Culliver out against Arkansas

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina safety Chris Culliver has fallen into a gray area between injury and suspension.

Either way, he's not going to play Saturday at Arkansas. He's not even making the trip.

"Hopefully, he'll come back next week and his shoulder will be fine and he can play like he played earlier in the year," coach Steve Spurrier said Tuesday during his weekly news conference. "That's what we're hoping will happen."

Culliver, a junior, joins a mounting list of sidelined defensive starters. That's four, if you go back to the opener at North Carolina State.

Middle linebacker Rodney Paulk and defensive tackle Travian Robertson are both out for the year because of knee injuries.

Cliff Matthews could miss the rest of the regular season after dislocating his left shoulder this past week. His status will be evaluated next week. He was wearing a sling at practice Monday night.

And then there's Culliver, who injured himself during pregame warmups at Tennessee.

Lorenzo Ward, who coaches the corners and free safeties, asked Culliver if he was OK.

Culliver said he was. But it was obvious during the game that he wasn't.

Ward said Culliver got himself out of position several times trying to protect his left shoulder, which was surgically repaired during the offseason.

Ward thought it might be due to the wet conditions, learning later that Culliver was hurting the team by playing hurt.

"We had a little talk with our team that if you have an injury and you can't perform, you need to tell the coaches," Spurrier said. "If that was the biggest problem, and we think it was, it was certainly embarrassing for all of us. We don't like it, and I don't like it. Hopefully, that will not happen again."

Sophomore Akeem Auguste will start in Culliver's place at free safety.

Auguste has played primarily corner, but Ward was tinkering before the season with the idea of switching Auguste and Culliver.

When Culliver returns, presumably next week against Florida, he could be at corner.

Culliver is third on the team in total tackles with 49. He leads the Gamecocks with seven pass breakups. He also has a sack and a fumble recovery this season.

Auguste has 26 tackles and two pass breakups, but his season was curtailed by a three-game suspension.

Sophomore Antonio Allen, who played some last week at strong safety, has experience playing both safety spots.

Sophomore C.C. Whitlock and freshman Stephon Gilmore will start at the corner spots.

Freshman DeVonte Holloman is expected to again start at strong safety, even though he's been limited at practice early this week with a sore shoulder.

Detecting a theme? It's a secondary laden with underclassmen.

Despite all the shuffling already, the Gamecocks are still second in the SEC -- and third in the country -- in pass defense (141.3 yards a game). They're less than three yards a game behind Florida for first in the league.

But, even though it's been a strength this season, it's still not ideal to be a man down in the secondary. Not with Ryan Mallett and Arkansas leading the conference, by a healthy margin, in passing offense.

The cannon-armed Mallett and the Hogs are putting up 295 yards a game through the air. South Carolina is second, but with 237 yards a game.

It was against 0-8 Eastern Michigan, but Arkansas just scored 63 points in a game.

South Carolina has put up 61 points in the past four games.

"I think we've got so many weapons that they can't concentrate on one or two of our guys," Mallett said. "We've got about 10 guys that can take it to the house at any time. That's a great problem to have, always, especially as a quarterback."

Make no mistake, though. The 6-5 Mallett is the guy who makes the offense go.

He grew up an Arkansas fan, but initially wound up at Michigan. Mallett transferred home when pass-happy Bobby Petrino took over the program.

After sitting out a year, Mallett leads the SEC in passing yards a game and total offense, and he's second in passing efficiency (153.1).

Last week, he completed 14 of 16 passes for 249 yards and three scores, including a 78-yarder.

Mallett has thrown for 2,151 yards and 18 touchdowns.

"He may be the best passer," Spurrier said. "He's probably leading the conference in most of the passing statistics. He could be the best passer we've faced, definitely."

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com and check out the South Carolina blog at www.postandcourier.com/blogs/gamecocks.