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Associated Press

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks are looking to get back on the winning track this Saturday against UAB.

COLUMBIA — By the fifth game of a college football season, most teams have already decided who their best players are and what their lineup will most likely look like for the rest of the season.

But in Columbia, USC coach Steve Spurrier is still open to suggestions.

“We've sort of challenged all of our offensive guys to play at a higher effort level,” Spurrier said. “Again, just trying to get our guys to compete at a higher level than maybe what we did last week.”

The search for more effort comes from an offense that has averaged a meager 20 points per game through the first four outings this year. That performance forced Spurrier to hold open tryouts based on this week’s performance for all offensive positions.

For players like freshman Terrence Campbell, it’s a shot to show what you’re really made of and the chance to give your teammates a boost of energy.

“It’s actually going to make us come out and play harder because if the person behind you wants it more than the person in front of them, then I mean, it’s their fault if they lose their spot,” Campbell said.

Prior to Carolina’s (2-2) game against Wofford, Campbell earned the starting spot over third-year player Heath Batchelor for his first career start. But his chance to start again remains strong as Batchelor sits out the game against Alabama-Birmingham (1-3) for an offseason violation of team rules.

The most noticeable name sitting out this game due to suspension might be that of Mike Davis. The senior running back joins three other players on the bench for this game and gives sophomore Brian Maddox his shot at another big week.

“I'm definitely looking forward to this,” Maddox said. “It's going to be a great opportunity to go out there and run around and play my game.”

Maddox, along with freshman Eric Baker, are expected to share time this weekend after both players set career highs in carries (12 and 11) and yards (52 and 49) last week against Wofford. Maddox also rushed for his first career touchdown as a Gamecock.

While the suspensions were easy for those Gamecock players to see coming, the offensive struggles haven’t been. With all positions up for grabs, Spurrier hopes to inject some life into an offense that has flat-lined at times this season.

“As a coach, I've always believed that you keep coaching them and you coach them, and if they just can't play the way you coach 'em, you try the next guy. So that's where we are. We're going to try the next guy,” Spurrier said. “We've got a lot of players here that deserve a chance to see if they can play better than the guys who are out there. Simple as that.”

Campbell hopes that the shakeup won’t hold the offense back any further but bring all the right people into place for future success.

“We have the players. We have some good players. We just haven’t been able to gel just quite yet,” Campbell said. “We need to kind of go ahead and get it clicking, get it gelling this game and then be ready for our SEC conference (schedule).”