LeCorn looks for bowl time

COLUMBIA -- It became clear well before the season that this wasn't going to be the junior year that Dion LeCorn wanted.

The South Carolina receiver broke his leg on the final play of the team's spring game.

It's been a tough road back ever since.

"It's just been kind of aggravating," LeCorn said last week, "but I'm trying to keep my head up about it."

LeCorn rehabbed through preseason camp and was eventually able to start practicing just before the season.

He played some Sept. 12 at Georgia and in the three games that followed. But something was still slowing him down.

Doctors shut LeCorn down, saying he would likely need more surgery to get the area right.

After debating, with LeCorn stuck in the middle, eventually surgery wasn't required. He continued to rehab, but the leg never got healthy enough for him to play.

"He's had a tough year," receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. said last week. "He rehabbed as hard as he could, but it still hurt. Then they said they might do something, they might not. Then he had to sit through that for a while. We're trying to get him full speed and ready to go."

LeCorn still has a slight limp, but he said he expects to be healthy enough to play against UConn in Saturday's Papajohns.com Bowl. Spurrier Jr. wants him to play.

"I actually just miss him because he's tough," Spurrier Jr. said. "He's the toughest guy. He's the only guy I've got that will go in there and hit."

Meyer mentions Spurrier

Urban Meyer's cryptic news conference Sunday about his future at Florida ended with Meyer talking about, of all people, Steve Spurrier.

Minutes after announcing he'd take an indefinite leave to deal with health issues, Meyer was asked if he planned to talk with the former Florida quarterback and coach.

Meyer responded with a dazed sort of look and twice repeated that he'd give the Ball Coach a call -- presumably to see how he's dealt in his career with stress.

Spurrier will talk today after practice about Meyer's decision.

Banditball

Spurrier knows Legion Field, site of this week's Papajohns.com Bowl, better from his days in the USFL than the SEC.

Spurrier was the Tampa Bay Bandits' coach from 1983-85.

When you beat the Birmingham Stallions at their place? You'd done something.

"They were tough," Spurrier said. "They beat us more than we beat them. We used to beat the Philadelphia Stars, but Birmingham ... those guys were tough."

Oddly, Spurrier took his team to Legion Field for consecutive road games in 1984. After playing the regular season finale there, the Bandits went back for a playoff game the following week. It's where their season ended.

Spurrier last took Florida to Legion Field for the 1993 SEC title game, a victory against Alabama.

'Too many sacks'

A 2009 sore spot: South Carolina allowed 34 sacks in 12 games this season, 11th in the SEC (one fewer than LSU).

Who's to blame? The offensive line always gets its fair share, but Stephen Garcia had a role, also.

"We take too many sacks," Spurrier said. "It's up to the quarterback to get rid of the ball. Sometimes you can't help it, but when you hesitate, hesitate, hesitate and take a sack? That's not real smart."

Getting tricky

There have been a few tricks for USC throughout the year, but the Gamecocks didn't regularly break out anything too wild during the regular season.

Perhaps for the bowl?

"I read somewhere that if you use trickery, you're not a very good team," Spurrier said. "We use a few here and there, but that's it."