Steve Spurrier held his weekly press conference on Sunday this week and spoke to the media after practice again on Monday night to preview South Carolina’s opener against North Carolina in Charlotte.

Spurrier said he doesn’t expect starting tight end Jerell Adams to play (hamstring) and likes what he’s seen out of quarterback Connor Mitch leading up to the game.

Here are some of the highlights from Spurrier along with sound bites from Mitch and fifth-year senior Brandon Wilds:

STEVE SPURRIER

Opening state on matchup with UNC:

“We’re anxious to play the North Carolina Tar Heels up in Charlotte, Thursday night to open college football.  Looking forward to seeing how we can do. We’re pretty much an unknown team, unknown at the quarterback position. We believe Connor Mitch will play very well, he just hasn’t played yet. We’ve got several young receivers who haven’t played much at all, but we believe they’re capable. This team we have has trained well. I think we’re in excellent condition.”

On injury updates, notably tight end Jerell Adams:

“I doubt that Jerell will start now. We’ll see how he feels Thursday night, but he hasn’t practiced the last three days. We’ve got three tight ends (Hayden Hurst, Kyle Markway and Jacob August). All three of them are freshmen and two of them are walk-ons, and they’re going to play the whole ballgame Thursday night. And they’ll play their (butts) off. They’re good ones. We’re sort of young at tight end, but they’re good players and they’ll scrap.”

Who does Connor Mitch remind you of?

“Let’s let Connor Mitch go play. He’s was pretty good tonight (Monday practice). He made good decisions and that’s what he’s got to do. Just make good decisions, throw it where he’s supposed to, get rid of it and hopefully the pass protection will hold up.”

On Mitch’s intangible, leadership qualities:

“I think he’s been a little sharper, he’s a quiet guy. We don’t need a lot of rah-rah out here. Pharoh (Cooper) is a tremendous leader and he doesn’t say anything. We believe in leading by example. If you hustle every play and do your assignment well, you’re a pretty good leader.”

On emotions heading into opener:

“We’re a little different than last year. We’re more anxious to see what we’ve got. We thought we had a lot last year, but ended up not having that much in some areas. So we’ve hopefully been awakened from year to the next.”

BRANDON WILDS, RB

On how game has differed as a senior:

“I’m more attentive and more aware of a lot of things. The game has slowed down tremendously. I’m just going out there and giving my all because I know when the game time come and the lights come on, you’ve got to be prepared.”

On right side of offensive line:

“(Will) Sport and (Alan) Knott, I’m close to them on and off the field, so I know they’ve got my back come time gameday. I’m not too much worried about them. I love all of my offensive line. They’re all ready to run block and I’m ready to run behind them.”

CONNOR MITCH, QB

On nerves before first career start:

“Not nerves, excitement. I think all of us are ready to get out there and go against someone other than our defense. We’ve been going against them since spring ball, so it’ll be nice to hit someone else.”

On confidence level with teammates:

“You can see each and every day. We just gel together better, getting more reps together, practicing. You can see everything clicking better.”

On playing against friends at UNC:

“You got to take it like every other game. You got to win that week. You can’t look at it like a major game just because I know some people on the other team.”