What Shane Beamer said about Mississippi State

Shane Beamer met with the media Tuesday afternoon to put a bow on South Carolina’s loss to Georgia and look ahead to the Gamecocks’ SEC home opener against Mississippi State.

In his 30-minute session with the media he touched on injuries, the Gamecocks’ run game and more with the Bulldogs coming into Williams-Brice for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

–This will be the team’s Curing Kids Cancer game. Will be wearing helmet stickers this week. Beamer wearing a T-shirt and wristband today.

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Injuries: Said they are in “OK shape.” Ahmarean Brown didn’t practice but the hope is he’s back in practice soon. He’s not far off. Thinks he’s questionable right now. Anyone else out last week expects to get back this week. JT Geer has done a little bit in practice. Juice Wells is out right now. Doesn’t feel like he’s out for the year. Will re-evaluate as they go. Disappointed for him. Biggest thing is to let the foot rest right now. Will do what’s best for him going forward. Thinks Tyreek Johnson “should be good.” Thinks he and Geer are “trending in the right direction. Will have a better idea tomorrow.

–The only teams Mississippi State has lost to from last year and this year are Georgia, LSU, Alabama and at Kentucky. Running the same defense under Arnett and are veteran guys. Arguably the best LBs in the SEC and disruptive up front. Have a ton of length in the secondary. Will Rogers is a “really talented player.” They have a “big, beautiful offensive line.” They want to run the football down your throat and has the RB that can do it. Said it’s a “dangerous” team. Had a tough day vs. LSU and they know State will respond. That’s the DNA of the program.

–This is a fun weekend for him. His first paid job was at Mississippi State. Beamer’s wife, Emily, is a State grad and has a ton of family coming in this weekend to South Carolina.

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–This is MSU’s first road game this season and in a new offensive system. Wants fans to come out and be disruptive.

–Since the beginning of preseason, they’ve practiced more without Juice than with Juice cause of injury. Can’t ride XL until his legs fall off and need guys to step up. O’Mega Blake needs to come along with Josh Simon and Trey Knox. Then at WR have to have guys come along. Really need AB to come back. Need to play Nyck Harbor and Tyshawn Russell more. Guys are aware of that. Young guys need to also make sure they know what they’re doing and coaches can trust them.

–Asked about what it’s been like with so many true freshmen playing, jokes “stressful.” Said he walked into the training room after practice and Markee Anderson, Juice Wells, Cason Henry and Jaylen Nichols in there. That’s four potential offensive starters right there. Mentions that 2023 class has been awesome though. Good group of talented players who fit. Have to keep them coming along and sustaining it. Really proud of Tree Babalade. Excited for 2023 but excited for the future of the program as well.

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–It’s important to get that run game going. Said he had long conversations with Loggains and White about the game script and how they play the game. Said they had to get it to the fourth quarter but didn’t want to turn into a service academy grinding the clock down.

–Can’t ask Debo Williams and Stone Blanton at linebacker to play every play. Can’t ask those guys in the secondary to play every snap either.

–Have to do a better job stopping the run and running the ball. They’re going to do whatever it takes to win the game, even if it’s throwing it 50 times and running it 10. Likes the backs they have and the line continues to get better. Confident they’ll get it going. It’s easier said than done. But they have to give guys a chance to get the run game going.

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–Asked (once again) about the run game, said they had a lot of RPOs called. The first play of the game was a called run but got the look where Rattler found Luke Doty. Want to call more straight-up runs but have to run it into favorable boxes. Continuity in the line is a key. Then they have to make dudes miss when backs have the ball. Got to stay ahead of the chains too.

–Talking about recruiting now compared to when he was recruiting coordinator at State. Jokes he was printing out Mapquest directions to get to schools. Said technology has helped them evaluate, find guys, etc. A lot of lessons he learned doing it in terms of developing relationships, etc. The first time he ever recruited was as a State head coach. Learning as you guy. Veteran coaches helped him a ton.

–Need to lean on the run game more when chunk plays aren’t happening for the Gamecocks offensively. From a passing game perspective, need to get more people involved. Thinks they’ve done a good job but can be better. Then some of the details need to get cleaned up. Needs to be more efficient. The pass to Knox going to the fan section, there was a spacing issue and the pass was incomplete. Then some route-running perspectives can be honed in. Then they can be more efficient and explosive in the pass game.

–Talking about some of South Carolina special teams things this season, said some of it is youth. Most guys out there haven’t really played special teams. Said they haven’t been as efficient as they’d like to be. That starts with them as coaches. Been close at times to popping a big play or two. But need to be more efficient.

–Said the message has been that everything they want can be accomplished. It’s about getting better right now, this moment and worrying about tomorrow tomorrow. Needs to understand the quality of team they have coming in.

–Tro Baugh and Tree Babalade are fun personalities and easy to pull for. Easy for teammates to want to help. There’s no ego. There’s a work ethic to want to get better. Babalade is an “awesome personality.” Baugh is “all business.” There’s a great maturity about him. Credits to them. What they did Saturday is “not easy, to say the least.”

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–In terms of who starts at RG for th Gamecocks, said they’ll see how the week goes. Have confidence in Baugh and Jakai Moore. In terms of what he looks for in freshmen ready to play in games, said it starts in practice with competitiveness and focus. Then being able to execute. You can live with some mistakes knowing they’re freshmen but need to know how to line up, not have self-inflicted mistakes. Had too many of those with older guys. For him, that’s what he wants to see: consistency in performance day in and day out.

–It’s “very important” to retire a guy like Alshon Jeffery’s jersey. Was a really cool moment to be on the call telling Alshon the news. Beamer recruited him in high school to South Carolina. Talking about recruiting him, said he was on his back porch in Columbia when he got the news Alshon was going to Southern Cal. Then he said, “I’m not going to let that happen.” He said he consistently called and sold South Carolina. Remembered being on the phone with him at 1 a.m. before signing day talking about things. Jeffery had trust in Beamer and that staff.

–Asked round-about on the gas pumper comments, jokes he focused solely on South Carolina. Said he worried about selling South Carolina and what he did at South Carolina speaks for himself.

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