Shane Beamer shoots down injury, disciplinary questions on Jaheim Bell

South Carolina saw its four-game winning streak snapped by Missouri over the weekend, stunned at home in a 23-10 loss. Equally stunning? Star tight end Jaheim Bell didn’t touch the ball for the first time all season.

Coach Shane Beamer sounded frustrated in his post-game press conference when asked if Bell had been facing disciplinary measures or was injured.

“Jaheim Bell is healthy,” Beamer said. “If there was a disciplinary issue he wouldn’t have been playing. Jaheim Bell’s healthy and we’ve got to get him the ball more.”

The main mitigating factor in Bell’s disappearance from the offense was the flow of the game, which Missouri’s defense dictated with wins more often than not on key situational downs.

South Carolina finished just 5-of-13 on third down and lost the time of possession battle 36:35-23:25.

“We’ve got a lot of great playmakers on our offense at receiver, at running back, at tight end,” Beamer said. “When you play 53 plays on offense and you’re 5-of-13 on third down, it’s hard to play a lot of plays and get all those guys the ball.”

Making sure Jaheim Bell contributes key

The tight end position has really evolved over the past few years, to the point that for many teams a versatile tight end is one of their biggest threats.

Jaheim Bell is one of those types.

The junior is a 6-foot-3, 232-pound athlete who is hard to bring down in the open field but can also get by defenders as a route-runner. The Gamecocks have also used him as a runner this year.

So far this season Bell has 13 catches for 157 yards. He also has 19 rushes for 64 yards and a pair of scores on the ground.

Beamer and the Gamecocks will look to get him more involved again going forward, with an opportunity to bounce back this weekend on the road at Vanderbilt. The two teams will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.