Roland passes the practice praise

Steve Spurrier says Shaq Roland will play this year.

Shaq Roland would rather not hear that kind of thing just yet.

“We don’t discuss things like that,” Roland said when the message was relayed to him. “I really don’t want him to tell me that because I want to go out and work hard every day. If he tells me that, I might get complacent and just relax.”

Using that scenario, the news just keeps getting worse for South Carolina’s freshman wide receiver.

“Shaq Roland caught everything that came his way,” Spurrier said Saturday after the Gamecocks’ first scrimmage of preseason camp.

At this rate, Roland may need to go into a media blackout to keep himself motivated because he gets closer and closer to South Carolina’s lineup each day. The 6-foot-1, 173-pound Lexington native was rated the No. 4 high school wide receiver in the country last year by Scout.com and was the gem of the Gamecocks’ recruiting class.

However, as fall camp neared, there were rumblings that a fellow freshman wide receiver, 6-foot-4 Hammer native Kwinton Smith, was having a breakout summer and might overshadow Roland.

Roland quickly quieted that buzz. Smith has been good, but Roland has been better.

“Yeah, he’ll be moving up as we go,” Spurrier said of Roland. “He’s a smart kid, too. He pretty much knows what to do. Usually, the first scrimmage the coach stands behind these guys and tells them where to go, but Shaq pretty much knows enough right now. He learns well every day. He’s a coachable kid.”

Late in Saturday’s scrimmage, the Gamecocks targeted Roland in the end zone, but he was outmuscled by a cornerback leading to an incompletion. On the next play, South Carolina went right back to Roland, who made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone and kept one foot in bounds before falling.

That type of inconsistency is typical of young players, said wide receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr., who is saying more of what Roland wants to hear.

“Some days you have good days and bad days. You just have to average them out as you go,” Spurrier Jr. said. “We will go all the way up to that last week (before the Aug. 30 game against Vanderbilt) on where we are with everybody.”

Roland, a PARADE All-American and the state’s Mr. Football last season, gained almost 2,000 yards and scored 24 touchdowns as a senior at Lexington High. After 10 days of practice, he still is making the transition to college football.

“In high school, I’d just kind of run by people, but now I really have to work on the little things,” he said. “I am just working on my technique, working on the little things to get separation. It’s much better competition. Everybody is faster, stronger, more athletic, so I’ve really got to focus on route-running, just the little things.”

Roland, who is working at split end and slot receiver, is trying to emulate junior wide receiver Ace Sanders, he said.

“His route running is incredible, I have never seen a receiver get in and out of his cuts like that, so that’s one person I watch a lot,” Roland said. “Each practice I am getting better and better, so it’s going great.”

Not that he wants to hear anyone else say that.

This story was originally published August 13, 2012 at 12:00 AM.