Two-minute drill with South Carolina wide receiver Bruce Ellington

Berkeley High graduate Bruce Ellington is entering his third year at South Carolina, and second season playing both football and basketball. An NCAA rule change allowed new basketball coach Frank Martin to work out his players for two hours a week during part of the summer, and Ellington participated in one of those hours every week. For now, though, he is solely focused on excelling in his role as USC’s No. 1 slot wide receiver.

Your position coach, Steve Spurrier Jr., said he told you after last season that if you wanted to be a better football player, you had to commit 100 percent to the sport while in football season.

“I do feel like I’m doing a better job (of committing) because I’ve got a whole year of football (experience) and over the summer was just focusing on football. I did a little basketball, but I was just focusing on football out here every day, doing one-on-ones with the team and just becoming a better receiver. So I do feel like I’m going to be a better receiver this year.”

How are you a more complete college receiver, as opposed to an athlete playing receiver?

“I’m learning the defense and I’m learning how to get open and learning how to run my routes to get open. So that’s what makes me a better receiver.”

Have you seen Martin much lately?

“He came out to (football) practice one day and watched us practice, but I haven’t talked to him since then.”

Martin said he gave you DVDs of his pressure defense to watch over the summer.

“(The other basketball players) are going to be way ahead of me, so I’ve got to learn the new system and how he’s going to run it. So he gave me some film just to watch it so I could come in and know how to do it and just jump right in. I haven’t watched any of it yet.”

Based on your brief basketball workouts, what do you think about Martin’s new defense?

“I love that defense because it helps you get after people and helps you get more steals and helps you get your offense running.”

Looking back, what was most jarring about jumping into football last fall after taking a season off from it?

“It’s the SEC and there’s a lot of bigger guys and a lot of guys with the same speed as you. So I’d say just coming in and having the mindset to be tough and just go after people and not be scared and not think you’re faster than everybody, because there’s a lot of fast guys out there.”

As a smaller receiver playing the slot spot, how do you go about blocking a linebacker?

“You can cut (block) him, or sometimes when you’ve got a running back like the running backs we have, you can just get in (the linebacker’s way) and the running backs will cut off your block.”