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South Carolina Prepares for UCF
COLUMBIA, S.C – No.
12/13 South Carolina (2-1, 1-1 SEC) continued workouts at the Bluff
Road practice fields Thursday afternoon in preparation for Saturday’s
contest at UCF (3-0). Kickoff for the contest is 12:07 p.m. with
the game televised nationally on ABC and available on the Gamecock
Radio Network from IMG College. Saturday’s game at Bright House
Networks Stadium is a sellout (45,323).
“They have good
football players,” said South Carolina defensive coordinator Lorenzo
Ward. “It starts with the quarterback (Blake Bortles). He
is a very good reader of defenses. He gets a pre-snap read and he
knows where he is going with the football. He is very agile, can
run with the football. He has a lot of big play capabilities.”
Ward noted its not just Bortles but the entire offense that will present a challenge to the Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon.
“(They
have a) great tailback that transferred from the University of Miami
(Storm Johnson),” said Ward. “The offensive line is very
solid. They have a good offensive football team. We
definitely can’t let them have big plays running the football, so first
and foremost, we want to stop the run.”
Coach Ward indicated
that sophomore linebacker Cedrick Cooper will be available to play on
Saturday. Cooper is expected to see time at the WILL linebacker
position.
“He is probably going to play WILL,” said
Ward. “He has had three real good days at WILL linebacker.
I think Marcquis (Roberts) will start, he is (one of the team’s)
captains in the ballgame but Cedrick will play.”
South
Carolina’s defense limited Vanderbilt to just 268 total offensive yards
in the 35-25 win on September 14, 2013 in the team’s last game.
Coach Ward is hopeful that the team’s defensive performance will
continue to improve.
“I think we played better in that
ballgame, especially early,” noted Ward. “I think we got a little
relaxed when we got the lead, which we can’t do, because anybody can
come back and beat you, hopefully we can take that same (starting)
effort that we had in the last game … The bottom line is we have to
take care of us. If we go out and play the way we are capable of
playing, we have a great chance to win the ballgame. If we go
down there and play the way we played the last time we were on the
road, then it is going to be a long day.”
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