Swamp thing: Gamecocks get ready for loud welcome

ON THE BEAT: South Carolina

COLUMBIA — As Steve Spurrier correctly pointed out Tuesday, the road for South Carolina is about to get a lot more crowded. And louder.

The three previous trips away from Williams-Brice this year have been to three of the four SEC stadiums that hold fewer than 70,000 people — Vanderbilt (39,773), Ole Miss (60,580) and Kentucky (67,606). (Mississippi State is the other.)

Florida and its 88,000-plus reptilians certainly do not quality. The Swamp, along with LSU's Tiger Stadium, is arguably the loudest venue in college football, much less the league.

"You can hear the fans breathing down your neck," USC senior linebacker Jasper Brinkley said.

Fullback Pat DiMarco, an Orlando-area native, grew up a Gators fan going to games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

"It's Florida. I grew up in the Swamp," he said. "It's going to be my first time running out on the field, wearing a different color than orange and blue. It's going to be pretty intense."

Left tackle Jarriel King said earlier in the year he thought Vandy was loud. Yes, Vandy.

"I just don't want to get a false-start penalty," the North Charleston native said. "I know I can't hear half the time. When we were at Ole Miss, I thought it was loud. Vanderbilt was loud, to me. I'm saying for me."

King was coming from junior college ball.

"Some games were like high school, it felt like," he said. "It's been an adjustment. I've got it pretty good now."

Technically, the Gamecocks are doing what they can this week in practice to get ready for the crowd.

"Well, we understand we're not going to get to hear much," Spurrier said. "Our quarterbacks will pick their foot up when we're trying to snap it in the shotgun or all kind of stuff. If you go audible, you better do it with some hand signals. Won't be able to hear audibles. Other than that, our guys just go play. Just go play and enjoy being in a big-time college football game."

Spurrier said this week, too, that the possible play-by-play quarterback rotation might help to negate some of the noise, since he's sending in calls with the player.

Getting thin

The USC secondary was already thin for the first half because of free safety Chris Culliver's suspension for fighting, and now there's some doubt about his backup. Freshman Akeem Auguste's sprained ankle has gotten worse this week. It's up in the air whether he'll play.

"He's a wait-and-see (guy)," Spurrier said. "It's a concern. We're a little low on DBs right now."

If Auguste can't go, coordinator Ellis Johnson said spur Darian Stewart might go back to safety and converted receiver Dion LeCorn would fill in at spur.

Johnson said the secondary's depth is "precarious" at this point.

The return game could also be hurt by the injuries. Culliver is the primary kickoff returner. Auguste is another option. The other, Captain Munnerlyn, has been limited in practice and games by a foot injury. Senior receiver Kenny McKinley was fielding kicks earlier in the week.

Additionally, Spurrier said that receiver Moe Brown has a sprained knee. His status for the Florida game is also in question.

More on line

Reactions have varied about USC being a 21-point underdog. Some, like Spurrier, have said they aren't surprised at all. Some are using it as fuel this week.

"It kind of pumped me up a little bit," DiMarco said. "It showed me that people don't really believe in us. I mean, we're 7-3 right now. That's a pretty darned good year. And a couple of those games we lost could've gone both ways. We could be up close to Florida, but it didn't turn our way."

More DiMarco

Florida recruited DiMarco, to some degree, and it's floating around that Gators coach Urban Meyer has expressed some mild regret that DiMarco didn't wind up on his team.

"It gives me a little more fire going in to play them," he said. "I can't wait to go in there and play them tough."

In the end, really, fullback isn't a position that comes in handy in Meyer's offense.

"I love it here," DiMarco said. "It fits me perfectly. Coming in and not really knowing where I was going to play, things have turned out great. This was the right spot for me."

— Travis Haney

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