Shane Beamer reveals O'Donnell Fortune was suspended for Kentucky game

O’Donnell Fortune was nowhere to be found in South Carolina’s 17-14 win over Kentucky on Saturday. After the game, head coach Shane Beamer revealed the reason behind the defensive back’s absence.

“OD was suspended tonight for a violation of athletic department policy and we expect him to be back next week,” Beamer said.

This isn’t the first time Fortune has suffered a suspension this season. Fortune was also absent during the first half of the Gamecocks’ 30-17 loss to Texas A&M in Week 9. Again, Beamer claimed Fortune had violated athletic department policy.

In 10 appearances this season, Fortune boasts 33 tackles, seven passes defended and two interceptions. While Fortune has been a significant contributor this season, the Gamecocks’ secondary was spectacular on Saturday without him.

Shane Beamer praises South Carolina’s defense

In the win, South Carolina held Kentucky to just 171 passing yards. UK quarterback Devin Leary only completed 50% of his pass attempts. The Gamecocks also squeezed three turnovers out of the Wildcats, including an interception.

The stellar defense was a far cry from South Carolina’s defensive performances in September and October. In South Carolina’s first six SEC matchups, opponents averaged 33.3 points per game. After the Gamecocks’ win on Saturday, Beamer revealed what his message has been to his struggling defense.

“Just stay the course,” Beamer said. “Continue to do your job better and take ownership better. That we have good players and let’s figure out how to get our best players on the field and let them go make plays. A lot is getting made of this 3-3-5. We played a crap ton of four down tonight, too. Same thing that we did in the first game, we did a lot of tonight.”

“We held a really good running back to 61 yards rushing and forced turnovers tonight. Certainly, I think it is just guys having confidence in what they are doing and guys continuing to play well and getting better which is what we are doing as a football team right now.”

With the win, South Carolina improved to 5-6 on the season and needs a win heading into next week against Clemson to reach a bowl game for the third season under Beamer. The coach knows his offense has to be better to win after putting up just 257 yards in this win. 

“We need to play a lot better on offense,” Beamer said. “It’s what you want. They’ve got a great team. They got a heck of a win today. They’ve gotta come into this stadium Saturday night. It’s gonna be a rocking environment. But if we don’t play a lot better up front on offense, it’s gonna be hard.”