Practice report: Two USC starters sit with injuries
South Carolina’s best defensive player, Skai Moore, watched Tuesday’s practice from the sideline.
The Gamecocks’ leader in tackles, tackles for loss and interceptions is suffering from a hip pointer. According to linebackers coach Kirk Botkin, Moore should be ready to play by Saturday.
“He’s gonna be all right. He’s got a little hip deal, and we kind of just kept him out for precautionary reasons,” Botkin said. “He said he’s just a little sore right now, so we just held him out of practice.”
USC also has an offensive starter banged up as left guard Mike Matulis missed practice. The senior was sidelined with a rib contusion.
Harris similar to Murray
USC defensive end Darius English said Florida quarterback Treon Harris is similar to Texas A&M’s Kyler Murray. English said Harris also plays somewhat like Tennessee’s Josh Dobbs, but is a better runner.
“He’s just a little bit more quicker, can run a little bit more. He’s a faster quarterback, so we have to make sure that we can keep him contained,” English said. “Pretty much just keep him inside the pocket and not let him run around.”
Fighting for Elliott
Matulis spoke to the media Tuesday morning, prior to missing practice, and said Carolina players are working to help interim coach Shawn Elliott earn the head coaching job.
Even though Matulis is a senior, he said it would be great for Elliott to become USC’s permanent coach.
“We love him as a coach. You can ask any player on the team, no one has a bad thing to say about him,” Matulis said. “Everyone respects him, and everyone wants him here. Even with me leaving, I hope he stays. I pull for him a lot. I think he’s a great coach.”
Gamecocks have more tricks ready
South Carolina has used a few different wrinkles since Elliott took over as interim coach, and Elliott said Tuesday more changes are on the way.
“We’re just having fun and trying to create some new ideas,” he said. “You call it a wrinkle, I call it an idea. We’ll go with it and see where it puts us.”
New mindset needed for DL?
South Carolina is still struggling to get a consistent pass rush, and Elliott believes he might know why. Instead of trying to diagnose a play and figure out what exactly a team is trying to do, he would prefer USC’s defensive linemen to fire off the ball and try to make a play.
“You look at the guys out there, sometimes I think we read the offensive play more so than getting off the football and getting up the field,” he said. “But we’re working on it to improve. Coach (Deke) Adams is doing everything he can to get those guys better.”
Elliott not fan of ‘spoiler’ phrase
South Carolina’s football team has no interest in playing “spoiler” in the final quarter of the season, Elliott said.
“Those teams that would say, ‘Let’s go play spoiler,’ that’s kind of a joke to me. Our goal is to win football games,” Elliott said during his weekly news conference. “Spoiler hasn’t come up. Shouldn’t come up.”
The Gamecocks will play two teams who have a chance to be in the four-team College Football Playoff in the final three games of the season – Florida on Saturday and Clemson on Nov. 28. Senior defensive back T.J. Gurley wouldn’t mind derailing the season of the Gators or the Tigers, he said.
“We want to hurt their season,” Gurley said. “We are going to shock them.”
The Gators have clinched the SEC East championship. South Carolina has beaten the Eastern division champion in three of the past four seasons.
“We have a great opportunity to put a good showing up against a great football team and just see exactly where we are,” Elliott said. “We are knocking on the door, and somebody is going to answer it shortly.”
Words of support
Elliott offered words of support for Columbia police officer Stacy Case, who was killed in an accident while responding to a call this weekend, and for university police officer Allan Bolin, who was injured in the same incident.
“Our heart goes out for (Case’s) family and for Officer Bolin, as well,” Elliott said. “We want to let their families know the Gamecocks are thinking about them.”
Quick hits
▪ Botkin said he expects USC to run more base defense (4-3 alignment) against Florida. The way Florida uses personnel formations and movement forces a defense to do mental gymnastics, Botkin said.
▪ Players who were injured or wore yellow jerseys were: OL Mike Matulis (rib contusion), LB Skai Moore (hip), DT Taylor Stallworth (chest), WR Deebo Samuel (hamstring), WR Javon Charleston (right foot), SS Antoine Wilder (leg), TE Connor Redmond (back), QB Gage Pucci (knee) and C Cody Waldrop (ankle). WR Shaq Davidson (knee) and WR Jerad Washington (left leg) are out for the season.
▪ The Gamecocks will next practice at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. It is closed to the public.
Staff writer Josh Kendall contributed.
This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 12:35 PM.