South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer had good news and neutral news on Gamecocks running back Rahsul Faison Tuesday during his afternoon press conference.
No, there’s not an update on his status with the NCAA, but South Carolina’s fifth-year head coach did confirm that Faison is not dealing with a serious injury after he was notably absent from the open portion of Sunday evening’s practice.
“I know I’m going to get asked about Rahsul; I don’t have an update for you right now,” Beamer said. “He wasn’t at practice Sunday, that wasn’t because of his situation with the NCAA, he just got hit on his shoulder a little bit in our scrimmage on Saturday night, it’s nothing serious, just a bruise, but he was in the training room, getting some extra work done Sunday night when you guys were at practice. But he was back out there today and in good spirits.”
Beamer remains optimistic that Faison, who has asked the NCAA for an additional year of eligibiltiy but has not yet received a final ruling, would ultimately get good news and credited the senior running back for his positive attitude through the entire situation.
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In other injury news, Beamer did not seem overly concerned about the health of nickelback Jalon Kilgore or EDGE Desmond Umeozulu, who were also limited or absent from the viewing window of Sunday’s workout.
“They (have) normal bumps and bruises,” Beamer said. “Des will be fine; got banged up in the scrimmage the other night. Jalon’s got a little bit of a soft tissue injury on the lower body but if we played today they would play.”
Additionally, Beamer said freshman EDGE Kobby Sakyi-Prah and walk-on defensive back Jackson Burger are dealing with more serious injuries.
“Nothing really new injury-wise to report, normal bumps and bruises that you have in preseason camp, nothing long term that would affect anybody playing in Game 1 other than Kobby Sakyi-Prah, our true freshman, he’s got a lower body injury that will be somewhat long-term. I wouldn’t expect him back asny time soon.
“Jackson Burger, who was really doing some great things for us from a defensive back and special teams standpoint going back to the spring, the rate that he improved from last year to now was really impressive. He’ll be out for a while also.
“But everybody else that I haven’t already said was going to be out long term, no one new to report other than those two. Optimistic that everybody will be good as we go into Game 1.”
