UCF is still injury-riddled on the offensive side of the ball with quarterback (Justin Holman), running back (Dontravious Wilson) and wide receiver (Jordan Akins) all likely out of the equation, but one player that expects to play this Saturday is H-Back Joseph Puopolo. The redshirt senior would've been a key factor in certain offensive sets if not for a leg injury during summer conditioning. He was finally cleared for full participation this week.
"I'm feeling great, honestly," Puopolo said. "I can't complain... Yesterday in practice I started running with the offense, just getting back in the hang of things and getting used to it again."
Despite not practicing the past two months, Puopolo doesn't feel he's not in game shape.
"It's actually feeling great," Puopolo said. "Strength coaches put me through a pretty good workout all the time I was out. I was actually getting my cardio back. I just really came back like nothing ever happened."
Puopolo has never had a carry or caught a pass, but he's been incredibly valuable as a blocker. For a running game looking to break through, his early-season absence certainly didn't help matter.
"It's real tough watching," Puopolo said. "It's just life lessons. You've got to learn from it and learn from your mistakes. Just watching out there and really just learning and seeing what other people are doing. Trying to help the younger guys in what they're doing. Just trying to motivate any way I can... With the few veterans around, I think that comes with the part. You've got to be more vocal and try to pump up these younger kids, really show some passion about the game to make them want to go out there and play."
And what has he been telling the younger guys?
"You've got to instill in them you want to win. We're out here to win, we're not out here to lose. We don't come here to practice every day to lose. We come here to win games. Winning is fun. Losing sucks. Easy as that."
In anticipation of the 80,000 fans expected at South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium, UCF blasted a recording of crowd noise during practices this week.
"We've played in those kind of atmospheres before," Puopolo said. "It's always a concern with the snap count. I know we'll be ready for it. Our coaches have been harping on it the last couple days. I feel like we'll be ready to go for it."
Just as UCF has struggled on offense, South Carolina has had similar woes on defense. The gave up an average of nine yards per play in the 52-20 loss to Georgia last weekend.
"Just some hard-nosed guys," Puopolo said of the Gamecocks. "They come down and they hit the holes hard. They're tough players and they know their assignments. We'll have to know our assignments to go out there and execute the game plan."
