Shane Beamer on importance of having veteran leadership on younger team
Growing up fast is the new norm for incoming players at South Carolina. It happened last year and should be the case again this year.
There’s plenty of young talent on the Gamecocks’ spring football roster. There are 35 freshmen and 21 sophomores that make up more than half of the team.
Shane Beamer knows his team is fairly young and doesn’t have too much experience. That’s why it’s more important to have veterans to be leaders in the locker room.
“It’s going to be critical to develop leadership on this team because we’re a young team,” Beamer said. “I mean, we got a lot of guys back, but if you look around there’s a bunch of freshmen and sophomores on this football team that we’re going to be counting on this season. We need them to grow up in a hurry and then that leadership that we have on this team is going to be critical also.”
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Leadership usually starts with the quarterback. For the Gamecocks, their guy is Spencer Ratter. Beamer said that last spring Rattler was new and still trying to adjust to learning a new offense and new team. Now more than a year later, he’s chiseled out a big role and earned his spot, ultimately serving as one of five team captains on last year’s team.
“I think Spencer has done a lot better from a leadership standpoint, just being a year older and a year more experienced in this system,” he said.
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Rattler is just one of many players that possess leadership qualities that Beamer looks for. Dakereon Joyner is another guy that has gained the respect of his teammates. Even during spring practice, he hasn’t shied away from being vocal.
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“He’s a guy that’s essentially gone through a position change this spring,” Beamer said. “He got on offense today and we scored a touchdown in the red zone. And he was getting on the other guys on offense because he didn’t think the offense celebrated as well as they should have and needed to show more energy and excitement about scoring a touchdown.”
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And it’s not just the offense having the leaders. Despite having many younger defensive starters, they’ve done a good job of stepping up. One name in particular that has stood out to Beamer is DQ Smith, who started 11 games as a freshman last year.
“He’s a guy that I hear talking all the time on defense. I’ve told our guys: the great defenses, you hear them all the time. They’re talking, they’re constantly communicating,” Beamer said. “DQ has done a good job of being a leader and talking and things like that.”
Beamer also mentioned Alex “Boogie” Huntley as someone who has been working hard while other veterans such as Tonka Hemingway are down with injuries.
“We got some guys out on the defensive line — Tonka’s not practicing right now. Boogie’s kind of the old man of that D tackle group. I think he’s done a really good job,” Beamer said.
