Spurrier leaning on Strickland as No. 2 to Shaw; Sanders separates as top receiver
There may not be a quarterback competition this year for the first time in head coach Steve Spurrier’s tenure at South Carolina, but that doesn’t mean the position is free from his criticism.
As it often is during the spring, the offense has lagged behind the defense thus far. However, for Spurrier, the offense — particularly the quarterbacks — has been too far behind the defense and has not put forth enough effort. Spurrier’s frustration with his quarterbacks reached a boiling point last Tuesday when he used the words “pitiful” and “sad” to describe his signal callers approximately five times in a span of less than a minute when talking to the media.
“They all looked pretty average, pretty sad,” Spurrier said of the quarterbacks. “They like to run around and take sacks.”
According to Spurrier, Thursday’s practice was a bit better for the offense, but as always, there is room for improvement.
“Connor (Shaw) improved a bit today and Dylan (Thompson) and Seth (Strickland) threw some good ones,” Spurrier said. “Still not as good as we need to be overall. We’re working at it.”
Shaw solidified himself as the starter this year by leading the Gamecocks to seven wins in his eight starts last season. The backup spot is still up in the air though, as Strickland, Thompson and freshman Tanner McEvoy are all competing to capture the No. 2 spot.
Incoming freshman Brendan Nosovitch will further complicate things when he arrives in the fall.
Coming into the spring, Thompson, a redshirt sophomore, was listed as the backup to Shaw. Now, however, fifth-year senior Strickland seems to be the only quarterback that Spurrier has been pleased with this spring.
“Seth is in legitimate running (to be No. 2),” Spurrier said. “He knows where to throw it and he is a real smart kid. I wish he had a little more zip on the ball, but he knows what to do.”
Strickland, who hails from Laurens, S.C., has served as the Gamecock’s field goal and PAT holder for the past season. In his 26-game career, Strickland is 2-2 for 15 yards and a touchdown, with the score coming two seasons ago against Troy.
Spurrier had hoped for improvement out of his other quarterbacks during the second spring scrimmage last Saturday, but after its completion, he was still frustrated.
“Offense didn’t throw the ball around as well as we’d hoped,” Spurrier said. “But the receivers didn’t catch the ball as well as we’d hoped and the protection wasn’t as good as we had hoped. I hope we don’t have to run the ball all the time next year, but if we can’t throw it very well that’s what we’ll do because we can’t take sacks. Connor must have taken four sacks out of ten passes thrown, so he has to throw the ball somewhere. The other quarterbacks weren’t really accurate. It was not all that encouraging.”
Running back troubles:
After walk-on halfback Dwayne Duckett went down with an ankle injury during Thursday’s practice, Carolina finds itself searching for another running back to carry some of the load during spring. The team will likely move over a receiver while Duckett is out.
The ace of the group:
Rising junior wide receiver Ace Sanders continued his impressive spring showing during Saturday’s scrimmage. Spurrier said he is looking for Sanders to have a breakout year this season.
“Ace is our best receiver so far, no question about that,” Spurrier said. “Ace has physically really improved his body. He really had an exceptionable winter workout. We told him the other day that we might have to throw the jump ball to him. He might be 5 feet 7 inches, but he can come down with it, maybe better than anybody we got right now.”