Shane Beamer shares key to South Carolina taking the next step

South Carolina is a program that earned a fair share of buzz coming into this season because of how they closed the previous one. Even so, Shane Beamer wants the Gamecocks to know that there’s more work to be done in Columbia.

Beamer commented on the necessary improvement that South Carolina needs to undergo while talking with media at the THSCA this weekend. He said that there’s no reason to be complacent as there are still very clear ways that the Gamecocks can improve.

“What we’ve talked about since January is there should be no complacency in our program,” Beamer said. “We went from two wins to seven wins to eight wins. So we’ve done some great things. But we’ve got a lot to improve on as well.”

“We haven’t done a good enough job running the ball, we haven’t done a good enough job of stopping the run. We’ve got to be better there for us to take the next step,” continued Beamer. “Two years in a row we’ve been last in the SEC in giveaways. No offense in this conference has turned the ball over more than we have the last two seasons. That’s embarrassingly bad. So we’ve got to correct that first of all as one of the many things. There’s a lot of areas to improve. And that’s what we’ve just challenged our coaches and players (to do) since we came back in January.”

South Carolina went 8-5 in what was Beamer’s second season. However, it was how they closed that caught everyone’s attention as they ended by winning seven of their last 10. That included their final three games which were a top-five blowout over Tennessee, a Top-10 win at Clemson, and a close loss to Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl.

Beamer doesn’t want to take anything away from his teams and what they’ve done for the program. With that said, he wants them to continue to grow in every way that they can come up with, especially considering how many new faces that they have in their rooms.

“Yes, we’ve done some really good things. Let’s build on that but let’s find better ways of doing things from what we did last year,” said Beamer. “Whether it be how we travel, how we practice, how we lift weights, how we feed our players, the way the locker room looks. Whatever it is. Let’s all be better and not just say because it went well last year, did some good things and it’s automatically just going to be that way the next year.”

“Every year is starting over,” Beamer added. “With the portal, recruiting? I mean I think we’ve got 38 new players on our team if you count transfers, incoming freshmen, scholarship walk-ons. You name it. So every year is starting over.”

South Carolina has plenty to be excited about. Many will be high on them as a team which can cause problems within the SEC this fall. To get from where they are to where they want to be, so from good to great, then Beamer says that the Gamecocks have to put their heads down and get back to it.

“Let’s build on last year, which we did some really good things,” said Beamer. “But we also know there’s a lot to improve on. Let’s just get back to work and do things better than they’ve been done before.”