USC Quarterbacks Mitch, Nunez Recovering
COLUMBIA, S.C. (October 21, 2015) – Interim head coach Shawn Elliott put the South Carolina football team through a nearly two-hour workout on Wednesday afternoon at the new Gamecock Park practice fields. The Gamecocks (3-4, 1-4 SEC) have their lone bye week of the season this week. The bye week came at an opportune time for the Gamecock offense, as they try to get healthy for the final five games of the season, especially at the quarterback position, where both Connor Mitch and Lorenzo Nuñez have been hampered by shoulder injuries. Perry Orth has also been limited this week with a sore shoulder, but is expected to be fine when the team returns to practice on Monday. “We‘re just trying to get them all healthy,” said quarterback coach G.A. Mangus. “Right now we‘re just rotating the ones that have been healthy. Lorenzo Nuñez did a little bit more today. Perry (Orth) didn‘t do any throwing today. Connor (Mitch) is back. He‘s getting stronger. We‘re just rotating them now, trying to play a lot of young guys. That‘s what these weeks are all about.” Coach Mangus was pleased with Orth‘s performance against Vanderbilt. “He played good,” noted Mangus. “It was his best one of the year. He threw the ball to the right guy. He made a couple mistakes obviously. All in all, he threw the ball well, got into a couple good checks and graded out high. That‘s what we need here going forward, that‘s for sure.” The Gamecocks have been frustrated by their inability to score touchdowns in the redzone. “We‘ve got to execute better,” said Mangus. “We had chances and opportunities and we got to make the best of those. We can‘t afford to overthrow people when they‘re open and drop the ball when it hits our hands.” Mangus handled all of the play-calling on Saturday. “I thought our tempo helped us,” he said of his attack that generated over 400 yards of offense. “We ran the ball better, got loose and had some runs. Brandon (Wilds) had 100 yards. David (Williams) had his best game of the year. We got into some more two-back stuff. I thought going faster and getting some up-tempo helped us. I think these guys enjoy that and that‘s the way we‘re practicing. We‘ll continue to use that to our advantage.” The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Thursday morning before breaking for the weekend.
