COLUMBIA - With two crutches and a soft cast over his right ankle, South Carolina defensive tackle Nathan Pepper hopefully said he plans to return by the Sept. 24 Ole Miss game.

“Um, yes,” the fifth-year senior said. “I’ll be back by the Ole Miss game.

... I’m ready to play whenever I can.”

That’s a far more optimistic prognosis than the one offered Sunday by coach Steve Spurrier, who said the big space-eater would miss as few as two weeks and as much as a month.

The Ole Miss game is nine days away.

Pepper said the cast will be cut off today, and the ankle will be examined.

The injury occurred on the second play of the game, a play in which Bulldogs receiver A.J. Green was stripped and the Gamecocks recovered the fumble. The takeaway led to USC’s initial touchdown.

Pepper watched a lot of unpleasant play, though, by South Carolina’s defense in the eventual 41-37 loss at Sanford Stadium.

“I was disappointed because it was my last time playing Georgia,” Pepper said. “That was something I was looking forward to, but I’ll play again.”

Changing it up

Without Pepper, and also suspended tackle Ladi Ajiboye, defensive head coach Ellis Johnson said the team went with a lot of three-man fronts.

That left players out of position since it hasn’t been practiced a lot.

Against pass-happy Florida Atlantic, the three-man front could be employed fairly often.

“That’s OK if it’s something they have to do,” Pepper said, “but I think we’ve got enough tackles left to play a four-man.”

Backing up

One of the guys that will be called upon in Pepper and Ajiboye’s absence is redshirt freshman Kenny Davis.

In his debut Saturday, Davis said he thought he was in for about 10 plays.

“Just getting in there, it’s a different speed,” he said. “The first play, it came and went really quick. I wasn’t really ready for it. But I got accustomed to it. I know I can play at this level. I know I can.”

Davis, the 6-foot-3, 287-pounder from Newberry, was suspended for the opener at North Carolina State after he missed the team’s midnight curfew.

“Oh, yeah. (I learned) a big lesson,” Davis said. “Stay in my room.”

Getting over it

Spurrier said he gave his team 24 hours to mourn the Georgia loss.

Was the heartbreak flushed from the Gamecocks’ system?

“That’s history,” Spurrier said Monday, when asked about the Georgia game.

“We didn’t play very well, didn’t play well enough to win. We’re going to try to play a lot better this week.

“We’ve got a pretty good team if we play like it. We don’t play like it all the time. That’s why we struggle. We’ve lost one game before and won one game before. That’s the way it is. You can’t get it back.”

You must be logged in to comment.