Shane Beamer, Gamecocks talk offensive identity before spring practice
Dowell Loggains hasn’t called a play at South Carolina. And, frankly, he had Shane Beamer won’t fully know what this offense will look like until the entire complement of players arrives over the summer.
But there are a few things Beamer wants the Gamecocks’ offense to have as it develops under the first-year offensive coordinator.
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“Probably very similar to when I got hired: balance. What is balance? Balance to me is not 50-50. It’s the ability to run the ball when you need to run it and throw the ball when you need to throw it. We want to be able to do that. We want to be a physical offense that plays really, really hard. And has the ability to be explosive,” Beamer said.
“You look back at our success the last two years, it’s incredible the number of explosive plays. When we win the explosive play battle against the opponent our record is lights-out how good we are.”
South Carolina had a rollercoaster season offensively, looking incredibly inconsistent over the course of the first 10 regular season games. But the Gamecocks turned it on late, putting up over 90 points and over 1,000 yards to close the regular season in upset wins over Clemson.
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When Marcus Satterfield departed for Nebraska, it gave Beamer a chance to bring in Loggains from Arkansas.
Loggains has only been with the Gamecocks since the middle of December. But he’s had a chance to at least instill a little bit of what to expect before spring practice starts this week.
“Definitely a hard-nosed team. Then a team that knows what to do and knows how to do it and knows how to do it under pressure. Those are his big three things right there,” Trey Knox said. “We’re smart enough to do it. We’re going to go really fast to try and tire out defenses. Just make plays when the ball is in the air.”
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South Carolina does have pieces to replace on the offensive side of the ball, most notably three starting offensive linemen, MarShawn Lloyd and Josh Vann.
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But the Gamecocks return Spencer Rattler and Antwane Wells Jr., the team’s leading passer and receiver, a good jumping-off point for Loggains in year one.
They also enrolled a restructured tight end room, something Nick Elksnis thinks will be used heavily.
“It’s very early in the process. But from what I’ve seen so far it features the tight end a lot,” he said. “I can’t complain.”
But regardless of what the identity and look of this offense is, Beamer is still perturbed by South Carolina’s looseness with the ball. The Gamecocks were worst in the SEC with 27 turnovers, leading the SEC with 14 interceptions and 13 fumbles lost.
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“It’s embarrassing. For me, as a head coach, it’s really embarrassing. Two years in a row, no one has thrown more interceptions and fumbled the ball to the other team more than we have. Obviously, we haven’t done a good enough job the last two years–starting with me–of coaching that,” Beamer said.
“It’s two years in a row. In 2021 we led the SEC in takeaways. In 2022 I think we were second in the SEC defensively in takeaways. We only missed leading it by one turnover. We’ve been dynamic on defense. Let’s continue to do that but we have to quit turning the ball over. To me, that’s an identity.”
