What Shane Beamer said during his Sunday night teleconference after Vandy win

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media one day after the Gamecocks’ 28-7 win over Vanderbilt during his Sunday night teleconference. Here’s what he had to say.

— That was certainly a fun night up in Nashville. Glad there were so many gamecock fans in attendance.

— Knew they played physical and hard. But after watching the tape, they really did both of those things. They were good in a lot of ways. Proud of the effort and physicality.

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— Thought going 9-of-12 on third down was huge. They also possessed the ball two minutes longer. One of the keys was to affect Pavia and they did. He was under duress all night.

— Offensive players of the game: Rocket Sanders, Torricelli Simpkins, Tree Babalade

— Defensive players of the game: Kyle Kennard and Demetrius Knight Jr. 

— Special teams player of the game: Kai Kroeger

— Scout offense player of the week: Ni Mansell

— Scout defense player of the week: Colin Bryant

— Scout special teams players of the week: Neil Salvage, Parker Lawson

— Gamecock MVP: Pastor Charles Jackson

— Running the football effectively was certainly what they expected. Felt good about the offensive line they had put together for this season. Rocket was a big add to the run game. Sellers and Ashford have been able to bring a quarterback run game element. It’s exciting. And the thing is there were a lot more yards out there for the taking last night.

— Offensive line did a really good job last night. They covered people up, which was good to see. They gave the running backs and Sellers places to run. Rocket is able to run through contact and carry the pile. He’s able to make people miss. It’s a combination of both to have success. When you’re able to get your running back one on one, they like their chances.

— They’ve been better in perimeter blocking with the receivers and tight ends. Certainly the guys have the right intent most of the time. But there were some plays where they weren’t good (example he brings up: Jared Brown almost getting “killed”). So they’ve been better. It’s still a work in progress. Knew it would be a challenge against Vandy. No where near good enough yet.

— Hopeful to get everyone back for Saturday’s game against Missouri. Says availability report will be out on Wednesday.

— Knows they’ve got good depth on the defense, especially on the defensive line. A lot of guys got to play last night. The depth needed to get better after last season and they have gotten better. They’ve been able to keep people fresh or when injuries arise, guys can step up.

— All they need to worry about is Missouri. It’s a credit to the guys that they’re ranked now. What the rest of the season looks like will be determined by what they do over the next three weeks.

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— Tries to stay out of it when it comes to paying attention to watching how things play out from the CFP standpoint. Knows there’s 12 teams and how many SEC teams are in the mix. But theyre different from basketball and baseball, where they have bubble watches and what not. they get 12 games. It’s figuring out how to be successful against Missouri and go from there. If they’re able to have success, he’ll have his little checklist of who needs to lose and win during championship weekend. Right now, none of it matters.

— It was a pleasant surprise with how things have worked out so well with Demetrius Knight Jr. His speech was very good on Friday before the Vandy game. He got up and just has a way with words. When they were recruiting him, he didn’t know quite the leader he would be, so it’s been a pleasant surprise.

— Great effort by Peyton Williams on his fourth down stop play. They disguised the look on the play. Pavia thought it might have been max pressure and would’ve had to hold it. They showed pressure then dropped out and played zone. It was a great job by Williams on that play. He was so excited for Vicari Swain having great effort on that same play after the ball was tipped in the air. 

— The other fourth down stop with Bam Martin-Scott was all pressure. They got really good penetration. Martin-Scott had a free run at the quarterback. Really good call. Great job by Martin-Scott on the pressure. It’s been pretty cool to see the mentality the defense plays with on fourth down and making great plays.

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