COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Injured South Carolina All-American Jadeveon Clowney was back at practice Wednesday, although it is still uncertain whether he will play this weekend at Arkansas.
Clowney has a strained muscle near his rib cage that he hurt last week. He missed practice Monday and Tuesday with the injury. However, he worked out for all of the 2½-hour session Wednesday and participated in sprints at the end of workouts with teammates.
Earlier Wednesday, Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said he was hopeful Clowney could return to the lineup when South Carolina (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) takes on the Razorbacks (3-3, 0-2) on Saturday.
Clowney pulled himself out of the Gamecocks' 35-28 victory over Kentucky last Saturday night, saying shortly before kickoff that he was in too much pain.
In his postgame news conference, Spurrier was clearly upset over the way it all went down. He said at the time that he would welcome Clowney back to "come play for the team if he wants." Spurrier added, "But if he doesn't want to play, he doesn't have to play. Simple as that."
Spurrier then said Tuesday that the situation was handled "poorly" and that his star defensive end was doing all he could to get back onto the field.
"He was in pain. It was diagnosed later, and obviously we all handled it poorly. All of us did," Spurrier said.
Clowney didn't tell the coaches that he couldn't play against Kentucky until after the team arrived at the stadium.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.