Shane Beamer identifies which positions he has his eyes on in spring

Coming off a season that built a lot of momentum for his South Carolina program, Shame Beamer entered spring ball knowing there are a lot of different things to keep his eye on over the practices. Spring ball is a critically important time of year for players looking to carve out a role on the team and continue to develop their skills.

As a result, Beamer said he has his eyes on many different positions during the spring.

“Quarterback: obviously Spencer (Rattler) goes into the spring as the number one and Luke’s done a nice job as the second quarterback but how does it shake itself out beyond those guys?” Beamer said during a Tuesday media availability. “Luke (Doty), does he maintain that role? Does he continue to push Spencer? Does he does not with the other quarterbacks that are in that room? With running back, Juju (McDowell) is coming into spring as the starting running back by experience. We got some new faces in that room.”

Beamer then continued on to discuss the other positions on the offensive side of the ball.

“The tight end room is all new faces and how does that shake out?” Beamer said. “What do those guys do? Those guys have been fun to watch. You got three transfers that have played a lot of football and you got three true freshmen that are here right now as well at the tight end position, really four I guess if you count all of those guys that have come in as freshmen. Three starters on the offensive line that we got to replace. Markee Anderson‘s a true freshman. Watching him, can he help us early? I think every position I’m about to name except maybe receiver and there’s great battles going on there as well.”

Looking at the defensive side of the football during spring camp, Beamer was a lot more focused on the players looking to step up and replace last year’s starters and leaders.

“Defensive Back, we lost Cam Smith and Darius Rush,” Beamer said. “How does that corner position shake itself out? At linebacker, we lost Sherrod (Greene) and Brad (Johnson). Watching these young guys that are in there, Jaron Willis who transferred in, Bam Scott, Debo (Williams), Stone (Blanton). All those guys. Mokaba’s not practicing right now so it’s a great opportunity for them and then defensive end. We’ve lost a lot of guys there. How does that shake itself out?”

All in all, Beamer acknowledged that his answer to the reporter’s question about which battles he was watching closely was not what the reporter was hoping for.

But he added that being able to be invested in so many different positions is part of what makes the job fun.

“I wish I could give you a more specific answer,” Beamer said. “But really I love watching practice and then going in my office and watching the practice tape of all those positions because there’s a lot of new faces that are pushing for opportunities. I got a lot of guys that are fighting for roles. It’s fun to watch.”