Recap: Shane Beamer press conference (Florida)

South Carolina is back on the practice field and Shane Beamer is back at the press conference podium.

The Gamecocks’ head coach met with the media Tuesday afternoon to recap the bye week and preview Saturday’s game against Florida (3:30 p.m., SEC Network).

Here’s a recap of what Beamer had to say.

[Become a GamecockCentral member for $1]

–Jokes those who got a Saturday off enjoyed it. Felt like practice went really well and was good to re-evaluate some scheme and some personnel heading into Florida.

–Players got most of the weekend off and were back in the facility Sunday night. Players/staff don’t get much time off since August so that was nice.

–Had practice and meetings Sunday night and the energy was great then and has come up.

–Big opportunity Saturday against Florida this week at home. Going to be an “awesome environment” and it’s officially a sellout. Homefield environment has been awesome and doesn’t take that for granted.

–Mertz is playing “really well” and completing 80 percent of passes in SEC play. Great running backs, a really good tight end, talented offensive line that’s big and physical. They’re active in the front seven defensively. Athletic at linebacker with elite players in the secondary. They continue to get better week to week. Will have to play really well to beat Florida.

Injuries: Juice Wells is doubtful for this week. Met with a specialist this morning in Charlotte. The injury is healing well and he’s on a “fast track” from a healing perspective. Could be a week to week thing moving forward. No one wants to be out there than him. Cason Henry won’t play this week but he’s getting closer. Hopefully by the end of the month. There area ton of linemen in the training room and will be nice when those guys get back. David Spaulding practiced this week and no limitations at this point for anybody.

[Win South Carolina-Florida football tickets]

–Would love to have XL and Wells out there on either side but they don’t have that luxury. Teams are going to try and take Legette out of the game and have to find ways to scheme around that a little bit. If they double him, then that should open up opportunities for other guys and in the run game. It’s their job as coaches to do a good job of utilizing them how they need to.

–The state of the program is “fantastic right now.” Not happy with 2-3 and expected better. But does he feel like there’s been a step back? No. They overachieved based on outside expectations in 2021 and 2022. The natural progression is obviously to go to 9 or 10 wins but he’s looking at the big picture. What they’ve done from a culture and recruiting standpoint and with on-field success has been good. You’re judged on wins and losses and they’re not good enough this season to date. But hard to ignore the good they’ve done to date. Loves this team and how hard this group works.  Couldn’t be “more fired up” about the direction. Npt fired up about 2-3 but fired up about the progress they’ve made since he got here.

–Talking about depth, need to get young guys ready to go. Said they have to get those young guys ready to go. One of the issues at Tennessee was Boogie Huntley and Tonka Hemingway having to play every snap in the fourth quarter because of TJ Sanders’ injury. Excited about the young talent developing at linebacker too. Takes some pressure off of Debo Williams and Stone Blanton.

–There’s a fine line with playing freshmen and simplifying everything you’re doing so the freshmen go out there and play then build a game plan to adjust based on what an offense is doing. That’s universal playing defense. You have to make sure guys–especially at linebacker–have to understand that. Then as coaches, you have to prepare guys the right way so they know what they’re doing. Scheme is going to be important but guys have to play with physicality, good fundamentals and technique as well too. Then coaches have to get them out there and playing fast.

[Get the On3 app! Stay connected with GC!]

–The relationship with Billy Napier is “good.” They were coaches against each other when Beamer was at South Carolina and Napier was at Clemson. Beamer followed him from afar during his career then his success at Louisiana. Then they reconnected when they both came back to the SEC at meetings, etc. He’s got a lot of respect for the job Napier did at Clemson, Louisiana and Florida.

–Asked about what’s going on at right tackle and guard, said they always look at it but can’t reveal what’s going on just yet. Had to maybe look outside the box maybe. About getting continuity and the best five guys out there.

–Drew Tuazama missed the Tennessee game for a personal reason. He’s in great spirits and had a good week of practice last week.

–Saw progress in the team’s detail orientation. The margin of error in the SEC is small and even smaller for South Carolina right now with injuries and depth issues. It might be running routes at a right level or an improper drop at quarterback offensively. Or a tight end failing to block correctly and losing that block. Or getting bounced out of a gap defensively. The details are everywhere. If those mistakes are there, re-evaluate how you might be teaching it. Mentions a lot of negative runs or sacks were either a mental mistake or technique/fundamental errors.

[Get breaking news from GamecockCentral]

–Asked about success coming out of a bye week, said it was two different situations coming off a loss in 2021 and a win in 2022. They don’t talk so much about the previous game on a bye compared to previous weeks. Used last week as a reset to step back and evaluate scheme and personnel. There’s a good rest of stepping back and see where a team is. Not happy with the results but also looking at the big picture.

–Asked about Mark Stoops’ comments about buying players in the portal. He can’t speak for Kentucky and Georgia but NIL is a “major factor” across college athletics, not just football. NIL is just part of everything now, particularly in the portal. They’re going to be very active with NIL to try and raise money for guys. Promotes Garnet Trust and trying to encourage fans to give. That is the name of the game right now whether you agree with it or not. If you want to win at the highest level, you have to be very active from an NIL standpoint. Frankly, they need more of it here. Thankful for all the money they’ve raised but can use more.

–Asked about the biggest takeaways from his quality control analysis in the bye, said they’ve not far off and hadn’t gotten their butts kicked. Have to do a better job of finishing. It’s a big-picture thought but have to be better in situational football. That’s third down offense and defense. Far too many drives that stalled out around the opponent 40 yard line. Have to finish drives offensively in plus territory. Then defensively, continue to develop depth where you have to play through it. He met with 15 players individually to gauge their mindset. Said he wanted players to be able to talk freely about things they’ve maybe missed as a coaching staff.

–TJ Sanders was limited last week but is fine now. Defensively with tackles for loss, have to be better at winning one-on-one passes. Tennessee did a lot of seven-man protections and have to win individual battles. When they bring pressure, pressure has to get home. If not, then it creates mismatches on the back end.

–Hasn’t mentioned last year’s Florida game at all and “hadn’t planned on it.” Jokes that Anthony Richardson is thankfully playing for the Colts now. Have to protect the ball better and not give up as many explosive runs. They may be watching cause it’s a new defensive coordinator but coaches haven’t mentioned it one time with the staff or the players.

–Shane Beamer talking about relegation. Jokes he watched Ted Lasso so understands it to a degree. Has to do more research on it to understand the ins and outs. Speaking on football specifically, said it might force administration across the sport to decide how good they want to be.

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!