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GAMECOCKS CONTINUE PREPARATIONS FOR AUBURN
Columbia, S.C. – The No.
10./9 South Carolina (4-0, 2-0 SEC) football team continued preparation
on Thursday for Saturday’s game vs. Auburn (3-1, 1-0 SEC).
Kickoff for the contest on Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m. ET at
Williams-Brice Stadium with the game televised live on CBS.
Following
Wednesday’s practice, assistant head coach Ellis Johnson spoke to the
media on the defense’s preparation for the Tigers.
“Auburn
is putting up good numbers and they have a really good offense,” said
Coach Johnson. It’s not the same team as last year but it doesn’t
matter. It’s the same offense and they are having the same
effectiveness. They are moving the football – (they are making)
first downs, touchdowns and scoring points. They know what they
are doing. It’s a very difficult offense to prepare for in a three-day
period when you are trying to duplicate the speed, the formations and
the movements they do. They are a good football team.”
Auburn
enters the weekend averaging 34.2 points per game along with 373.8
yards of offense. Sophomore running back Michael Dyer has rushed
for 426 yards with junior quarterback Barrett Trotter 61-of-99 with 783
passing yards as well as eight touchdowns.
“(Auburn’s) offense
stretches you side to side and stretches you vertical on the throws but
the style of spread – it is fast pace, it has some vertical punch in
the running game and that’s what makes it tougher,” noted Coach
Johnson. A lot of spread teams are zone-run and side-to-side,
(other teams don’t) have quite have that vertical punch but they do and
Dyer is a very strong running back too.
Johnson mentioned that
freshman free safety Brison Williams will be available for the
Gamecocks this week for his first action of the season. Williams
missed the first four weeks recovering from a broken arm.
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