Strickland: 'You've always got to be ready'

South Carolina senior quarterback Seth Strickland has seen action in both of the Gamecocks’ games this season, throwing a 51-yard touchdown to Rory Anderson in last weekend’s 48-10 win over East Carolina.

Strickland, from Laurens, also is the team’s holder and helps call in the plays.

How is your senior year going? Did you think you’d play in the first two games?

When I came back, I was certainly expecting to compete. Nobody wants to see anyone get hurt, but at the same time you’ve got to be prepared. If you get thrown in there, you’ve got to make the most of your reps.

What was your initial reaction to Connor Shaw being hurt in the Vandy game?

It was a weird play. We’ve been working on sliding and getting down because he got hit last year in the head a couple times. He was working on getting down and he was doing a good job in the first half. We didn’t really know what happened to him. After that we didn’t really know how long he was going to be out. It was a lot of unknowns. We knew Dylan and everybody was ready. Just stick to the game plan. At that point you’re in the game. You’re in the flow. You’re just trying to beat the defense.

Did you go into panic mode in any way when it was your turn?

I think you’ve got to go into every game prepared. You don’t have time to panic when you’re in the game. You’ve got to prepare yourself like you're going to play every game. That’s hard to do sometimes because you figure, ‘I might not get to play this game,’ but you can’t think like that. It’s football. People are going to get hurt. You’ve always got to be ready.

How long did it take to get used to being the holder?

I did it in high school. I got the job three years ago when Spencer [Lanning] was here. It just kind of fell in my lap honestly. I hadn’t done it since high school. Spencer was really patient with me. We worked extra after practice. I’ve gotten a lot comfortable with Walker [Inabinet]. This is his second year doing it. This is the third different kicker we’ve had, but it’s a lot more comfortable with Walker. You just have to get the timing down.

What happened on that missed point after try late in the ECU game where you threw the ball away?

We were a man down. We were trying to take the delay of game but it got snapped. At that point I just threw it away. I think that was the safest play. Worst case scenario, I didn’t want it to get blocked and run back for two points.

It was a pretty good throw. Did you anyone joke about it at all?

That’s what I heard. I heard it made it up a couple rows into the stands.

You’re involved with others in calling in the plays. Talk about that.

We try to switch it up to keep the other team off balance. If they don’t know who’s signaling it in, they can’t pick up any trends.

What about the offense? How have you improved to get ready for this game?

I think it’s a week-to-week thing. You’ve got to come out and try to make an improvement from the first practice you’re out here to get better on your timing, the blocking, the whole nine. Coach Spurrier always said your last game needs to be your best one. That’s what we need to keep trying to do, to keep progressing as the year goes.

What are you expecting from UAB?

We’ve only got one game to look at. They’re very versatile, they fly around, you’ve got to be ready for a lot of different things. They’ll be ready to play I’m sure.

Going forward to SEC play, is there any one area that you’re focused on?

The ultimate goal for the offense is to achieve balance. We ran the ball good the first game and we threw it decently the last game. We’ve got to keep working on both. You don’t want to rely too heavily on one. You try to work on both of them and get them both going, and that’s how you ultimately make a good offense.

- Compiled by Dwayne McLemore, GoGamecocks

This story was originally published September 14, 2012 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Strickland: 'You've always got to be ready'."