Smith moving once again
It was announced Tuesday that redshirt sophomore Jamari Smith will move to wide receiver. It is the fourth position of his Gamecock career. Smith was the 11th-best all-purpose back in the nation in the 2013 recruiting class. He came to South Carolina as a running back and alternated between that and cornerback his freshman year before missing his sophomore campaign with a broken foot. Smith logged 14 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown as a tailback before moving to the defensive backfield as both a corner and safety. Smith will wear No. 83.
Injury update
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Mitch and redshirt freshman receivers Terry Googer and Deebo Samuel all returned to practice Tuesday after being injured in last Thursday’s contest against North Carolina. Sophomore defensive tackle Dante Sawyer was held out of practice with a hamstring injury and sophomore cornerback Chris Lammons sat out with sore ribs. Fifth-year senior running back Brandon Wilds participated in drills, but wore a noncontact yellow jersey on Tuesday. Wilds injured his shoulder against North Carolina.
SEC football makes history
The AP Top 25 Poll was released Tuesday and a record 10 SEC teams made the rankings. Alabama (2), Auburn (6), Georgia (10), LSU (14), Texas A&M (16), Ole Miss (17), Arkansas (18), Missouri (20), Tennessee (23) and Mississippi State (25) all made the Top 25. The SEC previously set the record with eight last season and matched that in the 2015 preseason poll. Texas A&M and Mississippi State entered the Top 25 to join the other eight teams.
Big weekend for Gamecock athletics
In addition to the first home football game of the season, the volleyball, men and women’s soccer and men’s golf teams are all in action. It will be the golf team’s first action of the season; they were ranked seventh in Golfweek’s Preseason Countdown after finishing a historical season in the spring. The volleyball team will be in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for a weekend tournament, playing matches against Pittsburgh, Michigan and Western Michigan on Friday and Saturday. Men’s soccer will travel to Wilmington for a game with UNCW while the women’s team will begin their SEC slate with a road contest against Georgia.
Student ticketing up and running
Student ticket requests for Saturday’s home opener against Kentucky opened Tuesday at 9 a.m. Football tickets are awarded in a hierarchical fashion based on the amount of loyalty points each student possesses. The limited number of tickets will be given to the students with the highest amounts of points, regardless of the time requested, until there are only a few tickets left. All remaining students will be put into a lottery system for the last few tickets. On Friday at 4 p.m. on-demand tickets will be released. Any student, regardless of points, can then attempt to claim one from a limited number of tickets.