What Shane Beamer said during his Tuesday press conference previewing Akron

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer met with the media on Tuesday to preview his team’s matchup with Akron this weekend. Here’s what he had to say.

— Thanks the fans again for coming out last Saturday. What an amazing experience to be a part of. The environment around Gamecock Park and in the stadium is what college football is all about. They had 52 recruits at the game that they’ve offered scholarships to.

— Can’t let last Saturday linger. It’s full speed to Akron. Looks at what the MAC has done in terms of upsets around college football this season. Akron presents a lot of problems. Has a ton of respect for Joe Moorhead. Always enjoyed watching his offenses.

— Injury report: Optimistic that all the key guys will be able to play on Saturday.

— Robby Ashford and Davis Beville will continue to compete this week if in the event LaNorris Sellers can’t go on Saturday. Luke Doty would be in the mix as well.

— Trying to win a game on Saturday. It won’t be easy. Akron presents problems. Going to do what’s best for the team but also going to compete to win. Didn’t think it was the best idea for Sellers to continue to play in the second half against LSU.

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— Did receive feedback from the SEC league office about the officiating. He received it last night.

— Need to run more plays to get more running backs in there. Can’t just ask one guy to play 60-70 snaps at that position. Need to get more guys in there. The RBs need to continue to come along but the coaches also need to put them in there to let them develop.

— It doesn’t matter what he thinks about the officiating. There’s a voice over that comes back from John McDaid, the SEC head of officials. Has great respect for the Jason Autrey, the head referee from Saturday. There were a lot of plays he wanted clarification on. Some of them from Saturday that maybe didn’t like what McDaid said but he understood. Some he gets and some he can agree to disagree with. Knows officials have a tough job. But officiating didn’t decide the game. If the team does what they’re supposed to do it’s a whole different story.

— Said he called 10 of the least penalized teams in the country last year to pick their brain about what they do to minimize penalties. In a situation like Saturday, they need to educate more. They had two offsides penalties that were “maddening” to him. It’s stuff they’ve practiced to not jump offsides. Clearly didn’t do a good enough job of preparing the players for it. Trying to educate more on penalties. Has done up downs for penalties, running, etc. Feels good about where they are this week.

— With each rep, each game, the offense is going to get more confident and more comfortable out there. There are openers they want to get to early in the game. Sellers did a good job of making good decisions. Clicking, efficient, players getting more comfortable with what they’re asked to do as well as with different schemes. That first drive had them feeling very good.

— Thinks the players are doing good mentally after all the penalties on Saturday. No one felt worse about what happened than Kyle did. He apologized to the team in the locker room after the game. You worry about him. As a coach, he worries about Alex Herrera after the missed field goal and what people had to say. But they all had a hand in how the game went.

— The two-quarterback system Akron runs is unique. They’ve got receivers that can run, running backs that complement each other well, tight end that is the leading receiver. Moorhead does a great job schematically. These guys can make you look silly in a second if you’re not ready.

— Mazeo Bennett continues to get more and more confident. Loves the way he can come in and make blocks by throwing his body around. He’s mature beyond his years and a great competitor.

— Wants to see a win from the team going into the bye week. Come out of this game healthy. They’re now a fourth of the way through the regular season. How quickly can they get better? Would love to come out of this game feeling like they’ve gotten better.

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— Saw more wide eyes from some of the coaches compared to the players with the environment on Saturday. All of the guys were excited and wanted them to embrace that environment.

— He called Alex Herrera after the game. He hit a really good kick and barely pulled it. A lot of people thought he made it. He hit a good kick. His message to him was that he’s a big time kicker and he’s going to hit some more big time kicks as this season goes. Keep his head up and wish they could’ve gotten him a little closer in range to kick.

— 13 sacks is too many. You can skew stats any way you want, but 13 sacks is too many. They’ve played some good defenses so far. But certainly it’s way too many. It’s not just one position — it’s all of the above. When you have that many, you need to look back at everything. It’s a combination of everything. Can’t give up three a game on average.

— Had very little impact on how the throwback uniforms were decided. Larry Waters showed him pictures last year of what Under Armor wanted to do for a throwback uniform. Was cool with it.

— Ball security is all they talk about. They do a turnover tackle circuit in practice and other things to work on it. They do those things every Tuesday and Wednesday. They start practice with a takeaway circuit for the offense. They’ve got to do a better job of emphasizing it. You’re not going to survive putting the ball on the ground as much as they have. They need to carry the ball the way the coaches teach them to carry it. It’s frustrating but it’s something they’re emphasizing but need to do a better job of emphasizing it.

— Nyck Harbor is working hard to continue to get better. He’s a guy that works hard to catch the ball consistently like all receivers they have. It’s very important to Nyck to be a good receiver.

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