South Carolina sophomore quarterback Luke Doty had the cast removed from his injured midfoot on Sunday, head coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday, and has progressed to wearing a walking boot.
Beamer added that they have not named a starting quarterback for the season opener on Sept. 4 and are waiting to see how Doty's injury progresses this week before doing so.
"I don't think we're going to name a quarterback until we see what his situation is. He got his cast off on Sunday, he's in a boot right now. I talked to him before practice; he's able to take the boot off and move around a little bit but when he's out on the field, he's got the boot on. Feels good. We'll keep progressing him along and see where he is."
Beamer remains optimistic that junior running back Kevin Harris will be available for Week 1.
"Kevin Harris is getting closer and closer," Beamer said. "We're optimistic about him being able to play next week."
"We've got a pretty good idea of when he's going to be ready and we're optimistic that it's next week," Beamer continued. "And if he's not able to go, and he's just not 100 percent, then we surely expect him to be ready the following week. He was in full uniform today, he's running around. He's doing everything. He met again last week with the doctors that did the procedure on him and it was great response, great feedback, and we're continuing to talk to Kevin, his mom and all the medical personnel. We're not discouraged or anything with where he is right now. We knew when he had the procedure this summer that it would be right around the first game that he would be ready to go and that hasn't changed. We know that he's going to be carrying the football a lot for us this year."
Beamer is also still hoping to get junior cornerback Cam Smith back on the field for the Eastern Illinois game.
"Cam Smith is still out, but he has a chance to potentially play next week," Beamer said.
Linebacker Darryl Ware is also still out but they're confident he'll be back.
Tight end/wide receiver E.J. Jenkins is back practicing after missing some time last week while taking care of what Beamer called a "personal issue" at the time.
Defensive tackle Rick Sandidge and wide receiver Trey Adkins are all still out.
The Gamecocks had no additional injuries in Saturday's scrimmage that are severe enough to potentially keep any players out for the opener.
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