Carlos Thomas. Chris Smelly is zeroing in on his timing and is starting to look more like a college QB now. He seems to have that confidence level moving in the right direction too. He and Scott Spurrier hooked up 3 times during the 2-on-2’s and McKinley was the go to guy for Mitchell here. Unfortunately for Cade, his go to guy was a DB.

The offense came over to the Eastside field to run the 7-on-7 drill, and this was the start of the rise of our defense again. Blake and Smelley again were the better performers, but the linebackers and DB’s were the stars. There was nothing open in the middle once again, and on the deeper routes, the safeties were doing a very good job of sticking there man to either deflect the pass, or prevent the pass from being thrown. As has been the case all week, Black did the better job of recognizing this and dumping off to the short man. Blake was able to get one deep pass into Moe Brown on a deeper route, who got by Stoney Woodson. Blake laid the ball out towards the sideline where it wouldn’t be intercepted, and Brown was able to make the grab before stepping out of bounds for a nice gain of about 25 yards. But once again, the drops and cover assignments by our linebackers are almost perfect, and nothing is getting open inside. Those passes that are tried by the QB’s are being batted down or picked off.

I like what Coach Cooper has been doing the last two days with the Defense. If a player drops an interception, he makes the whole unit do pushups. If he sees one of the guys not running to the football, he makes them do 5-6 reps of down-ups. But if a player makes the interception, or tackle, the rest of the team runs over and huddles around him. (Shows him some love). I’m very impressed with the defense as a whole right now, and that uneasy feeling I had all summer long has pretty much been replaced with the feeling this defense will make some our opponents look bad this year. I love the fact that all the media reports are talking about our “inexperienced” DB’s and “untested” Linebackers. I’m under the impression now that this young Defensive unit will win some games for us this year. We still haven’t seen them do any Real Time tackling yet, but we’ll see how that shapes up Saturday in the Stadium. If that turns out to be as good as their coverage’s, and run stuffing, we’ll be very pleased with the Gamecock D, this fall.

The team finished practice tonight with another controlled Scrimmage, with each quarterback taking three reps each and the rotating out. Blake was able to run off three nice plays on his first set, throwing completions to Syvelle Newton and Kenny McKinley, and a nice run off tackle by Taylor Rank, but Cade failed to move the team any from that point, and Smelley didn’t pick up much yardage either. Blake’s second set wasn’t as productive as both Rank and Wallace fumbled pitches but were able to recover their on fumbles for lost yardage. Blake was down and Smelley was able to make up some of the yardage, but not enough to move the chains. Cade went three and out on his second set. Between Blake and Smelley, they managed to move the ball down to the South side of the field, but it was not a pretty set of downs for either QB, taking a couple of Sacks each, but able to hit two nice passes to Jared Cook (from Smelley) and the play of the night from Blake to Sidney Rice against a stingy defense. Sidney gabbed a deep post route on forth and 12, over Carlos Thomas, and took the ball inside the 10 before being stopped. However, the defense stiffened and pushed the ball back on two consecutive plays stopping Rank and Gaston, and on forth and goal from the 14, Smelley hit Jared Cook at the goal line, but was tackled at the one to prevent the score.

The team lined up on the South 20 for one last drive, and Cades troubles continued as he threw two consecutive interceptions. One to Carlos, his second pick of Thompson tonight, and the other by Emanuel Cook who took the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. They were allowed to line up once again for one more attempt, and Blake found Taylor Rank over the middle short, and turned the ball up field for a gain of about 15. A nice draw by Wallace picked up about 22, and Blake then hit Jared Cook on that deep post he hit Rice on earlier for a gain down to the 18. Smelley took over and found Cook also, and moved the ball inside the ten. Smelley over threw Scott Spurrier who was open in the end zone, and on the last play ot the night, Chris found Cook open who had gotten behind Sapp in the left side of the end zone for the Touch down.

Long practice tonight, so once again I apologize for the late post but blame Spurrier for that. Before leaving, there was an injury tonight. Nathan Pepper was taken off the field on the cart, and I saw him limp into the first aid hut. Don’t know the severity, but it didn’t look good from where I was standing. We’ll probably hear that from coach Spurrier tomorrow.

[Spurticus]

It was a very good workout for the Gamecocks on what appeared around practice time to be a washout. There were a couple of pretty bad thunderstorms that came through the Columbia area this afternoon, and threatened to rain out the practice. But just before seven o’clock, the storm cleared out of the Bluff road area, and the sun came out, and we had a damp, but very intense workout to go into the Scrimmage tomorrow. Proving yet again that God is a Gamecock fan.

While watching the punting and field goal teams go through their routine to start things off, their was a group of men standing behind me talking about all the Gamecock standouts so far. Loved hearing these guys discuss the punting of Spencer Lanning. He has gained a following this past week with his consistently good outings. All these guys were in agreement that Lanning should be the guy that gets the full time punting duties this season. However, one of the guys made mention that they had spoken to Lanning earlier this week in an interview, and Spencer told him he was wanting to take a Redshirt season this year to work on his distance?? I was under the impression when Spencer was on the board that he was extremely confident he could compete this fall, and was looking forward to getting on the field. Right now, he’s definitely the best looking punter besides Ryan Succop, but Ryan will have his hands full doing the Field Goals, and Kick offs. I don’t think Coach Spurrier wants one man to do all three, unless reports I heard this summer have changed. Regardless, when Lanning does get his first full year with the Gamecocks he’ll make us all here on Cockytalk proud I’m sure.
Ryan Succop may have been at his best all year tonight. Ryan has looked very accurate, and very consistent, but this evening he was clearing the cross bar from 45 yards out, and still kicked the ball with enough height to hit the top of the observation tower right behind the goal post. For those of you who haven’t seen the field, that’s a hydraulic stand that can be raised during FG practice for the coaches and GA’s to tape the kickers going through their reps. If they hit the tower, it’s clear they’ve split the uprights, so the fans use that as a perspective point when judging the kicks from the sidelines. This tower raises about 10 feet above the top of the uprights, and to hit the top of the platform from 45 yards out, is not only putting the ball dead down the center, but putting some major air under the kick. Those are impossible to block by the middle rushers. Ryan hit that tower up that high three or four times at that distance. Remarkable display of kicking by this young man this week, and especially tonight!

Some good news to report tonight as well. Mike Davis was in full pads tonight, but wore a yellow jersey and took no handoffs during any of the drills, except to go through some single handoffs from the coaches and quarterbacks during position drills. He did run some pass routes with the running backs, and made some nice catches, so it shouldn’t be long before Mike is back at full speed running with the team.
Cory Boyd was out of the yellow jersey tonight and taking handoffs and catching passes during the skeleton drills, and in the 11-on-11 drill. I heard some reporters there say that the coaches and trainers have cleared him and he will be in the scrimmage tomorrow!! We did have another player that put on the yellow however. Clark Gaston joined Gerrod Sinclair, Douglas Peterson and Leon Gamble on the injured list. Gamble continues to be the only one not in pads and has been that way since the first practice.

After stretching and going through the normal position drills, the offense ran an extended period of one-on-one’s. Smelley and Mitchell were again the two most accurate QB’s hitting very high percentages of their attempts. Cade had his third poor showing in a row and just guessing from the number of reps each player received, Smelley appears to have taken over the number two QB spot. Smelley continues to build his confidence level, and seems much more comfortable going through his reads. There’s an old phrase that quarterbacks will use from time to time when referring to their game getting better. They say “the game is in slow motion” meaning they’ve learned to read a defense faster, and see the routes more clearly. Their minds are processing the information faster, and thus to them, the game slows down. For Smelley, the game is starting to slow down some, and he’s looking better. Not sure what Cades problem is though, he was having a pretty good week going until Wednesday night, and his game went South quickly. We’ve been saying that someone needs to make Blake sweat a little, but it seems Smelley has gotten the attention of Cade Thomas and has him a little rattled right now (this is speculation of course), but looks like the most likely explanation for Cade’s (hopefully momentary) decline in performance.
Smelley did have a very good night during 1-on-1’s and during the skeleton drills. He and Blake hit 10 of 13 each, while Cade was only able to find the mark on 5 of 10.
When the team lined up to do the 11-on-11 however, it was a whole different game. Blake Mitchell had an outstanding performance here, while both Thompson and Smelley misfired and had passes batted down several time at the line of scrimmage. Blake finally got some guys open over the middle of the field for the first time in 4-5 days, and made the most of it. He was able to connect with Jared Cook on a couple of occasions deep over the middle, and the very fist play of the 11-on-11, the defense rushed everyone to try to set the tone, and Blake picked it up, and dumped the ball off to Cory Boyd who left defensive players in his jetstream, running for about 30 yards before being wrapped up. Blake also made a few nice underneath routes to Sidney Rice, and some extremely nice timing routes to Mike West and Kenny McKinley. The ones that weren’t completed were dropped passes by Syvelle Newton, Moe Brown and Chris Haile.
Chris Smelley who looked outstanding without a rush, looked a little uneasy in this drill, and was sacked a few times, and rushed his throws to avoid being sacked, overthrowing Lanard Stafford a couple of times on the check down over the middle, and on a circle route outside. He had passes knocked down at the line by Matt Raysor, and Kenrick Ellis. One pass was deflected and intercepted by Curtis Rice.
Cade Thompson didn’t fare any better in the 11-on-11, having passes knocked down by Raysor also, and one by Kerry Bonds. Thompson threw no interceptions, but was sacked once.
Smelley and Cade had a couple of impressive throws in spite of the defensive pressure. One that stands out was a very nice touch pass in the middle of the field to Jared Cook, who got behind the dropping line backers, and in front of safety Nick Prochak. The pass gained about 25 yards, and was a glimpse of what Smelley should look like in the near future for the Gamecocks with a little more spit and polish.

The outstanding defensive performances tonight were turned in by Captain Munnerlyn who didn’t allow himself to get beat all night, and deflected a couple of Smelley passes. Carlos Thomas continues to look very good at one of the corner positions, mostly second unit, but I’m not convinced that Thompson isn’t being reprimanded for some reason. He has spent most of his time on the 2 and 3 deep squads despite having some really outstanding workouts. Again, that’s just me guessing, and I have nothing but my feeling to base that on. But if Carlos continues to improve, I don’t see how he can’t get some major PT this season unless it’s for something done wrong off the field. His play on the field so far has been stellar.
Jasper Brinkley is playing like a man possessed. He is about the most athletic Middle Linebacker we’ve had here in a while, and continues to make some nice defensive plays in both run support, and covering the short areas of the zone when in passing situations. Jasper will be playing on Sunday once he graduates USC. I’m positive of that.

Good night of practice, and should be a very good showing tomorrow afternoon when the team goes to the Cockpit for a fall preview for the coaches and fans. Hope to see some of you all there.

[Spurticus]

Play list from today’s scrimmage:

The team lined up at the North 30 yard, moving towards the South End Zone


(1st and 10 from the North 30) Blake threw over the middle to Jared Cook for a gain of 18 yards.
(1st and 10 from the North 48) Cory Boyd runs up the middle for a gain of 3
(2nd and 7 from the South 49) Mitchell passes to Boyd in the right flat for gain of 4
(3rd and 3 from the South 45) Mitchell passes to Sidney Rice at the right sideline for a gain of 1
(4th and 2 from the South 44) Boyd carries up the middle for a gain of one.The ball is moved back to the North 30 yard line to start the next series:

(1st and 10 on the North 30) Cade Thompson goes back to pass, and is sacked by Justin Lindey for a loss of 5 yards.
(2nd and 15 from the North 25) Taylor Rank takes the handoff up the middle and is hit for a loss of 3 by Dakota Walker
(3rd and 18 from the North 22) Shotgun. The snap goes over the head of Thompson for a loss of 12, Cade recovers.The ball is moved back out to the North 30 yard line to start the next series:

(1st and 10 from the North 30) Thompson passes to Robert Pavlovic on the right sideline, but is overthrown.
(2nd and 10 from the North 30) Thompson fumbles the snap, and the ball is picked up by Rodney Paulk and run into the End Zone for a touchdown.The Ball is moved back to the North 30 yard line to start the next series:

( 1st and 10 from the North 30) Attempted Pass by Chris Smelley is intentionally thrown out of bound on the right side to avoid the sack.
(2nd and 10 from the North 30) Smelley passes to Mike West for no gain. Mike takes the ball behind the line, and runs head to head with Stoney Woodson who made the stop.
(3rd and 10 from the North 30) Smelley passes to OJ Murdock over the middle for a nice gain of 20 yards.
(1st and 10 from midfield) Bobby Wallace takes a pitch from Smelley on the right end for no gain.
(2nd and 10 from midfield) Smelley passes incomplete to David Laggis deep over the middle. The pass is overthrown
(3rd and 10 from the 50) Smelley passes to Murdock on the right sideline. Murdock slips out of the tackle attempt to gain 25 yards before being forced out of bounds.
(1st and 10 from the South 25) Smelley passes complete to West on a deep out route to the left for a gain of 21.
(1st and goal from the South 4) Smelley passes in the end zone to Noah Whiteside complete for the Touch Down. . . . . The P.A.T by Ryan Succop is good. The ball is moved to the South 30 yard line to start the next series:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 30) Mitchell passes to Boyd in the left flat. Boyd spins upfield for a
nice run gaining 34 yards on the play. A holding penalty brings the back to the South 30 to restart
the series.
2. (1st and 10 from the South 30) Mitchell’s pass to Kenny McKinley over the middle goes through his hands, and is intercepted by Dakota Walker to stop the drive.
The ball is moved back to the South 30 yard line to start the next series:
1. ( 1st and 10 from the South 30) Mitchell passes complete over the middle deep to Moe Brown for a gain of 27 yards.
2. (1st and 10 from the North 43) Mitchell passes complete on a deep out route to Kenny McKinley for a gain of 25
3. (1st and 10 from the North 18) Boyd takes the ball off the left tackle for a gain of 2
4. (2nd and 8 from the North 16) Mitchell passes complete to Lanard Stafford in the left flat. Lanard makes a nice run through two tackles and into the end zone for the Touchdown. ..The P.A.T by Thomas Hooper is good.
The ball is moved to the North 30 yard line to start the next series:
1. (1st and 10 on the North 30) Thompson passes complete to Wallace on a screen pass, who is tackled for a loss of 3.
2. (2nd and 12 from the North 27) Wallace carries on a draw play up the middle for no gain.
3. (3rd and 12 from the North 27) Thompson passes complete to Wallace over the middle for no gain.
The ball is moved back to the North 30 yard line to start the next series:
1. (1st and 10 from the North 30) Thompson passes to J. Cook over the middle, but the pass is knocked down by Emanuel Cook.
2. (2nd and 10 from the North 30) Thompson’s pass to Freddie Brown is overthrown.
3. (3rd and 10 from the North 30) Thompson passes complete over the middle. Wallace breaks the initial tackle and turns up field for a gain of 36 yards.
4. (1st and 10 from the South 34) Thompson is sacked by Darien Wright for a loss of 7
5. ( 2ndand 17 from the South 41) Thompson passes complete to Whiteside on a Receiver Screen for again of 12.
6. (3rd and 5 from the South 29) Thompson passes complete to Whiteside in the right flat for a gain of 6.
7. (1st and 10 from the South 23) Thompson passes incomplete to Murdock on an out route to the right sideline. The ball was almost intercepted by Carlos Thomas.
8. (2nd and 10 from the South 23) Thompson is sacked by Emanuel Cook for a loss of 10.
9. (3rd and 20 from the South 33) Thompson’s pass to Taylor Rank over the middle is overthrown.
10. (4th and 20 from the South 33) Succop’s 50 yard field goal attempt is GOOD.
The ball is moved back to the South 30 yard line to start the next series:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 30) Smelley hand the ball to Wallace up the middle for a gain of 2
2. (2nd and 8 from the South 32) Smelley passes incomplete intended for Wallace in the right flat.
3. (3rd and 8 from the South 32) Smelley’ pass to Freddie Brown over the middle deep is overthrown.
The ball is placed back on the South 30 yard line:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 30) Wallace takes a handoff on a dive play off the right tackle for a gain of 5
2. (2nd and 5 from the South 35) The snap from center is fumbled by Smelley, but recovered by Wallace for a loss of 3
3. (3rd and 8 from the South 32) Smelley passes complete to Paul Haile on a short out on the left side for a gain of 7.
The ball is placed back at the South 30 yard line:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 30) The snap from center is fumbled by Smelley, but he recovered his own fumble for a loss of 2
2. (2nd and 12 from the South 28) Smelley passes complete to Marquis Brown deep over the middle for a gain of 20.
3. (1st and 10 from the South 48) Smelley passes complete to Marquis Broen in the right flat for a gain of 6
4. (2nd and 4 from the North 48) Smelley’s pass to Moe Brown on a short out route on the left sideline is dropped
5. (3rd and 4 from the North 48) Smelley’s pass attempt is knocked down at the line of Scrimmage by Kerry Bonds.
6. (4th and 4 from the North 48) Smelley scrambles to avoid the rush, and finds Rank on the right sideline. Rank takes the pass and turns up field and runs into the end zone for a Touchdown. . . the P.A.T by Hooper is good.


The ball is placed at the South 25 for Red Zone practice:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 25) Brett Nichols is sacked for a loss of 18 by Lindsey
The ball is spotted back at the South 25:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 25) Wallace takes the handoff up the middle on a draw play for a gain of 15
2. (1st and goal from the 10) Wallace carries up the middle for no gain. A holding penalty moves the ball back to the 20 yard line
3. (1st and goal from the South 20) Nichols is sacked for a loss of 5 by Rodney Paulk
4. (2nd and goal from the South 25) Syvelle Newton Carries off right tackle for a gain of 16 on a QB Draw. The crowd gives Newton a short standing ovation.
5. (3rd and goal from the South 9) Newton hands the ball to Wallace on a sprint draw off the left tackle for a gain of 9. Touchdown. . . . The P.A.T. by Charlie Carpenter is good.
The ball is spotted back at the South 25 yard line:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 25) Mitchell passes to Newton on the left side is overthrown.
2. (2nd and 10 from the South 25) Mitchell’s pass to Rice is short over the middle
3. (3rd and 10 from the South 25) Mitchell passes complete to Rice in the front left corner of the end zone for a gain of 25. Touchdown. . . . . Charlie Carpenter’s P.A.T is good
The ball is spotted back at the South 25 yard line:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 25) Mitchell throws complete to Boyd on a circle route on the left side, and Boyd runs the ball to the five for a gain of 20
2. (1st and goal on the South 5) Boyd takes a pitch from Mitchell on the left end for no gain
3. (2nd and goal on the South 5) Boyd carries up the middle for a gain of 2
4. (3rd and goal on the South 3 ) Boyd carries on a dive play off the left tackle for no gain
5. (4th and goal on the South 3) The 20 yard Field goal attempt by Charlie Carpenter is good
The ball is spotted back at the South 25:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 25) Smelley passes to Rank on a middle screen for a gain of 1
2. (2nd and 9 from the South 24) Smelley passes to OJ Murdock deep over the middle for a gain of 24 Touchdown. . . . . . Thomas Hooper’s P.A.T. attempt is good
The ball is spotted back at the South 25:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 25) Thompson’s pass to P. Hail over the middle is overthrown
2. (2nd and 10 from the South 25) The snap is over Thompson’s head. Thompson recovered the ball for a loss of 10
3. (3rd and 20 from the South 35) Thompson’s pass to Wallace over the middle is complete for a gain of 4
4. (4th and 16 from the South 31) Succop’s 48 yard Field goal attempt is wide right.
The ball is spotted back at the South 25:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 25) Thompson’s pass to Marquis Brown is intercepted by Emanuel Cook at the 2 yard line.
The ball is spotted back at the South 25:
1. (1st and 10 from the South 25) Stafford carries up the middle on a draw play for a gain of 1
2. (2nd and 9 from the South 24) Stafford carries up the middle for a gain of 4
3. (3rd and 5 from the South 20) Thompson’s pass is knocked down at the line of scrimmage by Terrance Campbell
4. (4th and 5 from the South 20) Succop’s 37 yard Field goal attempt is Good. . . . End Of Scrimmage.

[Spurticus]

The team came worked out in shells this morning and ran position drills the first hour of practice. Line backers Jasper Brinkley and Rodney Paulk had impressive mornings during the tackle drills. This is the Rotating Station drills I described a few days ago, and the Gamecocks have been doing this drill everyday since it was first described. The single man sled is a very tough drill and if the pad is not hit properly and the player does not “run through” the tackle, the sled will not go over easy. It makes a lot of players look foolish, but it also shows who has the right technique, and the power. Paulk and Brinkley get high five’s from the coaches and players doing this station. Eric Norwood had a good morning as well. This young man has caught a lot of fans eyes including mine. He’s probably the fastest of the down linemen we have right now, and by far and away, has the best technique for both pass rushing and run stopping. The word early was that Norwood would Red shirt this year to add some muscle, but I’m not sure he hasn’t made the first or second unit yet. He has been used at both positions on the depth chart last week, and continues to impress.

Most of the middle part of the morning was spent running Kickoff and Kick Coverage. Something new was added this morning that hasn’t been done before. The Kickoff team put bright colored covers over their helmets. These covers were made of reflective material, and were bright Blue, Green, Red and Yellow. No explanation as to what this was for, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was for the benefit of the coaches to show what players were staying in their Kick cover lanes, while they are watching film later. To describe it best. The players on the Kick Cover Team looked like M&M’s with legs.
Only really noteworthy thing to report here was that Carlos Thomas and Moe Brown did the most work fielding the Kickoffs. Not sure if these will be the guys taking K/O’s during the season, but with coach Chatham working specifically on Lane coverage, blocking assignments, and outside containment this morning, I’d say these two players are being looked at as primary candidates for the Kickoff return players.
During the Punting, and Punt cover practice it needs to be noted here that Sidney Rice did NOT field any punts this morning. I heard from some guys standing in the press area today, that the coaches have pretty much narrowed this job down to either Kenny McKinley or Cory Boyd. These were the only two players fielding punts today.

Injury update:
Mike West and Nitron Stork were added to the list of players wearing the yellow shirts. Mike was reported to have tweaked a hamstring during the scrimmage Saturday morning. No word what the specific injury to Stork is but I’m sure this will be addressed by coach Spurrier in his post game interview, or on the university’s web site. These players join Leon Gamble, Andy Boyd and Gerrod Sinclair who have been wearing the yellow jerseys the past few workouts.
Mike Davis was out of his yellow jersey this morning and taking some light contact during run drills, so it looks like Davis will be back to full speed shortly. I’ll find out if he runs any of the 11-on-11 plays during tonight’s practice. Hoping Mike has healed enough to start banging heads again. We’ll need him to be battle ready by August 31st, and missing over a week’s practice will make him have to play catch up with the other running backs.

The Gamecocks ran a short stint of 7-on-7’s before end practice this morning. Blake looked very good again, and continues to take what the defense allows. He’s getting much quicker going through his progressions, and if his primary and secondary targets aren’t open, he dumps the ball of to the underneath (safety) receiver. He made two nice throws to Kenny McKinley on deeper routes this morning, and had two deep passes dropped by his receivers (Moe Brown, and Freddie Brown).
Cade Thompson looked much sharper this morning than did Smelley, rebounding from a very poor performance in the scrimmage Saturday. Cade found Moe Brown and Syvelle Newton a couple of times each in the middle of the field, which had been a tough place for him to find any success over the last week. Smelley was throwing behind his receivers this morning, missing McKinley a couple of times on crossing routes with Newton, and missed an open Jared Cook deep downfield on one occasion. He did hit the longest pass of the morning to Sidney Rice just before the end of practice, but this was about 90% Rice. He was being closely covered by Stoney Woodson, and Smelley led Sidney a little too long, but Rice was able to stretch his body out to bring it in with his fingertips and managed to correct his balance without falling to the turf.
It’ll be interesting to see how this QB situation between Thompson and Smelley continues to play out tonight.

[Spurticus]

Very comfortable evening out there tonight with a nice breeze blowing, and comfortable temperatures. The injury list continues to grow with Nick Prochak coming out tonight in the yellow jersey along with the ones reported from this morning’s practice: Mike West, Andy Boyd, Gerrod Sinclair, Nitron Stork and Leon Gamble. However, Mike Davis removed the yellow jersey tonight and was running full contact with limited reps. It was good to see Mike running the ball again a few times.

Ryan Succop continues to awe the crowd with his field goal kicking. He’s getting the ball through the uprights consistently from 52 yards deep and still has a good margin for error. Charlie Carpenter would be considered his closest competition. Carpenter can kick from just inside the 50 on occasion, but he looks comfortable from inside the 45. Still Charlie misses very few from around the 45, and most of the other kickers are in the center of the uprights from their respective ranges. You can tell that Coach Chatham has already made an impact with the punting and kick return teams. The Special Teams unit worked on punt coverage tonight for about 20 minutes and Coach Chatham used Cory Boyd, Kenny McKinley and Moe Brown as the Punt return players. Moe continues to be inconsistent fielding punts, dropping some and mishandling others. Cory looks like the best of the group right now, although McKinley does a very good job also. Cory was also in a good mood tonight, as you could hear him all over the field yelling and laughing at or with the other players. I think both Cory and McKinley will be our punt returners at different points during the season.

A couple of number changes to pass on if you’re keeping a roster. Eric Norwood is now wearing #40, and Darien Stewart wears #48 now. Someone told me they heard on another site today, that Carlos Thomas was working at safety this morning and wanted to know if that was true. It was an accurate statement as Carlos is now the second unit free safety, and did see some action with the first unit at times. Carlos has the speed and skills to play that position and be a standout, but it will take him some time to get acclimated to the changes from Cornerback. I think this is a good move by the Defensive Coaches. I’ll keep an eye on Thomas’ progress over the next few days and let you guys know how he does.

During position drills tonight, Norwood who had been getting a lot of praise from Coach Lawing on his skills and work last week seems to have had an off night. Eric now knows what it’s like to be on Lawing’s bad side. It started when they were doing footwork drills and Eric couldn’t seem to get the movements down correctly and Coach Lawing chewed on him for a little while. They ran a stunt drill a short time later, and Norwood kept making the wrong read on the Tight End, and Coach Lawing got a little louder, and a bit more “relaxed” with some of his vocabulary. It came to a climax when Coach Hunt asked coach Lawing to let him use the defensive line to run some blocking drills on the Offensive line. He worked half the line at a time, lining up the center, Right Guard, Right Tackle and occasionally lining up a Tight End on either side. Lawing would match up a Nose Guard and End to work against the half O/ Line. Eric kept getting pinched by the outside (tackle and / or Tight End) and wasn’t fighting through the blocks hard enough, and Lawing would chew on his ear like a drill sergeant and make him run through it again. This went on for about 3 reps and finally Lawing yanked Norwood off to the side and “explained” that skills during drills was one thing, but he was going to have to learn to take that to the game with him. He told him that he was not utilizing the drills he’d worked on for over a week, and that he was going to have to step up and be a man quick! On a good note here, the offensive line performed very well doing these drills and Norwood was not the only one that had trouble fighting through the blocks of the offensive line. I saw several white jerseys getting up off the ground while these were going on.

On the far side of the field, the quarterbacks worked on some one-on-ones after they finished the positional drills and unless I’m guessing wrong, Chris Smelley has now worked himself solidly into the number two spot behind Blake Mitchell. Cade Thompson got very few reps during either of the drills tonight, so it seems Spurrier has pretty much made his choice who will lead the Gamecocks this year. This is not etched in stone yet, and is only my observation, but when you get only three reps during one-one-ones and 7-on-7’s and none during 11-on-11 and the guy ahead of you is now taking most of those reps you once got, I’d say you’ve lost your spot on the depth chart. I’d wait until this is made official by Steve Spurrier before telling anyone it’s a done deal, but I would bet you’ll hear that from him soon.

During the 7-on-7 drill, Coach Spurrier lined the team up on the South end 15 yard line, and let the offense go against the defense in the red zone. Blake was up first and after under throwing Freddie Brown to start the drill off, he threw three consecutive scoring strikes to Lanard Stafford in the Middle, and to Cory Boyd in the right corner, and Jared Cook in the left corner. Smelley was a little shaky to start with missing on his first three attempts, but got uncorked on his last attempt by throwing a TD to Marquise Brown in the right front corner. Mitchell got back up again for a second round of plays, and overthrew Cook over the middle. Mitchell came back with two consecutive TD tosses, both to Sidney Rice and both on the same play. A short fade in the left back corner. I was watching these plays through the binoculars, and picked up something I thought was very nice to see. Smelley came over to where Blake was after these two strikes and the two guys banged forearms together and Smelley gave Blake a slap on the helmet. Nice to see these two guys who will undoubtedly be competing for playing time showing some love, and acknowledging the others good performance!
After this the coaches took the ball to the South 25 and the team ran a controlled scrimmage to finish up the night. Blake started out as he ended the 7-on-7 (hot) by throwing a screen pass to Cory Boyd who turned the ball up field for a nice gain of about 18. Blake threw a strike in the middle of the field to Jared Cook for a 10 yard pickup and a short pass over the middle by Moe Brown. At that point the defense took over and moved the offense backwards on the next two plays, sacking Mitchell for a loss of about 12 yards and forced a fumble by Lanard Stafford who recovered the miscue, but lost 4 yards on the play. Smelley came in to take over the offense and after an incomplete pass on the corner to OJ Murdock, Smelley found Bobby Wallace open over the middle for a nice pickup of about 20 yards. OJ Murdock threw a very nice block on Emanuel Cook to get Wallace a few extra yards before being forced out of bounds. Smelley made another nice toss to Mike Davis out in the left flat for a pickup of 12. After an incompletion, Smelley under a big rush spotted Marquise Brown on a comeback down the right sideline and Brown made a nice catch before going out of bounds around the 15, just out of the reach of Aubrey McKay.
Coach Spurrier lined the team up at the North 25 for a few red zone plays at that point, and Smelley took the first set of reps here. Spurrier ran a very nice WR screen pass that the offense executed perfectly, and Marquise Brown picked up 12 yards on the play behind some nice downfield blocking by Stafford and Murdock. Spurrier brought in Syvelle Newton who lined up at a shotgun position with Wallace as the tailback, and Smelley lined up in the slot. Newton faked to Wallace on a draw, and threw a pass to Smelley in the left back corner that Stoney Woodson was able to knock down at the last minute. The final play was with the same alignment, but Smelley lined up as a wide out to the right side this time. Newton rolled to the side Smelley was lined up on and pumped the ball in Smelley’s direction, and then tried to throw a lateral pass all the way back across the field to Bobby Wallace, but the ball was picked off by Eric Norwood to end the scrimmage.