Recap: Shane Beamer weekly press conference

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer met with the media Tuesday to preview Saturday’s game with Tennessee.

Here’s a recap of what he said:

–Express condolences for the “unspeakable tragedy” yesterday in Virginia. Have their prayers and support. Players want to do something to honor the shooting victims and they’ll wear stickers. Hits really close to home with Lavel Davis, a South Carolina kid. Was just in Woodland High School during the off week.

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–Goes back to the Vanderbilt and corrects some misconceptions on his comments that people think he was calling out the fanbase for criticism. Says they now have to get past the doom and gloom and find joy. Says he can take the criticism and is open to criticism. Has dealt with criticism his entire life. Said he’s heard about curses since his time as an assistant coach and there’s “no dang curse.” Said this fan base has to get past waiting for something bad to happen. There wasn’t a lot of joy at Florida but he’s going to try to find the positives.

–Heck of an opportunity this weekend against Tennessee. Saturday will be the military appreciation night and he’s “so grateful” for the military. It’s another sold out night game. Thanks the fans for selling out every Saturday game this year. Hopes it’s an electric atmosphere and fans arrive early for Gamecock Walk. Needs the crowd to be a factor and have an impact like they did against Texas A&M. Have to be “even better” and they need more from everyone in the program right now. Said he hopes fans get there early to honor this group of seniors that have dealt with a lot over their careers at South Carolina.

–Said this is everything that’s great about college football. Have SEC Nation in town, ESPN’s No. 1 crew, a great group of recruits and pack out the Horseshoe Friday and then Saturday.

–Then have a big test. Tennessee plays really well in all three phases. Playing really well, disruptive up front and talented and athletic at linebacker. Have depth in the secondary. Offensively it “speaks for itself.” Remembers watching Hendon Hooker in high school and seeing how talented he was. As a Tech alum, still trying to figure out how he got out of Blacksburg. Jokes as South Carolina’s head coach and a VT alum he wishes he was still there. Veteran group that likes to run the ball. Every starter is either a junior or senior. Most teams they play have freshmen or sophomores sprinkled in but every starter is an upperclassman. They’re playing at a really high level. It’s going to be a challenge but excited for the chance.

–Josh Vann has been “awesome.” Goes back to a conversation they had they had in the offseason where Beamer mentions Vann–or anybody coming back–wasn’t going to catch 100 balls next year. Did talk about things he can improve on. Helped himself on special teams this year and has been “fantastic this year.”

–It’s hard to mirror Tennessee’s offensive tempo. They prepare for it a little bit throughout the year but not at the pace the Vols do. It stresses the scout team work in practice and mixed in tempo as well. Scout team today was awesome with that. Takes a lot of organization. They did a little bit of scouting and thinking over the offseason and then early this week.

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–Asked about getting the Vols off schedule, they have to tackle. If the Vols can run up and down the field on them it’ll be tough. They want to run the ball and have to stop that first. Vols are going to complete passes and make plays but have to tackle and limit those catch-and-run. Need to make 10 to 15 yard caches 10 to 15 yard catches instead of 70. Then have to be good situational football teams. Need to get off the field on third down and limit red zone trips to field goals instead of touchdowns.

–Asked about improvement, said they take a step back and evaluate what went wrong and think of things they can do during the week to improve on that. Then figuring out solutions to stop this week’s opponent. Trying to not reinvent the wheel and continue to try and be better in what they’re doing without “wholesale changes” schematically week to week.

–This group of seniors has a lot of great people. Last year’s group was certainly special but this group more so. These guys didn’t have to come back. They stayed for a year but chose to stay for another year. He’s so happy for them. He’s sure they didn’t want to be 6-4 but still a lot they can accomplish this year. Says a lot they believed in him and the staff enough to come back. Then happy for guys like Zacch Pickens who came back and did nothing but improve draft stock.

–Asked about Jalin Hyatt, jokes he was not here when Hyatt was in school. He was at Oklahoma and not part of that staff that didn’t offer him. Hope people know that. Jokes people have called him an idiot for not offering him. Said he’s a really versatile and explosive player. Asked about handling things in state with recruiting, always want to start in-state with recruiting. Going to trust their evaluation and guys they think can win in the SEC. Trust their evaluation and can’t take everyone. There isn’t the same ratio of players coming out of SC compared to the bigger states just based on population. Said anyone who doesn’t think they recruit the state well is “full of it.” Mentions they took Emmanwori and Smith and those two have played well. Said they’ll miss from time to time on guys they haven’t taken but have to trust their evaluations and on guys who they think can help win in the SEC.

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–Vols do a great job moving in him around and running with that tempo makes it hard to figure out at times where he can be. Have to be great in ID’ing him. Then the Vols have good receivers around him. Have to line up with tempo and make sure they’re aligned then he’s a nightmare to guard even with that.

–Want to make sure guys don’t lose sight of what’s real and what’s not real. There’s a whole lot of work they’ve put in this season dating back to January. People on the outside haven’t been part of that. Have to make sure guys know the players and staff control what happens. Criticism from the outside is warranted, certainly, but make sure players are working and keeping their heads down. They’re judged on 12 Saturdays a year and there’s not an in-between between “really good” and “really bad.”

–Haven’t brought up the start last year. Didn’t get off to good starts last year in a lot of games. They talked about that a lot in the offseason. Got off to good starts at times this year and not last year. Can’t be shocked by the tempo this year. Were at times last season in Knoxville. Guys understand they have to handle the tempo better early. Have to create opportunities without maybe an early fumble or opening kickoff returns.

–Really important to keep Pete Lembo this offseason. Lembo knows how much he’s appreciated in the building. There’s a reason why Beamer actively pursued Lembo and only Lembo for ST coordinator. Does a great job recruiting and on the field. What they’re doing from a special teams success is special. That creates momentum on the field during a game and then in the building during the week. They spend a lot of time on it and coach it well and players are engaged with it.

–Asked balancing changing a coach’s role versus staying the course with a guy. Said it’s a week-to-week perspective. Each week it’s trying to continue elevate where they are in the current moment.

–From a flu perspective, no issues yesterday or today from that regard. Had a few guys with that last week. Everybody who went down in the Florida game are fine and practiced. Lloyd and CBS were limited today but the hope is they’re still able to play. Too early to say if they’re definitely out or definitely in. Will evaluate where they are tomorrow after treatment today.

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