Shane Beamer addresses how South Carolina is addressing injury concerns during bye week

Shane Beamer and the South Carolina staff are toeing a careful line this week as the Gamecocks are off on Saturday. The balance they’re after, Beamer said, is between using the free week to truly get better with reps in practice that aren’t gameplan specific and resting up and getting healthy.

And for a team that’s been as banged up as any in the country, the week off couldn’t come soon enough for South Carolina. Even still, Beamer said none of the players who are practicing have been held out for the sake of rest and health, but might have gotten some lighter loads of reps.

“It’s a little bit of both. There’s nobody on our team that has gone through the last three days where we said, ‘OK, we’re not going to let this guy get any work this week.’ Because I told them in the locker room after the Tennessee game, this is a week we’ve got to work. You have to get better. But you also want to be smart,” Beamer said on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday.

He used a few position groups to highlight the balance being struck in practice: Defensive line, tight ends and quarterback.

“When you look at defensively, Tonka [Hemingway] and Boogie [Alex Huntley] on the defensive line are pretty banged up so they got some work this week but it wasn’t like they were taking every rep. It was an opportunity for our young defensive tackles to get work this week. Trey Knox at tight end, he practiced this week. He’s pretty beat up so we limited what he did and gave some of our younger tight ends opportunities to get better. Spencer Rattler practiced every day this week. He took a little bit of a beating the other night, but we were able to get other quarterbacks some work, as well,” Beamer said.

There’s been no off days around the Gamecocks, despite the week off from games. But Beamer and staff have certainly let a few guys take their foot off the gas to rest up before the stretch run. It’s all about finding that sweet spot and balance between getting better and getting healthier, as both will be critical.

“So, everyone practiced, nobody that we said, ‘Hey take these three days off, rest up.’ Certainly we were smart with our guys, too. Getting them work but also getting them healthy,” Beamer said.