It’s not practice, it’s work: The NFL experience never far from Gamecocks’ minds

When South Carolina’s players talk about going to practice, Mike Peterson tells them about going to work.

“I went to work every day,” Peterson says of his 14 years in the NFL. “When I hit them with that, that’s when they go, ‘Woah.’”

Peterson leans on his NFL experience a lot when he’s coaching the Gamecocks outside linebackers coach, bucks and defensive ends, which he’s been doing for four seasons.

“All the time,” he said. “Fourteen years, you always use that and go back to that. That’s where I spent a lot of time at. I use it all the time, meeting rooms, on the field, off the field, just talking to guys about different things. You would be surprised how many guys come to me and try to pick…