Shane Beamer on his Kentucky memories and the Wildcats' wideouts

Although this is only his second game against Kentucky as a head coach, Shane Beamer is very familiar with the Cats. Before taking the job at South Carolina last year, Beamer was an assistant at four different SEC schools and lived in Murray, Kentucky while his father Frank coached at Murray State from 1979-86. Yesterday, Beamer recalled his Kentucky childhood and how much the Wildcats mean to those who grow up in the state.

“I lived in the state of Kentucky for eight years, I guess, when my dad was the head coach at Murray State. I grew up, I think I mentioned this last year, kids coming into school and having show-and-tell from going to see the Kentucky Basketball team and Mel Turpin and Kenny Sky Walker and all these guys on an away game. That was show-and-tell at Southwest Elementary School in Murray, Kentucky so I feel like I’ve got a lot of familiarity with Kentucky Football and Pookie Jones that played there back in the day was from Murray, Kentucky so I’m very familiar with the program.”

Beamer didn’t go as far to say he was a fan of Kentucky growing up but did admit he’s got a lot of respect for how Mark Stoops has built the program over the years, much like his father did at Virginia Tech.

“Living in that state, you understand how important UK Athletics is in the state along with Louisville. It’s a proud program with a great fanbase and great support and they’ve continued to just elevate their program. To me, they’ve just got great consistency, and the team, with these guys you have to beat them.

“They get games in the fourth quarter and they find ways to win them. Same thing with Ole Miss the other day. They kept chipping away and the next thing you know they’re in the fourth quarter and they’ve got a chance to win the game with a minute left. So, you’ve got to go beat them and Coach Stoops has done a great job elevating and just really impressed with the way they play and they’ve got really good players. You look at last year’s team, there were a bunch of guys that are on NFL rosters right now and there’s a bunch of guys on their team this year that will be on NFL rosters also.”

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Beamer on Kentucky’s “fantastic” wide receivers

Some of those NFL prospects are in Kentucky’s wide receiving room. Beamer knows all about Dane Key, who picked Kentucky over South Carolina almost a year ago. Yesterday, Beamer joked that he should have known Key would stay home to play for Kentucky when his mother Nicole injured herself storming the field when the Cats beat Florida. He’s also familiar with Tayvion Robinson, whom he recruited as an assistant at Georgia. Even though he didn’t recruit Barion Brown, the speedster from Nashville’s play on the field speaks for itself this season.

“They’re fantastic players and they’re electric and dynamic on the outside. Great in the return game. One returns punts for them and the other returns kickoffs for them so they’re explosive there. They’ve got great speed and can run past you.”

“[Stopping them] is a team effort because they’re really, really explosive and they can make big plays and they can go up and get it. You saw the catch that Dane made against Florida where he went up and got it and some of the plays they made throughout the season, it’s really impressive to watch, along with an NFL quarterback.”

Still haunted by Randall Cobb’s touchdown in 2010

As mentioned, Beamer faced Kentucky as an assistant at several SEC schools. In 2010, he was on South Carolina’s staff when Randall Cobb and the Cats beat the Gamecocks. Last year, he admitted he still has nightmares of that game. He brought it up again yesterday.

“We’ve got great respect for their program and this was a game that was a big game when I was here before. I remember Kentucky coming in here nationally ranked on a Thursday night and us winning. And all you guys here remember, we beat Alabama, they were No. 1 in the country and I’m still having visions of Randall Cobb on fourth down and whatever it was on a game-winning touchdown pass.”

Oh, this one?

“This game has always been competitive,” Beamer added. “It’s two programs that have a lot of respect for each other and certainly a critical game for us. It’s the next one on the schedule. We had a heck of a game with them last year. We couldn’t quite finish and get over the hump and win that game. I know our guys are excited for the challenge this week.”

Let’s give Beamer some more memories on Saturday night.