What Shane Beamer said during his Sunday teleconference after Alabama loss

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media one day after the Gamecocks’ 27-25 loss to Alabama during his Sunday night teleconference. Here’s what he had to say.

[See what other fans are saying on The Insiders Forum!]

— Really disappointing to not be able to finish and come out with a win. The guys were definitely excited and ready to play. They just couldn’t get it done in the end. Tough to handle when you lose the way they did.

— Showed mental and physical toughness, no question about it.

— You can’t turn the ball over 4 times and expect to win against a top-10 team on the road. Missed some opportunities in all three phases. Should’ve blocked the punt early in the game instead of roughing the punter.

— Got the second half of the season coming up. Knows the team is hurt after losing. But they’re right there. Need to keep banging on that door. Eventually it will fly open.

— Injury wise, came out of there in great shape.

— Offensive standouts: Jatavius Shivers, Mazeo Bennett

— Defensive standouts: Demetrius Knight Jr., Jalon Kilgore, O’Donnell Fortune

— Special teams standouts: David Bucey, Kai Kroeger

[Join GamecockCentral for great coverage, great community]

— Pretty cool to see Spencer Rattler getting his first start today. Says former running back Dante Miller will be on the New York Giants’ active roster tonight on SNF.

— It’s two weeks in a row they’ve had fumbles on exchanges. That’s something they have to look at. Haven’t done a good enough job with that. Need to get back to play winning football. Margin for error is not very big.

— Nyck Harbor played a lot of plays yesterday. He played his butt off. He’s up in the facility all the time. Was happy to see him have success. To see him score that touchdown was a really big play.

— Hindsight being 20-20, it’s easy to say throw the ball out to the flat on the last play and they would’ve been able to do everything needed to kick the field goal to try and win the game. But Alabama brought cover zero on two straight plays. If they disguised it, they had a couple routes breaking towards the sideline. The play was similar to the one on the Mazeo Bennett touchdown earlier in the game. Liked the matchup with Harbor on the play. Doesn’t fault the decision or the play. For whatever reason, it looked like Harbor kind of stopped running on the play. They were trying to get in field goal range. But liked their chances with Harbor deep.

— They’ll continue to compete at right tackle with who starts. Jatavius Shivers has come a long way. They’re continuing to develop the rotation on the offensive line. Shivers put himself in a position to go out there and perform.

— Alex Herrera has made some big kicks. Put him in a tough spot on the 51-yard field goal try. But they expected him to make the kick as did he. He’s done some good things for them. But they’re always looking at everything. They’re competing everywhere.

— Other conferences aren’t like the SEC. He’s wondering when they play the team where they don’t have great pass rushers. But for Josiah Thompson to be doing what he’s doing at left tackle, he doesn’t look lost or overmatched. Does he get beat at times? Sure. He’s been doing a great job, though.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Texas A&M football game]

— One key with Thompson is having Kamaar Bell lined up next to him. It helps to have a veteran, older presence next to him on the offensive line.

— Judge Collier and Vicari Swain have done a very nice job at DB opposite of OD Fortune, who is playing at a very high level. That interception he had was a big-time play. Collier gains more confidence every week. Swain continues to get better. They’re also excited about the other guys behind them. It’s a good group.

— Nick Barrett did a good job yesterday. Alabama’s center is really talented and athletic, but they liked the matchup with Barrett going against him. Has to work on getting off blocks and finishing plays. It’s week to week with what the game plan is for him.

— Kyle Kennard did a good job of coming in and earning the players respect when he arrived here. It’s happened organically over time. He got up and spoke at the team meeting at the hotel on Friday. He said some things in the locker room yesterday that showed great leadership.

— Thinks it’s more good athlete, good instincts when Fortune made the interception. The ball was thrown to a guy running a deep crossing route to the other side of the field. It was a big-time play.

— On the onside kick, it was a big-time kick by Kai Kroeger. It starts in practice and feeling good about doing it. They work on it every week in practice. He’s seen how consistent Kroeger has been at kicking in the way he did on onside tries. They knew that was going to be their onside kick. Joe DeCamillis and Beamer talked about potentially changing it but Beamer said no and to stick with it. Just wish they could’ve finished that drive.

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!