Scrimmage report: Lattimore strong again

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier gave fans one final chance to see his team in action before the first game of the season on Wednesday night, and thousands took him up on the opportunity.

Nearly 8,000 fans filled the lower stands at Williams-Brice Stadium to watch the Gamecocks conduct their second preseason scrimmage. The workout was the last of the season that is expected to be open to fans or media.

“It was a good little crowd we had, appreciate them coming out, almost felt like a real ball game,” Spurrier said. “At some places, it probably would have been.”

Instead, it was a glorified practice, highlighted by another successful night for junior running back Marcus Lattimore, who is returning from a season-ending knee injury. Lattimore carried five times for 23 yards.

“Some good ones, too,” Spurrier said. “There wasn’t a lot of blocking, weren’t a lot of holes in there. I haven’t talked to him about anything much except, ‘Are you ready to play?’ and he says, ‘Yes.’ He demonstrated that he was ready to play.”

Lattimore did not speak to the media following the scrimmage, but fellow running back Kenny Miles believes the team’s two scrimmages have allowed Lattimore to build confidence that his left knee is completely healed after surgery to repair a torn ACL.

“Definitely, the last scrimmage he felt a whole lot better after getting knocked around a little bit and kind of getting a feel for it,” Miles said. “He said that it feels great, so I am excited to see him play this year.”

Miles scored one of the scrimmage’s three touchdowns, on a 5-yard run. Tight ends Jerell Adams and Justice Cunningham also caught scoring passes, Adams on a 16-yard throw from Seth Strickland and Cunningham on a 22-yard toss from starting quarterback Connor Shaw.

“I guess Connor was a little better than he was the first scrimmage,” Spurrier said.

Shaw completed 9-of-12 pass for 98 yards and a touchdown.

“It was a good scrimmage because nobody got seriously hurt,” Spurrier said. “A lot of good plays by the offense, some bad plays. A lot of good plays by the defense, and not-so-good plays by them, also.”

At this point, Spurrier believes he knows which players will be the offensive contributors. The Gamecocks play Vanderbilt on Aug. 30 in Nashville.

“Yeah, pretty close,” Spurrier said. “We know about six or seven receivers and the running backs and so forth.”

Defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward is not quite as close but will have his rotation set by this time next week, he said.

“We definitely want to play, but we definitely need to practice,” Miles said. “We still have a lot of little things we need to work on, a lot of little things. There is still a long way to go before the season.”

SCORING PLAYS

... Kenny Miles 5-yard run (Adam Yates kick)

... Jerell Adams 16-yard pass from Seth Strickland (Landon Ard kick)

... Justice Cunningham 22-yard pass from Connor Shaw (Yates kick)

... Landon Ard 28-yard field goal

PASSING: Andrew Clifford 10-13-0-142; Connor Shaw 9-12-0-98, 1 TD; Dylan Thompson 4-11-2-77; Seth Strickland 3-7-1-41, 1 TD. TOTALS: 26-43-3-358, 2 TD.

RUSHING: Damiere Byrd 2-28; Joshua Blue 3-24; Marcus Lattimore 5-23; Kenny Miles 5-18, 1 TD; Dylan Thompson 6-17; Mike Davis 4-8; Shon Carson 2-2; Andrew Clifford 7-(-14); Connor Shaw 4-(-33). TOTALS: 38-73, 1 TD.

RECEIVING: Jerell Adams 4-83, 1 TD; Bruce Ellington 3-38; K.J. Brent 3-31; Shamier Jeffery 2-24; Mike Davis 2-17; D.L. Moore 2-14; Shaq Roland 1-42; Blair Lowery 1-24; Justice Cunningham 1-22, 1 TD; Kenny Miles 1-18; Ace Sanders 1-10; Qua Gilchrist 1-9; Jody Fuller 1-8; DeAngelo Smith 1-8; Marcus Lattimore 1-5, Damiere Byrd 1-5. TOTALS: 26-358, 2 TD.

This story was originally published August 15, 2012 at 12:00 AM.