RECAP: 'Welcome Home: South Carolina Football' - Episode 1

“Welcome Home: South Carolina Football” — an all-access five-part video series on Gamecock Football — debuted Wednesday night on ESPNU, offering fans a 30-minutes behind-the-scenes peak at Shane Beamer’s program.

Episode 1, which featured a cold open with Spencer Rattler talking about the spring game, largely focused on that game and then gradually moved ahead in time working its way up until around the present.

It appears from that preview at the end, that Episode 2 will focus on the beginning of South Carolina’s preseason camp, which kicked off a week ago.

This week’s episode was largely a mix of new previously unseen footage combined with clips from Justin King’s highly talented creative media team.

The first episode highly featured Rattler, cornerback Cam Smith, wide receiver Josh Vann, running back MarShawn Lloyd and defensive tackle Zacch Pickens, and the production crew appears to have incredible access to the program with all of those guys either mic’d up for the spring game or close enough to directional mics for them to be heard.

For South Carolina football fans looking for a peak behind the curtain, Episode 1 provided just that and came across as a 30-minute recruiting spotlight for what Beamer’s program is all about, from the mental toughness required of “GRIT Day” to the reminder that these are still college kids with the full-team “Hide and Go Seek” game.

For non-Gamecock fans, who might need a little more context on the when and why, I found myself wishing there was a narrator moving the story along.

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— Again, the cold open features shots of Rattler walking through Gamecock Park as the team arrives at Williams-Brice Stadium with cheers from the fans raining down on them.

“The SEC fan base is amazing here,” Rattler says. “That ‘Gamecock Walk,; it was probably, I’d say 10,000 people out there, before the spring game. We were walking for a half-mile it seemed like and it was nonstop. That was one of the coolest things I’ve seen.”

— After a show intro featuring various shots of the team, Columbia, and Williams-Brice Stadium, the series picks up in the team meeting room on April 16, 2022 with the coin toss for the spring game.

There’s energy in the room as Beamer calls up Pickens and Jovaughn Gwyn to represent the black and garnet teams, respectively.

Beamer’s excitement shines through for even something as inconsequential as a coin toss for a scrimmage and the team yells out “Spot the ball!!” as the meeting adjourns.

— The series then turns to the spring game itself as the players run out to 2001 and are greeted by a large group of former players on the field.

Pickens, who it’s been evident has become more and more of a leader of this program, says “Come here, Josh! Get in there!” and gives his wide receiver, Vann, a big hug.

“Let’s go Mar! Hit a move MarShawn!” Pickens later yells to Lloyd from the sideline.

Rattler isn’t an over-the-top talker but he’s a constant encourager of his teammates. “That’s a run right there, boy, that’s a run right there. … MarShawn is running, man, looking good, looking good,” Rattler comments on the sideline.

“We’ve gotta protect, we’ve gotta protect,” he says to his offensive line before firing a dart to Xavier Legette on a corner route.

“Good drive, good drive, good work up front big dogs,” Rattler is later seen telling his o-line after Christian Beal-Smith’s touchdown run.

After freshman Braden Davis throws a touchdown pass, Rattler lets him know how impressive of a pass it was.

The natural sounds of the pads popping, the players running and the communication among players has an “HBO’s Hard Knocks” feel to it.

Smith’s personality really shines through in this segment. While it’s always been evident that he likes to talk, the actual contents of his talking has never really been public until now.

At one point, Smith yells, “And that’s another Carolina… first down!.”

Emerging defensive tackle Alex “Boogie” Huntley later collects a sack as Pickens yells “Yaaa Boogie.” Moments later Huntley has what he believes should be another sack as he yells “coach, coach, coach!” to Beamer, pleading for him to blow the play dead (quarterbacks were non-contact).

Beamer pats himself on the chest and yells to Huntley, “Boogie, my bad, my bad, he was hit.”

Following the game, as the team sings the alma mater, Rattler walks off with Beamer: “Now, I’ve just got to learn this song.”

Beamer responds: “We practice it on Friday nights in the hotel. You’ll get it down.”

— The next segment features Lloyd talking about living in Middletown, Del. and commuting to Dematha Catholic in Hyattsville, Md. every morning.

“Dematha is two and a half hours from where I live right now,” Lloyd explains. “We commuted every day, back and forth. We woke up at 4:45 every morning. I never went to sleep, I look out the window, 8 p.m., when practice was over, we’d drive back to Delaware and get home by 10-something, eat, take a shower, go to sleep and start it over at 4:45 all over again.”

Next, we see footage of Lloyd’s actual injury in practice on Aug. 19, 2020. Lloyd says he doesn’t know what happened but he felt a pop in his leg.

As everyone knows by now, it was a torn ACL that kept him out for the entire season.

“It was a struggle,” Lloyd says. “The process is depressing. I needed to be humbled and that was a time for me to get better physically and mentally. I just was afraid that I wasn’t going to be the same. I had the right people put in my corner. All those people were able to help me throughout my process.

“I know there’s a lot of good running backs in this conference but I bring something different. I’ve been waiting for two years. I’ve waited my time and it’s time. I’m just ready to show them that this kid from Delaware is the real deal. They haven’t seen anything yet.”

— The next few segments offer behind-the-scenes looks at “GRIT Day” (the boot-camp style workout that Carolina did at the end of winter workouts), the hide and seek game that was featured on social media, Beamer’s viral “Turn my swag on” video and SEC Media Days.

— The final segment shows Beamer in a meeting. It’s cut to look like it’s a meeting with his staff but it’s not clear if that’s actually the case or if it’s edited that way, but it offers some interesting thoughts from the head coach on his team without the filter that’s usually in place in a media setting.

“We’ve got a chance to have a really, really good team.”

“It’s a different dynamic this year with this group. Last year, nobody was talking about us, nobody thought we were worth a d*mn.”

“Nobody was talking about any of our individual players last year.”

“We can’t lose sight of, the reason we had success last year was how connected we became as a team and the way that we were all going in the same direction.”

“Every player and every person in this room is making this program better on and off the field. There’s no one more important than the team and we all — starting with me — have to do a hell of a job of not losing sight of what the most important thing is and that is the team.”

“Welcome Home: South Carolina Football” will air every Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU for five weeks leading up to the Wednesday after the Gamecock’s season opener. Gamecock Central will provide recaps following each episode.

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