Shaw ‘gimping;’ Clowney’s foot at 85 percent
When it comes to the specifics of tailback Marcus Lattimore’s serious right knee injury, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is pleading the fifth.
He deferred to Dr. Jeff Guy on whether Lattimore will need more than one surgery for the ligament damage he suffered in the second quarter against Tennessee. Spurrier said in his Sunday teleconference Lattimore had surgery in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday.
“From what [the doctors] all said, the surgery was successful,” Spurrier said in his Tuesday press conference. “Now it’s rehab and rest and so forth. And however long it takes, I think they wait and see. But he’s doing well, and he’s back in Columbia, and I think he’ll be at the game Saturday, so we’re looking forward to that.
“I guess I can already announce that they’re going to put his name on the wall for scoring the most touchdowns and the most rushing touchdowns ... That announcement is either going to be right before the game or between the first and second quarter. Something like that. So I think our fans need to know that Marcus will be here, and I’m sure he’ll get an ovation maybe like there’s never been one at Williams-Brice (Stadium). That’s set to occur this Saturday.”
With injuries stacking up for USC, the bye week came at the perfect time.
Spurrier said quarterback Connor Shaw is a “wait-and-see” for Saturday’s noon game against Arkansas. Shaw has been wearing a boot on the foot he sprained in the Tennessee game.
“He was gimping around last night in practice,” Spurrier said. “He stood in the pocket and caught it and threw a few, but he couldn’t run last night. Hopefully, by the middle of this week, he’ll be full go. But we’ll just have to wait and see. Dylan Thompson is ready. Dylan had a good practice. His injured triceps is, I think, 100-percent well now. But Connor, he’s got a little rehabbing to do before he’s full go for this Saturday. I doubt if he could have played if we’d have had a game last week, with the way he was gimping around last night.”
Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney said he can’t go full speed with his foot sprain, but that he is feeling “85 percent.” Spurrier said he’ll likely have surgery after the season but can play through the pain until then.
“He’s actually got something like D.J. Swearinger had at the end of last year — I think when the season’s over there’s a type of surgery they can do that fixes it,” Spurrier said. “It’s not painful right now, but he doesn’t practice all that much. He practices Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. He goes about half the time, but he’s OK on Saturdays. He’s fine.”
Spurrier said offensive lineman Mike Matulis is out for the season with a shoulder injury.
“I told him the other day, I said, ‘You’ve got to start learning to block him like an offensive lineman instead of a wrestler,’” Spurrier said. “He has a little tendency to try to grab at them or something and gets his shoulder knocked back out of whack. Hopefully he can have successful surgery and start blocking with those hands a little bit more inside. That would help him.”
Defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles practiced Tuesday night after he missed two games with a sprained shoulder, and Spurrier said he should be healthy for the game against Arkansas on Saturday. Spurrier said Brandon Shell was practicing with a sprained ankle, and defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said last week he expected Byron Jerideau to be healthy after he reinjured his ankle sprain against Tennessee.
Secondary coach Grady Brown said Akeem Auguste practiced some on Tuesday, and he’s hopeful he’ll be available for Arkansas.
Election Day: Spurrier started practice an hour early so his “guys that are 21 and so forth” would have a chance to vote after practice.
“A bunch of them had already made their arrangements, those that want to,” Spurrier said. “Us as coaches, we make our own arrangements during the day.”