Shane Beamer breaks down first scrimmage of spring
Typically at this point in the process, defenses are ahead of offenses in most programs. That was the case with South Carolina.
South Carolina held its first scrimmage of the spring Saturday and it was won by the defense with plenty of improvement on both sides of the ball.
“The defense played great. (We had) way too many turnovers offensively in our scrimmage. We have to get that corrected. Can’t win too many games when you turn the ball over like we did last season and what we did Saturday as well,” Shane Beamer said. “No excuse to turn the ball over like we did. Credit our defense. They led the SEC last year in takeaways. They did that and then some Saturday.”
South Carolina offensively was missing a handful of key offensive pieces with Beamer saying Dakereon Joyner, Juju McDowell, Jaheim Bell and EJ Jenkins all didn’t scrimmage. Receiver Xavier Legette was also limited.
Because of that, the offense did have it’s bumps in the road. Beamer mentioned the pass protection from the first-team offensive line was “pretty good” but the Gamecocks have to make more plays in the open field.
Perimeter blocking, Beamer said, also needs to improve because the Gamecocks “work way too hard at that to not be good” at it.
“I thought defensively we tackled really well. That stood out. A lot of times early on you see missed tackles and sloppy play. We tackled really, really well. Open field tackles (too). The other side of the spectrum is offensively the guys who carry the ball have to do a better job of making guys miss,” Beamer said.
“They didn’t win a lot of one-on-one battles from a tackling standpoint. I thought the pass protection was pretty good for the most part. It wasn’t like quarterbacks weren’t running for their lives for the most part, particularly that first offensive line. I’m really pleased with their progress.”
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Saturday was also the first time new quarterback Spencer Rattler was able get on the field in a scrimmage setting. South Carolina ran it like a game day and it was up to Rattler to call in plays as if it were a Saturday in the fall.
“I thought he was great. He didn’t look like a guy who looked lost out there by any stretch of the imagination. There are plays he’d like to have back, there’s no doubt about it,” Beamer said.
“We have to continue to make sure the guys he’s throwing to are making plays for him as well. I thought he did a good job of commanding the offense and operating. We all saw the areas—players and coaches—where we have to be better and it was a good learning experience for all of us.”
Rattler and Doty were the only two quarterbacks who weren’t live. South Carolina defenders could hit both Colten Gauthier and Braden Davis.
“They wanted to be (live). They did a nice job. It was great for their development of knowing they can’t sit back in the pocket and pat the ball all day when the pass rush is coming. They have to get rid of it,” Beamer said. “Braden had a nice scramble on a run. It was good to make them live and good for them to understand the speed of the game and how things have to operate.”
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