Practice Report:Offensive line has work to do

The Gamecocks offensive line is under some pressure to get better this week as they prepare for Missouri. There could be some personnel changes in the lineup this weekend, but the main thing Offensive Line Coach Shawn Elliott wants to see is improvement.

As preparations continue for this week's SEC matchup against Missouri, South Carolina is still searching for answers on the offensive line.

Offensive line coach Shawn Elliott said he wasn't pleased with the effort from his group this past Saturday. The Gamecocks have been working on changes to the scheme in recent weeks and may be looking at making some personnel changes as well.

“Right now I haven’t decided. I’m going to go in here and watch this tape and see who’s putting forth the effort. There are some battles going on. I would anticipate some changes. I’m just not real sure at this point if I want to bring that out in the open.”

While Coach Elliott wouldn't confirm any changes to personnel on Wednesday night, he did offer up one change he'd like to see this weekend.

“I can tell you about the changes we’re going to make. Hopefully we’re going to go out there and block somebody’s tail off Saturday night instead of laying around on the football field like we did last week. That’s about the gist of the changes I can tell you.”

Even with the struggles on the offensive line, Coach Elliott said that his group has worked extremely hard this week to get better. They've focused on making the necessary corrections and working on motivating these players as well.

“We’ve worked our butt off. We focused on doing things the correct way and we tried to get some motivation and some excitement in these guys. We didn’t have to go out and do wholesale changes as far as preparation. I just think the importance needed to be brought out to them a little bit.”

All these changes to the offensive line, whether it's scheme, personnel, or motivation, won't be known until that final whistle has blown Saturday. It'll be at that point whether or not the Gamecocks will know if the extra effort and attention to detail put in this week will have paid off.

“We won’t know for sure until Saturday evening sometime around 7:30 or 8 o’clock how we did, but I anticipate us coming out there and playing a little bit better ballgame.”

Wednesday Post Practice Notes:

-Wide receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. said Connor Shaw threw the ball extremely well this week in practice, in particular on Monday night. Spurrier Jr. said he was surprised at how well he was able to throw on Monday.

-Spurrier Jr. did say Bruce Ellington was doing fine after he suffered a shoulder sprain in the UAB game this past Saturday.

-Special Teams Coach Joe Robinson said tight end Drew Owens has been cleared to practice and could see some time as early as this weekend against Missouri.

-Coach Robinson said Adam Yates will likely start off as the kickoff specialist for the Gamecocks this weekend. Yates replaced redshirt freshman Landon Ard in the UAB game. So far this season, Yates has six touchbacks out of seven kickoffs as opposed to Ard who has three out of 12 kickoffs.

-Coach Sands says the running back rotation will remain the same this week with Marcus Lattimore the starter followed by Kenny Miles and Mike Davis.