Beamer, Sellers break down how South Carolina's first game with helmet communication went
Shane Beamer, visibly frustrated, pulled out a piece of paper covered everywhere with writing. He knows South Carolina can be better and there’s a lot to correct.
Of the things he wrote down on his sheet, helmet communication was a big one. South Carolina was able to use coach-to-player communication during its 23-19 win over Old Dominion on Saturday. For the most part, Beamer thought it went well without many issues. But just like everything else the Gamecocks did, they can do more with it.
“I think we can be even better utilizing that in some ways offensively and defensively,” Beamer said. “It’s a first game, we worked out the kinks in a lot of ways. I thought we were great with the iPads, being able to coach and adjust. The helmet communication was certainly a game-changer, but I do believe on offense and defense we can be better there with the communication. There’s no question about it.”
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For majority of the game, South Carolina’s offense dealt with a lot of inconsistency. The Gamecocks were pretty good on the ground, rushing for 174 yards and two touchdowns. Through the air, they left a lot to be desired, with LaNorris Sellers, making his first start at quarterback, only completing 10 passes for 114 yards.
Despite the lackluster performance, Beamer nor Sellers pinned much of the blame on the new communication system. They made it sound like things were working smoothly and there weren’t many technical difficulties. It just came down to players needing to better execute the plays that were called.
“Sloppy without a doubt,” Beamer said. “In all three phases, a lot to clean up, obviously. Offense, defense, special teams did some good in all three phases and certainly did some bad in all three phases. So we have to coach better without a doubt.”
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But with the helmet communication, Sellers felt it didn’t have a big impact on his performance. It’s something he’s been getting accustomed to doing since the spring and thought it went “pretty good” on Saturday.
“It was cool,” he said. “We’ve been doing it over fall camp, spring ball and stuff like that. So I mean, I thought it was pretty good for me. We can’t really hear Beamer, but I can talk to (Dowell Loggains), so that’s fine.”
When Loggains is in Sellers’ ear during the game, he isn’t saying a whole lot. It’s not so much about boosting him up and gaining him confidence. It’s more just signaling in the play call and letting him go to work. He knows sooner or later, things are going to come together for the young quarterback.
“The thing with him is he’s just going to let you go out there and play,” Sellers said about Loggains. :So it’s really the play calls and then if we need to check into something, he’ll let me know watch for this, watch out for that. But he really just wants you to be yourself, so he don’t say too much.”
