Receiver position is wide open
ELGIN — Steve Spurrier was only half-joking Monday when he said junior college transfer Larry Freeman is one of "12 of 13 receivers ready to go."
That's the nature of the position in the wake of Sidney Rice's early departure for the NFL: wide open, with even South Carolina's head coach wondering who's going to step forward in place of one of the school's best ever.
"Sidney should've come back," Spurrier again lamented, "but he didn't. There's not much we can do about that. That's history now."
After saying that, Spurrier seemed to find a silver lining about Rice heading to the NFL draft following his sophomore year.
"Maybe his leaving helped us get two or three of those freshmen," Spurrier said. "Maybe they would've gone somewhere else."
The first-year receivers Spurrier referenced are arguably the centerpieces of the school's Top 10 recruiting class.
Spurrier has mentioned all spring and summer that several, namely Chris Culliver, Jason Barnes, Dion LeCorn and Matt Clements, have a chance to play very soon.
Culliver is a name Spurrier's repeatedly come back to.
And that's interesting considering the 6-1, 194-pound speedster spent the bulk of his time at defensive back at Garner High in Garner, N.C.
"He said he'd love to play receiver, and we said we'd love to have you play receiver," receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. said.
Spurrier Jr. added he'd seen Culliver play receiver "a little bit, but not much" on highlight tapes. He played well at the spot, Spurrier Jr. said, during a high school all-star game in Florida.
Watching Culliver return kicks, as he'll likely do as a freshman for USC, gave the coaching staff faith that his natural athletic ability will lend itself to playing receiver.
"You see him run, and he's this big, strong guy with the ball in his hands," Spurrier Jr. said.
With Culliver perhaps as class of the class, Spurrier Jr. said this is as good of a group of freshman receivers as he remembers seeing. That goes back to a group from Florida that included future pros Reidel Anthony and Ike Hilliard.
Among the returning guys to help fill Rice's void, Spurrier bragged about Kenny McKinley's prospects.
The junior from the Atlanta area caught Spurrier's eye on a highlight reel he watched a few days ago, he said.
"I forgot all the touchdown catches and tough catches he had, coming across the middle for us," Spurrier said. "I think he might have been forgotten about by some people. He might be better than some people think."
What trouble?
Spurrier became a touch offended when a reporter insinuated that the summer had been marred by off-the-field troubles.
Recently, offensive line signee Quintin Richardson was suspended from the team after allegedly being busted with drugs.
Freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia's two winter arrests were well-traveled public fodder.
"I'm going to make a new rule that a guy has to have played at least one down before we talk about it," Spurrier said. "These guys, they get to town and hear everyone talking so good about them. Let's wait until they play to talk about them."
Open and shut case
If it were up to him, Spurrier sounded like he'd be fine keeping his practices open to the media. But, he said since the rest of the college football world has closed its doors, he figured he'd better do the same.
"Everybody's closing now," he said, "so I don't want to be the only one that's open."
Some practices will be open to the media, and scrimmages on Aug. 11 and 18 at Williams-Brice Stadium will be open for fans.
This and that
Tight end signee Mat Williams left the team last week and won't be back, Spurrier said. ... The Gamecocks are still working to get defensive back recruit Akeem Auguste in school. The Hollywood, Fla., native was initially denied and an appeal has been filed. Some official word will be known in the coming days. ... Given the depth at running back with Cory Boyd and Mike Davis, Spurrier said freshman Brian Maddox is a strong candidate for a redshirt. ... Following the popular "Cock 'n' Fire" cabernet sauvignon, Spurrier unveiled his "Head Ball Coach" chardonnay Monday.
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