Shaw sees SEC speed at first practice

For anyone who thought Connor Shaw would show up at his first practice and step immediately into the backup quarterback role, Thursday’s shorts-and-helmets workout served as a reminder that making the jump from high school to the SEC remains a big leap.

Think Shaun White on the half-pipe big.

It’s not that Shaw was bad. He just looked young, especially when he stood next to Stephen Garcia, who was sporting a thick beard to go with his thick chest and shoulders.

Shaw was listed as 6-1, 192 pounds when he signed with the Gamecocks. The updated roster has him at 6-foot, 199 pounds.

He’s had two months in USC’s weight program. He’ll get bigger and stronger with time.

Shaw had his moments. Steve Spurrier, who puts a huge emphasis on throwing mechanics, said the ball comes out of Shaw’s hand “pretty nicely.”

It did not always maintain its spiral after it left his hand, however. The wind made throwing tough at times. Garcia had a couple balls flutter on him, as well.

Shaw’s welcome-to-the-big-time moment came on the final snap of practice, when strong safety Damario Jeffery made a good break and stepped in front of a Shaw pass for what likely would have been a pick-six in a real game.

Jeffery was primarily a special teams player last year as a freshman, finishing with 15 tackles in 12 games.

But the Columbia High graduate is big and strong and fast – the kind of athletic player that Shaw will be facing every week in the SEC.

No one is suggesting after one practice that Shaw won’t be successful – only that the learning curve in this league is steep, even for a high school coach’s son.

But Shaw will have his shot.

“He got a lot of snaps,” Spurrier said. “And he’s going to continue to get a bunch of snaps.”

Football has sprung early

Are you ready for some football?

If you’re a USC player or assistant coach, you’d better be, after Steve Spurrier surprised everyone today by deciding to move up the start of spring practice.

Rather than wait until after next week’s spring break, Spurrier wants to take advantage of the good weather forecast later in the week and open spring drills Thursday.

The Gamecocks are scheduled to resume practice March 16, with the spring game still set for 4 p.m. on April 10.

I’ll have a longer spring preview later in the week, but here are a couple of nuggets:

–Fullback Pat DiMarco is going to get work at tight end this spring. The thinking is two-fold: Get a guy who has proven he can make plays more involved in the offense, and make it harder for defensive coordinators to scheme against the Gamecocks based on their personnel sets.

DiMarco will not supplant Weslye Saunders, whom ESPN NFL draft guru Mel Kiper ranks as his top returning tight end prospect. But it gives the offense another dimension.

–The most popular reader question from ’09 – Will Spurrier put receivers Tori Gurley and Alshon Jeffery on the field at the same time? – apparently has been answered.

Media relations director Steve Fink said one of the two (he wasn’t sure which) has switched spots, giving Stephen Garcia two tall targets to choose from.

–A couple more defensive players (both reserves) will miss spring with injuries. Defensive lineman Ronald Byrd continues to recover from knee surgery, while linebacker Reggie Bowens is out after shoulder surgery.

That means more snaps for a few other young, unproven players, and likely some interesting lineups when Ellis Johnson has to field a third-team unit (think last spring game when long snapper Matt Grooms and backup O-lineman Ryan Broadhead) were thrown in on the D-line.

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Unrelated note: ESPN’s Bruce Feldman tweeted today that USC All-American LB Eric Norwood ran an unofficial 4.67 in the 40 today at the NFL combine in Indy.

The 6-foot-1 Norwood weighed in at 245 pounds – a good sign for a former DE whom some scouts believed was a little heavy at times at USC.

As of Monday evening, the NFL’s top results page from the combine did not have Norwood’s official 40 time listed.

Former Gamecocks DE Clifton Geathers was measured at 6-7 and 299 pounds (he was listed at 6-8 and 281 at USC). Geathers was still the biggest end in Indy after Northwestern’s Corey Wootton came in at 6-6 and 270.

Spurrier on Jim Rome

Steve Spurrier looked tanned and rested Friday during his appearance on Jim Rome’s “Rome is Burning” show on ESPN.

Spurrier taped the segment from Orlando, where he is attending an ESPN powwow at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.

There was some good TV karma working: Spurrier’s appearance came during the second intermission of Team USA’s fin-kicking of Finland in the men’s hockey semifinals.

Rome brought up the subject of USC’s Papajohns.com Bowl loss to UConn, which Spurrier last month called one of three most embarrassing defeats of his career.

“I think UConn just smacked us in the ground, pretty much,” Spurrier said. “I give coach Randy Edsall and his guys all the credit for being better emotionally ready to play. … They just acted like they wanted to play more than we did.”

Mentioning USC’s so-so history, Spurrier told Rome that he would have tied Lou Holtz as the Gamecocks’ winningest bowl coach (with two Ws) had the Gamecocks beaten UConn.

As for making history at USC, Spurrier said he still believes he can win the school’s first SEC title.

“South Carolina’s a school that’s got a lot of potential. I really believe we do have a chance there,” he said. “I know it’s a tough league. But we’re hoping we can put together that one special year and hopefully win a conference championship there at South Carolina.”

Rome asked about the “meat grinder” that can take a toll on coaches, referencing Urban Meyer, and the 64-year-old Spurrier said he thinks he’s stayed healthy by maintaining outside interests (i.e., golf, which he said he plays four to five months a year).

Spurrier, who joked that it’s been a while since he’s been known as a quarterbacks guru, said this about Tim Tebow:

“Once he tightens up that throwing motion, which it appears he has quite a bit, then it has to become a habit. I think he might be a first-round pick. If he tightens up that throwing motion a little bit, we know he’s got all the other intangibles that great quarterbacks have.”

Spurrier being Spurrier, he couldn’t resist taking a little dig at Rome.

As the segment was wrapping, Spurrier smiled and said: “I know sometimes you give me a little crap, but sometimes we all deserve a little bit.”

Culliver, Auguste trading places

A few offseason odds and ends, all of which happen to involve the defense:

–Defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward, who coaches corners and free safeties, said the plan is to have Chris Culliver and Akeem Auguste swap positions this spring.

The hope is that by moving to corner, Culliver will have less wear and tear on his twice-repaired shoulder. And while Auguste was solid at corner last season, he is an aggressive player whose collision skills translate well to the free safety position.

Of course, Culliver will not get any work at corner or safety this spring after his most recent shoulder surgery. He is one of a number of prominent defensive players who will be sitting out spring drills (Cliff Matthews, Travian Robertson and Rodney Paulk also are coming off surgeries).

Don’t look for Ladi Ajiboye to do much, either. The defensive tackle is healthy – and D-line coach Brad Lawing intends to keep it that way.

“If I get Ladi hurt in the spring, I’m dumb,” Lawing said.

–USC coaches are seeking a medical hardship waiver for seldom-used corner Addison Williams. That would allow the junior from Atlanta to remain at school and serve as a player-coach, although his scholarship would not be counted against the 85-schollie limit.

–Former USC linebacker Eric Norwood expects big things from Shaq Wilson, his likely successor at the weakside spot: “Shaq can play any position on that back seven, except for cornerback and stuff. Shaq, he’s a baller. He has been since he stepped in.”

Wilson filled in admirably at middle linebacker last fall after Paulk went down with a season-ending knee injury in the opener at N.C. State. Despite giving up a lot of size to the guards and centers assigned to block him, the 5-11, 210-pound Wilson led USC with 85 tackles – four more than Norwood.

Meanwhile, Norwood predicted Paulk would have to fight Josh Dickerson for the starting spot in the middle. Dickerson finished among the Gamecocks’ top 10 tacklers in 2009 after transferring from junior college (and injuring his shoulder in last year’s spring game).

“Josh came on strong through the middle of the season when he started picking up that defense and getting more comfortable,” Norwood said.

Geathers talks about NFL decision

Talked to Clifton Geathers this week for a story that’s running in tomorrow’s editions.

As far as I know, it’s the first time Geathers has spoken publicly since leaving USC last month to enter the NFL draft. Geathers never had any kind of press conference at the time, and – as Steve Spurrier noted – he turned his cell phone off and stopped taking calls.

Geathers insisted he talked to all of his coaches, Spurrier included, before leaving town. As it was explained to me, Geathers called Spurrier to tell him he was leaning toward leaving, but never called back with the definitive word.

In any event, the 6-8, 281-pound Geathers has been working out in Pensacola, Fla., getting ready for the combine. He will join former USC linebacker Eric Norwood and strong safety Darian Stewart in Indy this weekend (more on those two Thursday).

USC associate athletics director Charles Waddell, a former NFL player and executive who advised Geathers to stay for his final year, said the defensive end was concerned about the risk of injury, having seen what happened to Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford.

Anyone who has ever stood next to Geathers can vouch for his “measurables.” He is a big, big man whom Waddell says is a legitimate 6-7, 6-8.

Asked if he considered whether this was a particularly strong or lean crop of defensive ends before he jumped in the draft pool, Geathers said: “I don’t look at other defensive ends because, really, I know I’m bigger than all the other defensive ends.”

Northwestern’s Corey Wootton, who also will be in Indy, is listed at 6-7, 280.

But Geathers, projected by most experts to be a late-round pick, knows he can’t just lay down at the combined after he steps on the scale and is measured.

“You can have the great frame, but if you don’t have the athletic ability, then you won’t make it anywhere,” he said.

Spurrier theorized last month that Geathers was influenced by his brother, Cincinnati Bengals DE Robert Geathers Jr., who was a fourth-round pick in 2004 after leaving Georgia a year early. Three years later, the Bengals gave Geathers Jr. a six-year contract extension worth $33.7 million.

“His brother was not projected real high. And got drafted, made the team and has made a lot of money. So when he looks at that, Clifton’s going to say, ‘That’s me right there,’” Spurrier said.

But Geathers said the decision to leave ultimately was his.

“They were a big part of my decision,” he said. “But once again, it was left up to me.”