Quick practice recap

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South Carolina football held its second spring practice indoors on Tuesday; the practice was closed to the public and media except for post-practice media availability.

A complete practice report will follow shortly.

The highlights:

Head coach Steve Spurrier said practice so far has gone as expected, with the only injury being a sprained foot from Kane Whitehurst.

Spurrier said backup quarterbacks Connor Mitch (R-Fr.) and Brendan Nosovitch (R-So.) know they're battling for No. 2 behind establish No. 1 Dylan Thompson. Spurrier said Thompson has done everything they've asked him to do, just like Connor Shaw did before him.

Spurrier said of Tuesday's practice that wide receiver Jody Fuller (R-So.) had his best practice as a Gamecock.

Defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said the top two cornerbacks if the team played today would be Sidney Rhodes (Sr.) and Rico McWilliams (R-So.). At the linebacker position, for the spring Ward said Marcquis Roberts (R-So.) was playing middle (Mike) linebacker full time, while Jonathan Walton (So.) was full-time at weakside (Will) linebacker.

Asked if he regretted not redshirting Kelsey Griffin (So.) last year, Ward said he was glad h did play him because of the chance that both Kelcy Quarles and J.T. Surratt (Sr.) could leave for the NFL after the season and he would have been left with a shortage of defensive tackles with game experience.

Defensive line coach Deke Adams said he was pleased with the way Surratt has handled the role of being the line's only senior from a leaderhip standpoint on and off the field. Suratt, who has always been one of the team's strongest players and a leader in the weight room, has taken rsponsibility for showing the younger players how to work, prepare and approach the game.

INJURY REPORT: Starting Mike linebacker Kaiwan Lewis (Jr.) will be limited in Spring practice after minor left knee surgery in the offseason. Senior wide receiver Damiere Byrd should miss most of the Spring recovering from meniscus surgery. Ali Groves won't participate in contact as he recovers from right shoulder surgery. Fullbacks Connor McLaurin (R-Sr.) (broken left fibula in December) and Jordan Diaz (R-Sr.) (left knee injury) won't participate this spring drills as they recover from injury.

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