Gamecocks go indoors for final tuneup

Like any good leader, South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp liked to be prepared for all possibilities.

So when Mother Nature blessed the Gamecocks with good weather for 13 straight practices of good weather this spring, Muschamp decided to mix it up Thursday during the final tune-up for the spring game and utilize the new indoor practice facility.

"Just a little changeup," Muschamp said. "We have not practiced inside all spring and so I like to practice things. And we're going to do that in August, so I would like to have been in here with our team before we start in fall camp. I like to prepare. I'm a little bit weird about stuff like that."

Saturday's Garnet and Black spring game, which kicks off at noon and will be televised on the SEC Network, won't feature a true "Garnet" or "Black" team, but it still provides an opportunity for players to show what they can do in front of a large crowd.

"We're just going to roll offense vs. defense, good on good." Muschamp said. "A great evaluation for us. We're really, really looking forward to it."

South Carolina will be without two scholarship quarterbacks in the game as Perry Orth (broken collarbone) and Lorenzo Nunez (knee injury) will be held out. The staff had originally hoped that Nunez would be able to return this week.

"He has come out and thrown a good bit in pre-practice stuff, but he's not been cleared to run around," Muschamp said of Nunez. "He's moving around pretty good on it. He's throwing the ball well. But just as far as the contact - of course the quarterbacks won't be live Saturday - but regardless, we're not going to put him out there."

Former Texas head coach Mack Brown, who Muschamp worked under in Austin as a defensive coordinator/head-coach-in-waiting, was at Thursday's workout and addressed the team at the end.

"Three of the best years of my life were with Coach Brown coaching there and working for him," Muschamp said. "He and I have stayed in touch. He's going to call our game Saturday. But took over at Tulane, took over at North Carolina and took over at Texas, and built every one of those programs to great success. That was kind of his message, about coming into a new situation and adapting to a new staff and some of the things that he went through."

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