Tight end Anderson, wideouts Ellington, Moore shine in win 
The role of wide receivers, according to Bruce Ellington, is to simply catch the ball. And although it may seem like the sophomore was explaining the obvious, the South Carolina receiving corps, which played a minimal role during the first week of the season, did exactly what Ellington said on Saturday afternoon.
After USC won its season-opener at Vanderbilt on the strength of its rushing game, the receivers took advantage of the opportunity to play starring roles in the Gamecocks’ 48-10 victory over East Carolina.
“As receivers, we want to catch the ball,” Ellington said. “We know we can block, but we still want to catch it. That’s what receivers do. It built our confidence up, and we’ll go into practice next week and get ready for the next game.”
Ellington had four receptions for 63 yards, including two catches for 40 yards in South Carolina’s second scoring drive. Only sophomore tight end Rory Anderson had more receiving yards on the day.
Anderson led the Gamecocks with four catches for 90 yards, including two touchdowns. The second was a 51-yard pass thrown by redshirt senior Seth Strickland, who played quarterback in USC’s final drive of the game.
“It felt good to go out there and catch a couple of balls,” Anderson said. “We didn’t really get the ball a lot [against Vanderbilt], but we’ve been working all season and all off-season.”
Ellington and Anderson were both part of a group of receivers that went to visit sophomore quarterback Dylan Thompson in his hotel room on Saturday morning, giving him confidence prior to his first career start. Freshman wide receiver Shaq Roland said the group told Thompson to do the same things he did throughout the week to prepare for ECU.
“We knew he was capable of it,” Roland said. “We just told him to relax and focus.”
Roland, playing his first career game, finished with two receptions for 25 yards. His first catch as a Gamecock came in the final minute of the third quarter, while the second came on the first play in the fourth as part of the drive that gave South Carolina a 41-3 lead.
“When I first went out there, I was a little nervous,” Roland said. “After the first catch, I was relaxed and confident, and everything went well ... I was very excited. I knew a lot of my family would come out and support me. It’s just a great feeling to get in and make my first catch.”
In a breakout game for USC’s passing offense, the receivers enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to a USC win.
“We want the ball,” Ellington said. “We want to throw it around. It’s great just to catch the ball and make plays, be part of the offense and get everybody into the game ... It’s just fun to be out there as a team and win.”