Spurrier: Connor Shaw injured foot against Tennessee, has been 'gimping around' at practice

The Head Ball Coach shared some updates on the injured Gamecocks during his weekly press conference on Tuesday and revealed that Connor Shaw injured himself pretty severely on at the end of the 38-35 win against Tennessee.

"I doubt if he could’ve played if we had a game last week the way he was gimpin’ around [at Monday's practice]," Spurrier told the assembled media masses yesterday with his characteristically folksy charm. (Note: Add "gimping around" to the excellent collection of Spurrierisms from this season, alongside "pooping around" and "skunk it up.") "He sprained his foot against Tennessee right at the end of the game there. He was gimpin’ around last night in practice. He stood in the pocket and caught it and threw a few, but he couldn’t run last night."

The injury has been described as anything from a sprain to a mild fracture of a bone his foot, conjuring painful memories of the anxiety caused by Shaw's "slight" shoulder fracture earlier in the season. Spurrier seemed cautiously optimistic that Shaw will be able to play against Arkansas this Saturday. "Hopefully by the middle of this week he’ll be full go. But we’ll just have to wait and see. He’s got a little bit of rehabbing to do before he’s full go for this Saturday."

Dylan Thompson was unavailable during the Tennessee game, courtesy of a strained triceps that he, according to the the team, injured during his sleep. If I had to make a list of things that were more likely to be the true source of the injury, "Got into a shoving match with a teammate over a disagreement about which chapter of 2nd Corinthians is most inspiring" would be the first bullet point. In any event, the redshirt sophomore has recovered and, according to Spurrier, is "100% well now" and would be the starter if Shaw is unable to play.

Sophomore offensive tackle Mike Matulis had played sparingly or not at all in the past several games due to a shoulder injury that we learned yesterday has ended his season and will require surgery. Here's Spurrier:

Matulis is out for the year. He did the same thing to his other shoulder that he did last year. I told him the other day you’ve got to start blocking a like an offensive lineman instead like a wrestler. He has a little tendency to try to grab ‘em or something and gets his shoulder knocked back out of whack. So hopefully he can have successful surgery and start blocking with his hands a little bit more inside. That would help him.

While Matulis won't be available to add depth to the offensive line, defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles will make his first start in three games after sustaining a sprained shoulder via a blow from LSU fullback JC Copeland that some have described as dirty. Quarles was asked about the hit that sidelined him and, when asked whether or not he thought it was a cheap shot, responded by saying, "I mean, I think so. But it is what it is."

Spurrier had one more relatively mysterious injury to update us on:

[Jadeveon Clowney] has got something like DJ Swearinger had at the end of last year. I think when the season’s over there’s a type of surgery I think they can do that fixes it. But it’s not painful right now. But he doesn’t practice that much. He practices Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. He practices about half the time. But he’s OK on Saturdays. He’s ready to go.

When last we heard from Clowney's foot, we were told that he was dealing with bone spurs that had been a problem for him since high school. My understanding is that DJ Swearinger had a fractured bone in his foot, which - as far as I know - is not a class of injury that includes bone spurs. Spurrier is great for many things, but providing precise details about injuries is not one of them.

Finally, Spurrier shared a bit of unexpected news that was unequivocally awesome:

I guess I can already announce that they’re going to put [Marcus Lattimore’s] name on the wall for scoring the most touchdowns and the most rushing touchdowns. I think he replaces Harold Greene and George Rogers as career touchdown leader. And that announcement is either going to be right before the game or between the first and second quarter or something like that. So I think our fans need to know that Marcus will be here and I’m sure he’ll get an ovation maybe like there’s never been one at Williams-Brice. So that’s set to occur this Saturday.