Shawn Elliott
Despite a poor performance against Vanderbilt last week, USC offensive line coach Shawn Elliott isn’t too anxious about his unit as they prepare for this weekend’s matchup with East Carolina. He expects to see steady improvement against the Pirates.
“You are going to go through some growing pains with guys that haven’t stepped out on the field before and I think that’s what happened the other night. They’re going to continue to get better. We’ve got some young guys up front, but I can tell you they’re going to get better, better and better. “
Steve Spurrier blamed some of the O-line’s struggles last week on conditioning. In his postgame presser Spurrier mentioned re-shirt freshman Brandon Shell came out against Vandy because he was winded. There have also been reports Shell is nursing a sore ankle, but Elliott said Wednesday he is healthy and ready to play.
“[Shell] came out of the game the other night because he needed to come out of the game the other night. That was a decision Coach (Spurrier) and I made, so we pulled him,” continued Elliott. “He gave up a sack there in the third quarter that I wasn’t pleased about it. So we gave somebody else a chance. I think we’re going to play guys that want to go out there and play, and if they are not out there playing at the level we expect we’re going to implement another guy.“
USC will work out again Thursday before taking on East Carolina Saturday afternoon in Columbia.
AUDIO: Shawn Elliott confident in his line [2:54]
