What Shane Beamer said after South Carolina's bowl announcement

Following South Carolina’s Citrus Bowl announcement, head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media on Sunday night. Here’s what he had to say.

— Never knew how much he missed doing a Sunday night bowl press conference. Certainly been a whirlwind last week with everything going on. It’s been a whirlwind last 48 hours with singing with Darius Rucker, finding out he was losing an OC at the SEC Championship then learn where his team was going for the bowl game.

— Couldn’t be more fired up about where they’re going. Citrus Bowl is the best possible destination to go to besides a playoff game. What a strong statement for the Citrus Bowl to pick South Carolina. They wanted them. That’s huge.

— Ray Tanner was already telling him they sold out of their initial allotment of tickets for the Citrus Bowl. They certainly need to take over Orlando like they did at the Gator Bowl two years ago.

— When it was evident that they wouldn’t be in the playoff, they went to work on their potential bowl destination. Beamer wore Tanner out with getting the job done. He wanted to make sure the players got the opportunity to go out the right way. Appreciates Tanner and the Citrus Bowl. Needs the fans to answer the call.

— LaNorris Sellers was excited when he found out. Beamer gave Tanner a bear hug when he found out.

— Excited for Dowell Loggains for getting the App State head coaching job. Great opportunity to him. He’s worked really hard for the opportunity. He told him there were going to be opportunities for him with the job he’s done with this offense. Wishes him well.

— Got 13 players that will be graduating next Monday. 28 have already graduated. It’s a powerful statement.

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— Hasn’t seen a lot of Illinois yet. Watched a little bit of their games throughout the season. Seen them a little bit on television. But they’re in a great league in the Big Ten. Knows they’ll be tough and physical.

— They’ve had some guys enter the portal and understands it. Wishes those guys well. With the portal opening tomorrow, there’s been some guys who have already decided they want to enter. They’ll see what happens. They’ve got to attack the portal and get better.

— They’ve got great people here in this program that believe in this place. Would love to pat himself on the back and say he’s a great evaluator of coaches. But he’s hired really good people and coaches. You want those coaches to get opportunities at other places. If guys have an ultimate goal of being a head coach, he wants to help them. Their happiness and goals are important to him.

— Wants to make sure he gets the right guy in for the OC job. There’s a lot of players that have decision to make. You’d love to have this position filled sooner rather than later. But doesn’t want to rush it just to say he’s hired somebody. This is an attractive position to many people. Beamer on if there’s anyone in house he would hire for the OC job: “Yes, absolutely.”

— It’s very important for sure to go out and win 10 games this season. The next opportunity to compete was going to be to go win a 10th game. The players are really looking forward to the opportunity. In some ways, the first round of playoff doesn’t feature a bowl game. It’s just the campus. Bowl games are special. They now have an opportunity to go spend a week in Orlando as they’ll head down on the 26th. It’s an awesome opportunity for everyone.

— Optimistic that the whole team will go to Orlando for the bowl game. Wants to be healthy from a personnel standpoint going into the game.

— Notes that Freddie Kitchens called the plays against Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl two years ago but it was a collaborative effort to get the job done. They’re still working through who will call plays for the game this month, whether it is Loggains or someone else.

— December is a lot — good and bad. last December was not a lot of good. There was a lot happening. This time around it’s really good. they’ve got nine wins and are going to a really good bowl game. But it’s still a lot. It’s worrying about what you can control. It’s a bunch on his plate. You try to attack each and every day and try to move the program forward. Expect the unexpected.

— Texted Sellers last night and wanted to talk with him in person today. Wanted to get his opinion on stuff. With the OC role, you want to bring someone in here who can make him better. When you win, guys get opportunities. The program will be fine and continue to move forward. They’ve got some flexibility to either hire within or on the outside. They’ll continue to move forward and get better.

— There’s a lot that can be improved on from the CFP committee’s standpoint. Met with a lot of people yesterday and heard a lot about their opinion gamecock football and there was a lot of positive. His biggest frustration are the inconsistencies of what’s important. Points out the inconsistency of the committee taking injuries into account. Is strength of schedule important? Apparently, strength of schedule isn’t important this year. Questions how strength of schedule will be looked at next year. Will have a hard time getting over Warde Manuel’s comments from Tuesday saying how the games won’t matter this weekend and won’t change anything. That one is mind-boggling.

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— Does believe the tough moments this year helped South Carolina win the games it did as the season went on. Those shared struggles brought this group together. Remembers being at home after the Ole Miss loss and sat outside and called the seniors one after the other to talk to them. He could hear the hurt in their voices. Remembers talking about enough being enough after the Alabama loss and the players became closer after that moment. Those things have them more battle-tested and hardened. It’ll be a great lesson going forward.

— Say what you want, the SEC is the best conference in America. Says it’s a shame that the SEC only has three teams in the CFP. You have to look at that moving forward. Everything is on the table with what needs to be reevaluated moving forward. The playoff will be great. He’s excited to watch. But there’s always ways to tweak it and make it better for everyone.

— He’s had guys before tonight they plan on playing in the bowl game. He hasn’t had anyone tell him they won’t be playing in the bowl game. There’s a strong desire to go get the 10th win. It’s been talked about a lot. Will give the team time this week to refresh and get ready to go for the bowl game. 

— With the decision of who calls the plays for the bowl game, Loggains wants to stay and help coach. Beamer wants that as well. But this was before he got the job at App State. They don’t have to decide anything right now. Wants to do what’s best for Loggains and for the team.

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