Shane Beamer provides injury updates on Jaylen Nichols, Kajuan Banks

South Carolina coach Shane Beamer is still waiting for more information after offensive lineman Jaylen Nichols suffered an injury in the spring game on Saturday. Nichols went down in the first quarter and had to be helped off the field.

The offensive lineman was later seen with an ice pack on his knee and was walking on crutches in the second quarter. In his postgame press conference, Beamer described it as a “lower-body injury” and said he would likely know more by Monday.

“We’ll see,” he said. “Nothing firm to report right now. We’ll get it checked out here either tomorrow or Monday and have a more definitive answer. Hopeful on that one.”

Unfortunately, Jaylen Nichols wasn’t the only Gamecocks player to suffer an injury in the spring game. Second-year defensive back Kajuan Banks also left the game after making a hit and was later spotted on the sideline with his helmet in hand.

However, Beamer had a more definitive and positive update on his status.

“Kajuan’s fine,” he said. “I think he just got banged up a little bit on that tackle.”

Nichols has been a key member of the offensive line the past two seasons, appearing in 22 games with 14 starts. The former three-star recruit is set to enter his fifth year with the program and will hope for good news on the injury front that should come at any time.

Banks is also a former three-star recruit who played all 13 games as a true freshman, primarily on special teams. He’ll look to improve his role with the team in Year 2 now that the injury concern for him is cleared up.

With spring practice now wrapped up, South Carolina next focus on summer workouts before kicking off the 2023 season on Sept. 2 against North Carolina.

Shane Beamer evaluates quarterback play from spring game

The Black team defeated the Garnet team 23-17 in double overtime in Saturday’s spring game. Starting quarterback Spencer Rattler 12-of-20 passing for 120 yards and a touchdown in the win.

After the game, Beamer offered his thoughts on Rattler’s performance as well as how many of the quarterbacks behind him played.

“I thought, overall, they did some good things,” said Beamer. “Spencer came in and did some stuff. Thought he played well. I thought Tanner (Bailey) came in and did some good things, really all of them. LaNorris (Sellers) came in as a true freshman, really poised, did some good things out there as a quarterback, same thing with Braden (Davis) and Colten (Gauthier).”

Beamer added that veteran backup Luke Doty also played well, even though the quarterback position as a whole dealt with some poor play surrounding them at times.

“I know Luke did some good things at quarterback and had some drops that hit some people right in the hands, can’t have that. There was a lot of guys on that offensive line that hadn’t necessarily been playing alongside each other, so the protection wasn’t great at times.”