Recap: Shane Beamer Sunday teleconference (Oct. 23)

Shane Beamer had his weekly Sunday night press conference, recapping the Texas A&M win before turning the page to Missouri. Here’s a recap of what South Carolina’s head coach had to say.

–Fantastic night and happy for the fans. Proud of the players. Situational football was really good. The gamecocks were 4-for-5 in the red zone and 50 percent on third down. Held A&M at times to field goals in the red zone. A&M was a great red zone defense and they got scores.

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Offensive POTG: MarShawn Lloyd, Eric Douglas, Austin Stogner
Defensive POTG: Jordan Burch, Zacch Pickens, DQ Smith
Special teams POTG: Tonka Hemingway, Kai Kroeger, Darius Rush, Xavier Legette
Scout team POTG: Lovasea Carroll, Hot Rod Fitten, Bradley Dunn

–Beamer what South Carolina has done shouldn’t be a shock internally. The Gamecocks are expected to be where they are right now. The Key now is to continue to get better. That’s what they talk about regardless of the opponent. They’re trying to get better and guys will continue to do it. They’re playing with confidence right now and playing for one another.

–A win like that can do “so much” for recruiting. Mentions guys want to play in an environment like that. When you’re able to win and have success it helps but doing it in a “fantastic environment” makes it even better. Said a recruit called him at 2 a.m. to talk about the game. Said it was pretty awesome. Have fantastic commits and guys on the board. Last night was a “really, really” big step in the right direction.

–Mentions the strip sack, said he doesn’t fault the tackle but Spencer Rattler pump faked the ball and held it a little too long. Can’t put the tackle in that position. That was a tough situation to get hit and give up a turnover but proud of his team for responding.

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–Asked about the mindset in playing tight games and winning ugly at times, it’s belief in one another. These guys truly believe in one another. A lot of it, you go back to developing it in the offseason, summer workouts, etc and putting players in really, really hard situations. It’s about leadership and they have an older team. They’ve been pretty good in the fourth quarters and in one-score games. It’s about poise and continuing to play. He’d love to be a little better in turnover margin.

–Talked about the number of pressures and hits and said it was a bunch. The defensive line affected him and got their hands up. They had to control Achane and felt like they did. Then they got to the quarterback. To win, they have to be a physical football team up front and guys are doing a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage the last two games.

–Asked about things getting chippy, said he didn’t see everything. What he could tell it was the change of the quarter and felt like guys were coming together and from what he saw one of A&M’s guys walked towards the sideline clapping in the face of the South Carolina players. Thought the officials did a good job of keeping it from escalating.

–Felt like last night they had to be stubborn running the football and take shots down the field. They took some shots and weren’t able to connect. Thought Rattler made some nice throws to put guys in positions.

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–Asked about being able to convert third and longs of late, said it’s a little bit of everything. They game plan and have a strategy of what they want to do on third and long then guys have to get open, protect and get throws off. Being able to convert on third down and long was key last night.

–He might mention another trophy game this week. If he does, it won’t be anything crazy.

–Greg Adkins is doing well but doesn’t expound more on that.

–Asked what his protocol is if a coach gets approached for head coaching jobs/assistant coaching spots in the offseason, he said the priority is keeping him informed and he’s going to help any way he can if they feel like it’s a better situation and a chance to further their careers. Said he believes this is a place where guys want to work. Said when you win games other schools come calling but loves the staff he has right now.

–Being able to have these firsts (ranked, A&M win, etc.) is great and the next step for the program but has to continue to build. Being ranked is a credit to this team but they have higher goals. They never mentioned as a goal finishing the season ranked No. 25. South Carolina wants to do the next thing. They want to do what’s next and they won’t be satisfied. What’s next now is to get better and find a way to put their best foot forward Saturday.

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