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Steve Spurrier demonstrated Tuesday on the first day of preseason camp that you indeed can teach new tricks to a coach with more than 30 years on his resume.

With hard-fought position battles raging all over the field, Spurrier and the South Carolina assistants are watching, scrutinizing and analyzing every movement by their players on the practice field.

More importantly, they are charting everything. Every pass, every catch, every tackle is being chronicled on a piece of paper and on video.

Why? USC coaches want to make absolutely sure the best 11 players are on the field at all times, especially at quarterback.

Tuesday, all four candidates for the starting job took equal reps, including true freshman Lorenzo Nunez.

"The battle is going on and, like I told them, we're charting everything," Spurrier said. "We've turned into a bunch of charters out here. A lot of jobs are up for grabs - secondary, quarterback, receivers outside of Pharoh (Cooper). We have a bunch of receivers vying for those other spots.

"It will be a competitive preseason. Hopefully, we'll have a lot of players ready to play. We'll play six or seven receivers if we can."

Spurrier said the quarterback performed 'OK' as they took equal reps.

"Lorenzo Nunez got one out of four snaps, so he got just as many as everybody else," Spurrier said. "He was running around and firing it around. We think he is going to be a very good player."

Because USC has known going into preseason camp whom the starting quarterback would be for at least the six or seven years, charting reps by the quarterbacks is something new for Spurrier and the coaches.

"We didn't have to chart last year and we didn't have to chart when Connor Shaw was here," Spurrier said. "We knew he was one of the best quarterbacks in the country. But when you have guys who have not played, chart it up and see where they stand."

Graduate assistant Seth Strickland and quality control analyst Brian Turk handled most of the charting duties on Tuesday. The coaches will chart off the practice video later today, Spurrier said.

USC worked through a fast-paced practice with both sides of the new Gamecock Park practice fields being fully utilized in order to get everybody as many reps as possible.

"We had two huddles, two offenses and defenses, rapid firing," Spurrier said. "Hopefully, we can do that all week. We had more guys getting snaps. We didn't have a lot of guys standing around watching. We were going as fast as we could."

Co-defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward spent the first practice the same way he spent most of the spring - coaching up the defensive line alongside Deke Adams.

"After the season, I went to (Spurrier) and said we needed two sets of eyes on the front four," Ward said. "That's important because you are only going to be as good as you are up front, so we have to make sure we're good at it."

Defensive tackle Ulric Jones was among a handful of Gamecocks on both sides of the ball making their practice debuts Tuesday, joining defensive line newcomers Boosie Whitlow and Shameik Blackshear in making their Gamecock practice debuts.

"We have a lot of new guys out here, we saw some guys move around that we're excited about," Ward told reporters. "That's why we recruited them. We feel like all those guys can come in and help us. That's where we need help - up front. They're athletic, they move around and they had good summer working with Joe (Connelly).

"It will be interesting to see what they do when we get into pads. We're still in shorts, but we moved around well today. Our new guys like Ulric, Boosie and Shameik have some potential. They should be able to help us. They're not there yet, but we think we can get there. We're going to try to get them all ready to play."

Blackshear and Whitlow, both freshmen, have brought a "natural" pass rushing dimension USC lacked last season, Ward said.

"They showed something we didn't have a season ago," Ward said. "We expect all of them to get ready."

Enhanced competition, a simpler system, motivation to make up for last season and the presence of new players throughout the lineup should combine for a better Gamecock defense in 2015, Ward said.

"Guys were disappointed how we played last year on defense," Ward said. "Having new players (means competition). Anytime you get some competition going at a position, you make everybody else better. That's what we have going on defense right now."

Spurrier, energized by the new season, said he is looking forward to watching some new offensive and defensive players on the field in 2015.

"I thought it was very encouraging," Spurrier said of the first practice. "I know all the defensive coaches are really happy with the new players, those freshmen and junior college players. It's going to be a different defense, we all know that. What's neat is nobody knows much about our players right now.

"And we're going to have some different offensive players too. These young wide receivers, nobody knows much about them yet. But they can catch and they can run. So, we'll see if we can protect the quarterback and throw some at them as well as run. Overall, it was fun to see the new guys. That is the thrilling part of coaching in college. It was a good morning. We're upbeat that we found some new ballplayers."

NOTES:

-- DE Gerald Dixon had a rod put into his leg and his return should be a "slow process," Ward said. The fifth-year senior, though, is working out under the supervision of the training staff. Dixon missed the second half of spring practice with a right shin contusion.

-- CB Rico McWilliams strained his hamstring in the final week of workouts and wore a yellow jersey on Tuesday, but should be able to practice Wednesday. Holding him out of the first practice was a precautionary measure, Ward said.

-- Defensive tackle Taylor Stallworth continues to recover from a torn pec muscle suffered in March, while USC announced offensive lineman Brock Stadnik will not participate in preseason camp in order to rehab from shoulder surgery.

-- Ward said USC should learn in a day or two if DE Devante Covington is eligible to join the Gamecocks this season. He has finished up classes at Georgia Military College and, if he passes, he will join the program, Ward said.

-- Ward said he was thrilled with the physical conditioning of the defensive front seven: "Joe did a great job with them in the offseason. We don't have fat guys, they don't have the guts hanging over their pants like we had in the past. I feel good about where we are."

-- Ward said DT Abu Lamin dropped about 30 pounds, while Phillip Dukes, Gerald Dixon Jr. and Kelsey Griffin both lost weight as well. "They did what they had to do to change their bodies this summer," Ward said. "But that wasn't our biggest problem last year. We just didn't have the natural pass rusher we thought we had."

-- Botkin said junior OLB Larenz Bryant has fully recovered from his spring injury and has been working out full speed for most of the summer. Freshman LB Sherrod Pittman is about "90 percent" and still has some swelling in his knee, Botkin said, but he "moved around well" on Tuesday with no limitations from the trainers.

-- Spurrier said the shotgun snaps were better compared to the spring, but there were "a few high ones.'

PRACTICE PHOTO GALLERYClick -- Spurrier said he was impressed with the young offensive linemen when he watched them work out, albeit without pads. Here to view this Link. Click -- Spurrier said he was impressed with the young offensive linemen when he watched them work out, albeit without pads. Here to view this Link.