USC forced to play waiting game with injuries

Steve Spurrier will have to spend almost as much time this week checking the injury report as he will preparing a gameplan for his team’s SEC opener.

South Carolina’s football team still is banged up from Thursday night’s 17-13 win over North Carolina. Quarterback Connor Mitch, wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Terry Googer and running back Brandon Wilds all are somewhere on the “questionable” scale headed into Saturday night’s game against Kentucky (1-0).

“I don’t know if they will be back or not for the weekend,” Spurrier said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The most serious injury of the last three days came in practice, though, as reserve offensive lineman Cody Waldrop suffered a broken ankle during Saturday’s practice. Waldrop was injured when a teammate fell on his ankle during a drill.

Practice injuries “are something that I absolutely detest,” Spurrier said. “It’s very disappointing to get hurt in practice. There are enough chances in the real game to get hurt that we’re trying to evaluate what we’re doing out there on the practice field.”

Freshman wide receivers Jerad Washington (leg) and Shaq Davidson (knee) already have been lost for the season because of injuries suffered in practice. There is a chance Waldrop could be able to return later this season, but the junior is scheduled to graduate in December and could be done with football.

Waldrop, 6-foot-2, 300 pounds, was a three-star prospect out of Seffner, Fla., who started seven games in his career at center and guard. He missed most of last season because of a knee injury. While Waldrop’s injury is the only long-term concern, the short term has its plate full.

Mitch, who was 9-for-22 passing for 122 yards in his first start, suffered a hip pointer against the Tar Heels. He is not expected to practice Monday, but “should be” ready to play against the Wildcats.

Neither Samuel (hamstring) nor Googer (thigh bruise) practiced Saturday. Samuel did not catch a pass Thursday night and did not finish the game because of his injury. Googer caught two passes for 39 yards. If either is unavailable, it would be another blow for the Gamecocks’ thinnest offensive position group.

“Yeah, we are worried a little bit, and we are worried about trying to get somebody open and throwing the ball successfully,” Spurrier said. “Didn’t do it very well the other night. Had a few plays that hit sort of like you draw them up, but not many. It was a tough night for us offensively.”

South Carolina gained 394 yards against the Tar Heels. The biggest chunk of those were gained by Wilds, who had 51 rushing yards and 44 receiving yards, but he too is “a little iffy” with a bruised shoulder, Spurrier said. Wilds suffered the injury on a play where he fumbled the ball in the first half. (Jerell Adams recovered the ball for the Gamecocks.) Wilds did not practice Saturday.

“Shon (Carson) and David (Williams) could be the first two this coming week depending on how Brandon recuperates between now and Saturday,” Spurrier said.

This story was originally published September 6, 2015 at 3:47 PM with the headline "USC forced to play waiting game with injuries."