Shane Beamer reveals what he wants to see in first South Carolina scrimmage

The South Carolina Gamecocks are getting ready for their first scrimmage of the spring. It’s a big moment for the team’s development that head coach Shane Beamer is excited for.

Ahead of that scrimmage, Beamer met with the media. There, he broke down everything that he wants to see in the first South Carolina scrimmage.

“Just one, guys being about to get out there and execute and be efficient without coaches on the field and coaching every single play,” Shane Beamer said. “Just letting our guys be able to get out there and play a little bit would be for one.”

For South Carolina, this is going to be the team’s first game setting. So, Shane Beamer wants to focus on doing the little things right, like tackling and avoiding mental mistakes.

“We’ve done a little bit of live tackling work in a couple of our practices already this spring and whatnot, but it’ll be the first day where the entire day i tackling and playing it like a game. We’ll have SEC officials that’ll be out there on Saturday. There’s going to be penalties, but hopefully we get in that stadium and we don’t have a lot of the pre-snap penalties and things like that that we can control.”

The other aspect of the scrimmage that’s interesting to Shane Beamer is seeing how players handle a higher-pressure situation and how they respond to playing in Williams-Brice Stadium.

“And then really just guys, how guys respond. And we talk a lot about when we go across the street into that stadium, our mentality and what an opportunity and blessing it is to be able to go into Williams-Brice Stadium and some people, whether it’s 80,000 people in there or a Saturday morning with about 50 people in there, a lot of guys, they flip a switch and they rise to the occasion if you will,” Beamer said.

“Eager to see who really steps up because we’ve got some great competitive battles going on in a lot of different positions and it’ll be the morning time. So the lights won’t be on, but, you know, figure of speech-wise, when the lights come on, who responds, and that’s what I’m eager to see.”

2024 is going to be a key season for South Carolina and the Gamecocks. It’s his fourth season with the program and 2023 was his first losing season as the South Carolina head coach. Now, against a difficult schedule, Beamer is looking to rebound starting with a strong spring.