Shane Beamer reveals how South Carolina OL dealt with position coach's absence Thursday

South Carolina was down a member of its coaching staff during Thursday night’s win over South Carolina State. Offensive line coach Greg Adkins had to miss the game and is taking a leave of absence due to some medical issues (you can read more on that further down).

Despite the difficult situation for the Gamecock O-line on Thursday, the unit still performed to their standards, with interim OL coach Lonnie Teasley leading the charge. A job Shane Beamer commended in the postgame presser.

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“In regards to the offensive line, they were great,” Beamer said in review of the position group after the SC State win, emphasizing the importance of their experience. “It’s a veteran group, first of all. It’s an older group, which makes it a little bit easier, because those guys are veteran guys.”

Beamer then went on to praise the job Teasley is doing with them after being thrust into the position unexpectedly.

“And they’re great. The other thing, too, is Lonnie Teasley — who’s acting as the offensive line coach right now — is a phenomenal assistant coach. He was the offensive line coach at North Carolina Central before we hired him as an analyst. And I’m just praying we can keep him around here for a long time as well and nobody else tries to hire him. Because he’s fantastic. Great relationship with the players, and he’s done a great job working with that offensive line also. So he’s been great.”

Beamer provides update on OL coach Greg Adkins’ temporary leave of absence

Following the 50-10 win over South Carolina State Thursday night, the program did take a hit. The Gamecocks announced that OL coach Greg Adkins would be on a temporary leave. With this sudden shift on the staff, Shane Beamer addressed it after the win against the Bulldogs.

Shane Beamer said he won’t share anything more besides that it’s a medical issue. However, he did say he doesn’t expect Adkins to miss a ton of time with the condition.

“He’s fine. Just a minor medical issue. He’s fine. I talked to him yesterday and he was in great spirits. His son, who’s on our team, is doing well. Not much more to share. Just a medical condition that he’s got that he’s taking care of,” said Beamer. “I don’t think it’s going to be long-term. When I talked to him yesterday afternoon, he told me that he felt like he’d be back really, really soon.”

Adkins joined the program last season on Beamer’s initial staff at South Carolina. He has several stops along his coaching career on the offensive line including other stops in the SEC.