Kurt Roper: Nunez still at QB, McIlwain improved daily in spring

With the South Carolina football team’s quarterback room getting more crowded, there’s been noise outside the program about electric runner Lorenzo Nunez possibly taking his talents to a different spot such as receiver.

Offensive coordinator Kurt Roper dismissed that sort of talk for the short term Monday afternoon when he went on 107.5 FM with Heath Cline.

“Right now, our thought process is he is still in the quarterback chase,” Roper said. “That is something we’d like to know more about. We just don’t know as much as we’d like to right now. Our mindset is for him to compete in that situation.”

Nunez didn’t play for the final three weeks of spring after suffering a hyperextended knee. With that and Perry Orth’s broken collarbone, early enrollee freshman Brandon McIlwain took first-team reps the final two weeks and showed well in the spring game.

Roper said the staff didn’t hold that much back in Saturday’s game, as the team still needs to learn its base concepts and schemes. The coach spoke highly of McIlwain’s performance, especially as a cap to the spring.

According to Roper, McIlwain got better each day, improving his consistency and accuracy as the spring wore on. It meant he could find completions and make plays with his arm, especially showing the precision needed to empower the short passing game that’s really part of the team’s running game.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Kurt Roper: Nunez still at QB, McIlwain improved daily in spring."