What Shane Beamer said at Midlands Gamecock Club Meeting

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke at the Midlands Gamecock Club Meeting Tuesday night as the Welcome Home Tour continues to hit various areas in the Palmetto State.

GamecockCentral was on hand and below is what the Gamecocks fourth-year head coach had to say.

On the spring game after watching the tape…

I thought it was really productive overall, kind of what I thought. Athletic on defense, better at all three levels, in my opinion, on the defense. Offensively, the Black team kind of got in a little bit of a bind with some injuries early on that affected them. But I thought the running backs did some good things, and receivers kind of did what we asked. So overall, it was a solid night. I wouldn’t say any great surprises, any bad surprises. I like the efficiency that we worked with, I thought it was very clean. That was evident going back on the tape.

If anything, maybe some throws the quarterbacks missed, maybe open guys in the flat that they didn’t throw to, and then we’re looking for something downfield and all that. Maybe just trying to make a play, things like that. But overall, I thought it was a pretty good night. And really went back and analyzed some of the plays that I didn’t call dead as a sack. And when needed, I took a video and sent it to the player at hand and either said my bad or I still believe this was the right decision. But it was a fun night and a solid performance.

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Anything to worry about long-term with Markee Anderson’s injury?

No, I just saw him. We had a team dinner before I walked over here. So I literally just saw him 15 minutes ago at the facility. He’s still walking gingerly, but says he feels okay. And I don’t think it’s anything long term. Still don’t know for sure, but I don’t think it’s gonna be anything long term.

On post-spring player interviews…

They’ve been good. Knocked out 80, 40 yesterday, 40 today. Just had my last one at 5:00 today. They’ve been good. Those are very much just kind of, any issues that I need to be aware of, talking academics, strengths, areas to improve, what’s your plan this summer, how are we going to get better, here’s your role right now. So those are a lot of things. Some of them are a little bit longer than others, but they’ve been productive and open and honest communication with guys and where they stand.

On importance of communication with players on their roles…

It is, and I think it’s, you know, it would be very easy for us right now to maybe not be as honest as maybe we should be in order to try and keep guys around. And I always want to be honest with guys. I tell our players all the time, Wes, that I want our guys to have a good experience here in this program. And that means being able to play.

And if they’re coming out of spring practice, they’re not in a position where they’re going to play a lot, that can change between now and the season. But I also want to be honest with them in regards to, here’s where you are right now, and here’s what’s got to change in order for you, too. And here would be your role if the season started today as well. So we try and have those conversations.

All these players are meeting with their position coaches individually. And then every single one of them, all 110 guys we have on our team, scholarship, walk-on, freshman, senior, you name it, they’re meeting with me. So be honest and let them know where they stand. But I want them to be honest with me. If there’s something that they’re concerned about and not happy about, I want to hear that, too. And we try and do that year-round, not just in these exit meetings.

Has anybody told you if they’d like to make a move on?

Yeah, a couple of guys that weren’t necessarily surprises, but a couple that I think are going to explore that route. Just the opportunity to play more. I’ll let them announce that or put their name in the portal whenever they’re ready to. But kind of expect that at the end of the spring. And again, you want guys to have good experiences and good opportunities. And if that means going somewhere, where you can play a little bit more, certainly wish those guys well. And all of them have been honest and positive conversations.

How did Spencer Rattler prepare himself for the NFL in two years in Columbia?

I think being exposed to this system and nothing against the system that he was in before, because obviously they’ve been dynamic in that system with Lincoln (Riley). But he prepared himself as being a part of this system. You’re in a system that’s more pro style, if you will. So I think when he has to call in a call, a play in the huddle or spit out an NFL play call or whatever else, change protections, it won’t be the first time he’s done that. And not that he didn’t do it at Oklahoma because we did some of that. It’s just a little bit more pro style, if you will. Right, wrong, indifferent. So that for one.

And then I think just the the adversity he went through the last couple of seasons, how he handled it and how he continued to just come back week after week and perform. And he was steady. He was consistent. And I know that’s resonated with a lot of those NFL teams.

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What type of progress have you seen from the defense in the spring? And what has you excited about them going into the season?

I think just another year in the system. For a lot of these guy,.it’s year four being in our defensive system terminology. So now they can not just know what they’re doing. Some of these guys, they can now understand what everybody’s doing around them. I’m a linebacker, I understand what the secondary is doing and the D-line is doing and why. And you’re able to do that when you’re not trying to figure out what you’re supposed to do, you’re able to kind of figure out everything conceptually, which is the ultimate goal.

So being more comfortable in the system. And then just I think with the added depth and athleticism we have, y’all saw us Saturday night, there’s no doubt we’re we’re deeper and we’re more athletic at linebacker. We run better. Those guys are making plays all over the field. I mean, you talk about Saturday night, (Bangally) Kamara he had two or three tackles where he’s supposed to be blocked and he just beats the blocker to the ball and makes a one on one tackle. A lot of stuff like that. So that would be that would be one.

The depth up front on defense has been, I don’t want to say a surprise, but a welcome addition to our team without a doubt. And, you know, I know there’s great excitement. Guys like DQ (Smith) and the rest of our guys on defense. There’s great excitement about how good we can be defensively.

On Dylan Stewart saying he thought the D had about 12 sacks…

(Laughs) I wouldn’t go 12. I think it was about right the number that we gave them. So maybe about a third. I like Dylan’s confidence. I don’t know if it was quite that that good a night for the defensive line.

So you had a pretty good batting average on sack versus not sack…

I feel like I did. There were a couple of them… I had, I think, Debo (Williams) in my office yesterday morning and I showed him a couple of them that I wasn’t sure about. And he’s like, oh, that ain’t a sack coach. So I’m like, all right, well tell those defensive linemen. But then there’s some and I’m like, oh, man, I got you on that one. And on the other hand, too, there’s probably some, Robbie Ashford, I called one on Bam Scott one time over there by the visiting team section where they said sit and looking back on it, Bam swears he would have gotten him down, Robbie swears there’s no way he would have tackled him. So I think it all evens out when it’s all said and done.

On DQ Smith winning player of the spring for defense and special teams…

It’s just he’s everything that we want in this program. He’s humble. He’s hardworking. He’s steady. He’s consistent. You know, we don’t sit in there as a staff and decide on the awards. The offensive staff decides on their guy, the defensive staff decides on their guy, the special team staff decides on their guy, then we get together as a staff and talk about who they want. And then I have the final say if I disagree with any of it.

But Joe D came in there and said, DQ Smith, Clayton and the defensive staff came in there and said, DQ Smith. And he earned it. And it’s because of his consistency and how he how he does things day in, day in, day out.

Looking ahead to the summer, what’s the next few weeks and few months looking like for you guys and especially heading out on this tour?

Yeah, busy. Me personally, be doing quite a few of these here over the next few weeks across the state of South Carolina, so looking forward to getting out and visiting with Gamecocks everywhere across across South Carolina.

For our players, the last day of class was yesterday, so they got exams coming up. Some of them are pretty much done, so they’ll be able to get a little bit of a break if they want to, from talking to most of them, and I’ve had 80 individual meetings in my office the last two days, a lot of these guys, they they’re not going anywhere. They’re very much focused on the task at hand. And I want them to get away and get a little bit of a break. But most of them, they want to get back to Columbia as soon as possible and get right back to work. And then everybody will be back here for summer school at the beginning of June and and full speed ahead.

And then for us as coaches, it’s exit meetings with our players. Our assistant coaches will get out on the road recruiting and that part of it never ends. But it’s a busy time, but a good time and a lot of excitement right now about the program.

What kind of feedback have you been getting after the spring?

It was great talking to high school prospects, you know, every single one of them and I had a bunch of them in my office Sunday morning after the game and they all talked about the fans and how awesome the stadium was on Saturday night and then even talking with some of our players in these exit meetings, I usually ask them, hey, what do you think of the spring game the other night? And it seems like every single one of them talks about, man, coach, like the fans, like that kind of environment for a spring game.

And I say, well, just wait till the season and you see what it’s like. So we’re so grateful and appreciative for the environment Saturday night. Great feedback from all the prospects that were there and our own players and excited to see them again in Williams-Bride Stadium here in August.

How gratifying is it that players want to stay in the program?

It’s great. And it kind of goes back to what I’ve seen from this team since we got back in January. There’s a great hunger to be better than what we were last season. We know the adversity we faced last season. We know the progress that we made last season, even though the record didn’t show it. And there’s a core group of guys that are returning and they’ve been very much focused on getting better. And hungry is definitely the word to describe it since we got back. And and that hasn’t stopped at all. They’re eager to get back to work. But more important than that, it’s a group that has fun and really enjoys being together. And they’re a they’re a fun team to be around for sure.

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