Practice report: Spurrier sings praises of Elliott Fry

There aren’t many knowns on South Carolina’s football team, but Steve Spurrier declared one of them.

“Yeah, we got the best kicker, I’ll say that,” Spurrier said on Wednesday. “We do have the best kicker in the country, I think, Elliott Fry. He’s really good.”

Fry, a junior, is heading into his third year as starting place-kicker. He’s averaged 102 points per season, which puts him on pace to easily shatter Collin Mackie’s career scoring record of 330.

“We were watching all these games we won last year by three points,” Spurrier said. “That was his field goal. Miami game, Florida game, Georgia game.”

The Gamecocks won each of those games by three points and beat East Carolina by 10, when Fry connected on all four of his attempts. After missing his initial kick of the year (a 54-yarder), Fry made 12 straight. He finished 18-of-25, five of the misses from at least 47 yards.

Larenz’ Liver. Newest reality show? No, just a strange injury that turned out to be OK.

“It was like a freak accident,” Larenz Bryant said. “Me and my boy Chris Moody were guarding the tight ends man-to-man, we crossed and we ran into each other.”

Moody got up after nearly de-cleating his own defensive teammate during spring practice, but Bryant stayed down. He couldn’t quite catch his breath.

“At first I really thought I just got the wind knocked out of me,” Bryant said. “I felt really tired. Like, really tired.”

Bryant was stretchered out and taken to the hospital. X-rays revealed a lacerated liver.

He’s fine now, even listed as the starting Sam linebacker on the preseason depth chart. But it was still rather scary.

“I’m fully recovered,” Bryant said. “I had no problems.”

Let’s get physical. The Gamecocks are taking advantage of being in full pads.

“Had a real spirited action with the ol’ Oklahoma drill, one-on-one drill,” Spurrier said. “Bobby Stoops, I’ll call him and let him know we had one of their drills out here today.”

USC football’s Twitter account posted a clip of Brandon Shell and Cedrick Cooper participating in the Oklahoma drill. Shell cleared the lane for his running back but Cooper put Shell down afterward.

Open scrimmage? The Gamecocks are still planning on an open scrimmage at 5 p.m. Saturday. The location is to be determined.

If enough construction can be cleared to let fans into Williams-Brice Stadium, the scrimmage will be there. If not, it will be at the practice fields behind Gamecock Park. A decision is expected by Friday.

Injuries. WR Pharoh Cooper (knee, hand) and LB Jonathan Walton (knee) fully practiced.

Players who wore yellow jerseys or sat out due to injury were: DT Taylor Stallworth (pectoral), TE Connor Redmond (back), DE Gerald Dixon (leg), SS Antoine Wilder (right knee sprain) and OL Will Sport (shoulder).

Next up. The Gamecocks will practice at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday. It is closed to the public.

This story was originally published August 12, 2015 at 11:00 AM.