What Shane Beamer said to local media at SEC Media Days

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer and a trio of Gamecock players were in Dallas Monday for Day 1 of SEC Media Days to preview the upcoming season.

Beamer, as he always does, met with the local media to provide an update on his program prior to speaking to the gathered media in the more official “main room.”

Below is a transcript of what the fourth-year coach had to say about the Gamecocks.

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Question: Anybody that won’t be out there for the start of camp?

Answer: Not that I’m aware of. We’ll get back in as a staff next week and get an update injury-wise but at this point everything is good and guys that were limited in spring practice are full speed ahead. Rocket Sanders and those guys have had a great summer from a health standpoint and expect everybody to be full-go once we get going.

Question: Shane, if you had to give a theme to this preseason preparation, what would it be?

Answer: You know, theme wise, I’d say going all the way back to January would just be the hunger that this team has. We’ve got three fantastic leaders here today that have played a lot of football for us here in South Carolina, along with a lot of other leaders. I mean, you think about it, two of the guys that we brought to media days last year still on our team in Tonka and Kai as well.

So we’re an older team that’s very, very hungry, they’ve shown that since August. And theme for us, Rick, has just continued to build on that and embrace that. Got a lot of new faces, obviously, on all three phases, coaches and players, and continue to get acclimated and just get better. But really like this group, like the way they’ve worked since January, we’ve had a fantastic summer and eager to get going.

Question: You mentioned these three young men being exceptional leaders, the guys who came last year still on the team. Why these three? Why was it their turn this year?

Answer: You know, last year, going with Boogie, we brought Tonka, and I had a conversation with Boogie that, hey, I’m taking Tonka, but I’m gonna take you next year. So I’m a man of my word. But in all seriousness we’ve got a lot of leadership that’s returning.

We vote on captains at the end of the season each year, we elect permanent captains. And Boogie Huntley and Debo were voted a permanent captain last year. They had the five highest votes on the team. Luke was not far behind; it was very close, you know, to being in that position, and I think that’s a good thing. And I think that’s a good thing as well.

So they’re leaders for us, and to me, they just embody everything that we want our program to be about. They embody everything to me that’s right about college athletics. They’ve had opportunities to finish their playing career or go somewhere else and transfer, and they’ve invested in South Carolina.

You know, Luke and Boogie were here when I got here, and they’ve stayed not just for 2021 but 21, 22, 23, and 24. And then Debo was one of the first young men who was brought in to Carolina when I was hired as the head coach when he transferred in from Delaware. So fantastic leaders, fantastic people. All three are graduates of South Carolina and just everything that’s right about athletics, college athletics, college football, and a testament to what our program is about.

Question: Shane, NCAA recently passed a rule that analysts can now offer on-field coaching instruction. Are you in favor of that?

Answer: No, absolutely, I am. You know, every school is going to be different. I think you may have some coaches that just hire an army of analysts, and you’ve seen that some coaches just in the last three months have left some coordinator jobs at the FCS level to go be an analyst somewhere else. And, you know, more power to them.

But I think it’s great. It takes kind of the gray area out of who’s allowed to do what. We’re trying to do things the right way at our place, David, but not everybody, I don’t think, has always followed that rule the way it’s supposed to be followed. You know, we don’t have to get really big; we’re not.

And in my mind, with some of the hires that we have, Mike Shula, for example, was done regardless of whether that rule had passed. Mike was a guy that we wanted to get in our program, but for him now to be able to actively coach on the field, I was in favor of it. I think every coach I know in the SEC was in favor of it and something that’ll be really, really good for coaches and their development but also for the players on our team and their development.

Question: This is the oldest defense you’ve had in four years; you’re the most experienced. How much does that help in the offseason when you’re starting kind of so far ahead just with installing terminology, you’ve got this many guys back?

Answer: Yeah, a lot. You know, you saw it a little bit last year with some of the flexibility that we had on defense, being able to do some different things and mix up fronts and mix up personnel groupings. But to be able to bring back so many key contributors at all three levels of the defense, we finished the last couple of games last season playing really good defense down the stretch and we’ve got to continue to build on that.

These guys being in year four in this system allows us, one, to continue to build on that, two, allows us to be even more diverse if we want to and multiple from what we’re doing from a defensive standpoint.

And I think you see it at any position or any phase, offense, defense, special teams, not just knowing what you’re doing but now what everybody’s doing around you as well. And these guys are more comfortable but at the same time, we’re not sitting here complacent either. We’re continuing to try and grow and push the envelope and see how we can be even better from a defensive standpoint.

Question: Where does Dylan Stewart fit into that mix?

Answer: Right in the middle of it. He’s as advertised. He’s a guy that’s come in, he’s freakishly talented, obviously came in in January with all of our freshmen except for three, I guess, that just got here in June or got to Columbia in June, but Dylan came in in January and has hit the ground running and showed early on why he was so highly recruited but also has great humility about himself and understands he’s at a pretty good position with some pretty good players as well. But he’s a guy that we have high hopes for and eager to see him continue to develop and evolve in his first year at Carolina.

Question: How different do you feel like the offense is developing now with obviously a strong leader like Rattler now moving to the NFL? How different are things going to look, and what’s that approach look like for you guys?

Answer: Yeah, it’s different in that you know you’re going to have a new quarterback, and he’s going to be starting his first game at South Carolina in his first game.

Now, before you all say, ‘Well you just said with LaNorris the competition was all going.’ So whether that’s Robbie Ashford or Sellers, they’re going to be starting their first game. Luke Doty has played a lot of quarterback for us and has a great skillset back there. So it’s new but exciting too.

And I think, one, it’s because of our quarterbacks and their skillset, the pieces that we’ve added to the run game, Rocket Sanders, Jawarn Howell, Oscar Adaway, bringing back Juju McDowell is a good thing.

But the one thing that I feel really good about is the amount of experience that we have on the offensive line. And with the injuries we had last season, we had to play way too many offensive linemen. But the positive that did come out of that is we’ve got a lot of guys that have played a lot of football on the offensive line. I mean, you talk about Vershon started at every position on the offensive line last year. Jakai Moore’s played a lot of football for us at multiple spots. And then you add the guys, the freshmen that played last season and whatnot as well. We’ll have a solid offensive line, good offensive line behind those guys that have experience.

And when you have a center like Vershon Lee, you know, that I don’t want to say security blanket, but that makes you feel better when you got a center up there helping that new quarterback in game one.

Question: Shane, with those offensive line injuries, did you and Luke Day get together and try to tweak any training, or was there anything that could be done? Was that just a freakish run?

Answer: No, it was I think I’ve talked about it with you guys. Met with every player after the season and just kind of talked about what they saw and sat back and listened and evaluated. And then I sat down not just with Luke but in a room with the whole strength and conditioning staff and the whole training staff and including me because it starts like me and looking at everything, whether it be how we practice, what we do in the weight room, what we do in the training room, what we do in nutrition.

And there were some areas or some things in all those areas that we certainly could be better. I know there was an interview that I think Cason Henry did a couple of weeks ago where he talked about some of the changes. It’s not like radical, like we’re all of a sudden doing different things and doing different lifts in the weight room. But I think our strength and conditioning staff has done a great job of explaining the why, tweaking some things to help our guys even more.

And so far, so good. You know, the key for us is going to be being healthy, staying healthy, particularly early in the season. You know, we haven’t done a good job of that. You think about 21 early in the season against Georgia was Sherrod Greene. 22 early in the season was Jordan Strachan and Mo Kaba. 23 early in the season was Cason Henry and Nick Emmanwori and Mo Kaba.

You know, so that’s my standpoint, things that I’m going to do a little bit differently just from August preseason practice, kind of how we do things, the structure. You know, not anything radical, but we got to get off to a better start this year and stay healthy better early in the season than what we’ve done.

Question: You changed the player personnel director. What brought that about, and how do you think it’s gone so far?

Answer: Yeah, I’m not going to get into what brought it about. Wish Taylor Edwards well.

Excited about Darren Uscher coming in. Somebody that I reached out to some people a couple of weeks before everything kind of went down, if you will. I reached out to some people that I trust in the profession, you know, some names, ideas, people that they had come across. And it seemed like every person I talked to, whether it be player personnel directors across the country or even head coaches across the country that were familiar with Darren and worked with him, it seemed like his name kept coming up.

And then to find out that he was a South Carolina graduate, obviously, that really increases your interest in him. And then talked to him on the phone a few times and was blown away just with his passion for South Carolina, his passion for Gamecock athletics. You know, if I’m talking to him, he’s a guy early on, he was an intern in marketing and used to put towels in the seats of Williams-Brice Stadium before football games when he was a student here. So he’s already done a great job for us. I’m excited about him. He’s passionate about recruiting and passionate about Gamecock athletics. And like I said, talked to a couple of head coaches and personnel guys, and they all spoke very highly of him, and I see why.

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Question: Rocket Sanders is good for summer workouts and camp?

Answer: Yeah, ‘Rocket Science’ is kind of what we’ve labeled that. I wish I could take credit for that. That was Chip Morton, our associate strength coach. But he has done an amazing job. Credit Rocket, credit our training staff, our strength and conditioning staff, nutrition. Appreciate the administration giving us the resources to have cutting-edge recovery tactics in place, whatever you want to call it, strength and conditioning, training room, nutrition.

But he’s done a great job. Was modified early on when he got here, Jordan, and then we’ve just slowly built that up. He stayed in Columbia the entire month of May. He didn’t go anywhere. So I was, you know, I go in the morning in the facility early each morning. I’m usually in the weight room at 6 a.m., and he was in there every day when I was in there and doing recovery and using the month of May to really get ahead. So when the whole team came back and started workouts in June, he would not be lagging behind.

And he’s hit the ground running. He’s lost a considerable amount of weight and body fat since he got here. So when we talk about hunger on the football team, he’s a guy that’s very hungry. I mean, I think people forget how freaking good that guy was in 2022. I’m glad people have, but he’s really good. And when healthy, I’m optimistic that we’re going to see the best version of Rocket Sanders this upcoming season that the SEC ever has.

Question: What kind of offseason progress will we see from LaNorris when camp starts?

Answer: I think a lot. You know, he’s always around. I was in Charleston this weekend and drove back and walked in the facility last night about 7:45 p.m. just to grab some stuff off my desk, and he was in the facility last night, 7:45 on a Sunday night in the summer. And that’s just kind of him.

He’s worked really hard. He’s got the respect of his teammates. Continues to grow in a leadership role and being vocal. Knowledge of the offense. You guys have been around him enough. He’s just steady, consistent, even-keel, but continues to grow in physical ability, meaning strength, size, speed, athleticism, but continues to grow from a mental standpoint, leadership standpoint.

And eager for him, at the end of the day, he’s still a freshman quarterback in the SEC, but he’s made of the right stuff and excited to watch him.

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