Spurrier not convinced with air attack despite ECU performance 
After tallying just one reception all of last season, sophomore wide receiver Damiere Byrd’s disappointment over his personal production was in his head throughout the entire offseason.
“I used that as motivation,” Byrd said.
With a 53-yard catch on the first drive of the 48-10 win over East Carolina, Byrd’s sting from 2011 was wiped from his memory. The long pass also quelled the concerns about the passing game, as the Gamecocks finished with 397 yards in the air, all starting with quarterback Dylan Thompson’s completion to Byrd.
Though it marked a significant improvement from the 67 yards passing at Vanderbilt, head coach Steve Spurrier wasn’t entirely sold on his offense, pointing out all of the ways it can improve this week, even though no one seems to know who will be the starting quarterback. Usual starter Connor Shaw is recovering from a deep shoulder bruise he suffered in the season opener.
On his call-in show on Thursday night, Spurrier said Shaw would be a game-time decision again this week.
“We threw a lot of balls that we had a chance to hit that didn’t quite hit,” Spurrier said. “Our pass route running was not real good so we’re still working on it to see if we can become a good passing team. Again, we haven’t proved too much yet. We’ll find out if we can throw against these guys.”
After Vanderbilt, Spurrier said he wasn’t able to evaluate the performance of the receiving corps because there weren’t enough passes thrown to be caught, but Byrd said the receivers worked on not peeking before their breaks in the routes and on getting their “full depth.”
“We definitely want to keep it going. Every game, I feel like our offense needs that one play to spark momentum,” Byrd said.
“The more completions you throw, the more passes you get to throw and the more guys get the ball, so it flows one way or the other pretty quickly,” wide receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. said.
Byrd and wide receiver Bruce Ellington said it doesn’t make a difference which quarterback starts for the receivers in the preparation during the week. Byrd went so far as to say he didn’t even know which quarterbacks were throwing during practice.
“We never really know who’s under center until after the play is over,” Byrd said. “I can never really tell who is back there.”
Ellington, who finished second in receiving against ECU with four catches for 63 yards, said he’s felt more comfortable in the offense this season after practicing against the USC secondary all summer. He also gained 12 pounds in the offseason, going from 185 to 197, so he said he can block and be more physical now.
“Last year, I didn’t really know where people were going to be and how people were going to play me. Watching film, I learned that when it’s an inside route, not peeking and looking inside before I turn,” Ellington said.
“I think he decided, ‘I want to really try to see how good I can become in football, so I better be there all summer with the guys, throwing the ball around,’ and this, that and the other,” Spurrier said. “He did have an excellent game last week.”
As for who will be throwing the ball Saturday, Spurrier said he wouldn’t consider starting Thompson to let Shaw rest and heal for SEC-opponent Missouri because he doesn’t want to discount UAB as an opponent. He’s also not convinced of his own squad after just two games.
“That’s the only thing we need to worry about is trying to play the best we can, try to improve in a lot of areas that we are very mediocre and see if we can’t become a good team soon,” Spurrier said.