Recap: Shane Beamer Sunday teleconference (Oct. 1)

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer held his final media availability before the bye week, recapping a loss to Tennessee and previewing the week ahead.

In the 20-minute session with the media, Beamer spoke on a few play-calling decisions, injuries and a few other topics as South Carolina gets a bit of a reprieve this weekend.

Here’s a recap of what he had to say:

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–No real concerns with injuries. South Carolina has just normal bumps and bruises and nothing long-term. Extremely beat up, especially on the lines of scrimmage, so the bye comes at a good time.

–Guys that played well that gave South Carolina a chance to win: Jalon Kilgore, Nick Emmanwori, Trey Knox, Mario Anderson, Mitch Jeter, Hunter Rogers.

–Beamer echoes what he said last night today. Offensively South Carolina has to be better. Missed way too many chances last night. Mentions they went backwards after the fake punt. Then got the ball at the 50-yard line after a kick and the Gamecocks got no points. Hard to win games–especially on the road–when that happens. Far too many negative plays. South Carolina on third and fourth down was “nowhere good enough.” The staff knew situational football would be key and they “weren’t good enough.”

–Defense gave them an opportunity. The stats weren’t great but they got two turnovers and they won the turnover battle. Got three three-and-outs and the defense got stops in the third quarter and gave the offense a chance. The biggest disappointment was the three scoring drives: first drive of the game when Tennessee drove 94 yards, the first drive of the second half for a TD and after kicking a field goal a 75-yard drive. On the field far too many plays. Have to pressure the quarterback at a better rate.

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–Losing TJ Sanders was a big loss and the line wasn’t as productive as it needed to be in the fourth quarter. He’s proud of the defensive backfield for the performance after taking a lot of “crap” after Mississippi State. The plan was to do a lot of man coverage and man principals and bringing pressure and the secondary did a good job for the most part. Needs to clean up some technique stuff, especially on technique stuff.

–Have to get better. No one expected to be 2-3 and they think they’re better than that. This is a big week for them and have to get healthy and develop young guys. They have to do a better job to put guys in better positions to succeed.

–As far as facing that tempo again, they won’t face an offense like that. For the most part, thinks they handled the tempo OK. They did a better job in the first half than the second half. Every week is a different challenge. They have to be able to handle it.

–Biggest thing for Nyck Harbor and Tyshawn Russell is consistency. Need to bring those guys along so it takes pressure off of Legette and O’Mega Blake. Have to be a little more detailed, and that’s on the coaches first and foremost. Mentions the ball to Russell where he caught the ball was run at the wrong depth which is why it might’ve looked a little clunky.

–In terms of re-evaluating Juice Wells, said he still has some soreness when he’s not in a walking boot. Would say they won’t do much with him this week. Will practice Monday-Wednesday. They’ll see how things go this week but next week will be a little more in-depth to see where he is moving forward.

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–Talking about the long drives and not being able to disrupt, mentioning looking at what they’re doing schematically. This week, they rushed four and played man and quarters every snap. When they pressured they ran a lot of cross-dog pressure. Every week they try to create those chances but at the end of the day, someone has to win a one-on-one rep. Against Mississippi State, they didn’t run some magical scheme. Guys were just winning.

–Asked about routes running behind the sticks on third/fourth downs, said Rattler checked one and guessed wrong on that one based on the look. Then one on the fourth down late, you can’t check that ball down. Have to throw a corner route or a deep out on that play or get back to the dig coming from right to left. Some of it was Rattler’s progression but in a few situations they have to give receivers a chance to make a play.

–Drew Tuazama and Emory Floyd “weren’t on the travel plans last night.” Didn’t specify anything else.

–This is a normal Sunday then the team will practice Monday-Wednesday. They’ll do some recruiting at the end of the week too. Will do some really good work this week, focus on situational stuff then guys get a break mentally/physically. Coaches and players need that right now after such a tough month.

–Asked why Juju McDowell was in on that third down run, said they went tempo and didn’t want to allow Tennessee a chance to sub. Would’ve liked a bigger back certainly, but has faith in McDowell to get that yard.

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–There are no moral victories but in every single game, they had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. Said they have to understand in three losses against good teams they’ve had chances late to swing it in their favor but making sure they also understand winning is hard and there has to be great detail and discipline to what they’re doing. When you don’t do that, good teams expose you. You learn from it and try to get better and develop guys and correct things and build on things that are good.

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