South Carolina players show competitive side in spring game

On paper, South Carolina’s spring game did not have an effect on the team’s record and place in the standings. The Gamecocks will still be 0-0 heading into their season-opening matchup against North Carolina.

While this is true, South Carolina’s players didn’t treat the game like another practice or “glorified scrimmage.” Rather, they treated it like they would a regular (or postseason game), demonstrating the team’s competitiveness heading into the fall.

Shane Beamer facilitated this competitive atmosphere by offering both tangible and intangible rewards for players on the winning team.

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“We told them that it was going to be like a conference championship win or a bowl win. Whatever team won the game, we’d have a hat for them to put on the sideline after the game,” Beamer said. “So they were fighting for hats, but mainly just bragging rights.”

The Gamecocks also held a “draft” to determine which players would be joining the Garnet and Black teams. Beamer said the draft gave players even more opportunities to show their intent to win the game.”

“Some of these guys were cold-blooded in the draft on Thursday night. We only have two long snappers in the program – Hunter (Rogers) and Cole Rasmumssen – and Hunter got selected as the snapper,” Beamer said.

“He talked his coach into drafting a second snapper so the other team would not have a long snapper in the game and couldn’t kick field goals and couldn’t punt, which I think is brilliant. It was all in the name of winning the football game…They wanted to win, and they went by all means necessary.”

Antwane Wells said holding a pre-game draft helped increase the level of competition in the game.

“It was fun. It brought a different point of view of the spring game. I don’t think no other team did that, so it definitely made it more competitive. It was just cool to be on a different team and help the coaches pick players to be on each team.”

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Beamer was not the only coach to keep competitive juices flowing in the game. According to Beamer, Clayton White and his graduate assistants had his players running advanced plays.

“We were supposed to be very limited on defense. And then I saw some pressures we were running that were pretty exotic,” Beamer said. “At one point, I had to tell this young GAs like, ‘Slow down, fellas’ with what they were doing.”

South Carolina players themselves found ways to make the game more competitive too, whether that be through smack talk or trying to re-enter the game in the fourth quarter and overtime.

“At the start of overtime, Nick Emmanwori, Spencer Rattler, JuJu (McDowell), Juice, (Dakereon Joyner) – they’re all coming to me and they want to go back in the game because they don’t want to lose,” Beamer said. “Love the fact that they’re not over there on the sideline messing around. They’re invested in the game, and after not even playing the entire second half, they wanted to go back in there and play overtime and try to win it.”

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Rattler said he wanted to rejoin the fold because the score in the game got close.

“A core value of this team is compete, and that game was much closer than we wanted,” Rattler said. “We thought it was going to be a blowout, but we got the dub and we were happy for it.”

Unfortunately for Rattler, Beamer did not him back into the game.

“They shut it down quick because if we went in, we would’ve ended it quick,” Rattler said.

Beamer said that the team’s competitiveness in situations like these is one of the reasons why he enjoys working with them.

“From a football standpoint, just the youthfulness and the eagerness that this group has. They are excited, and they love to compete, and they love to work,” Beamer said. “That excites me about this group.”

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