What Shane Beamer said following South Carolina's second fall scrimmage
Following South Carolina’s last fall scrimmage on Saturday, head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media and broke down what he saw from the team. Here’s what he had to say.
— Another good day out there. Most of the guys scrimmaged. Bryan Thomas Jr., Reid Mikeska, Nick Elknsis, Jakai Moore, Elijah Davis didn’t scrimmage today. So much better with health right now than last year. They’ll all be good and back at practice.
— Got a lot of plays in today. A little over 100 again like last weekend. Wanted to make this as game like as possible. Did everything just like a game today outside of being at the hotel. Treating today like Aug. 31. Played 2001 then Sandstorm. Even had TV timeouts, which was just a three-minute break. Played videos on the video board. Had a halftime. Made it as game-like as possible.
— Defense played really well today. Most of the guys playing today will play against Old Dominion in two weeks. Got a lot of plays run with the top guys. Flew around, tackled well. Gave up some third and long conversions, though. That can’t happen. Dealt with that last season at times. They’d miss a tackle and the offense would pick up a first down. Beamer said they had four of those.
— Offense moved the ball well. Too many negative plays. That includes the second and third group, which featured young guys, they had some struggles. Coming out of the halftime they had, the offense looked good. Did a two-minute drill with Ashford and Sellers and both drives ended in FGs.
— Alex Herrera has been looking good in the kicking competition. Tried putting the kickers in as many tough situations as possible.
— Tomorrow starts the mock game week for the team. They’ll go through the exact schedule that they do against Old Dominion in two weeks. Won’t practice tomorrow, come in and watch the tape. Monday will be an NCAA mandatory day off. Saturday will be another day off.
— Rocket Sanders looked great today. Wanted him to get tackled today. Thought he looked great. He’s a pro. Ran the ball hard. Really good in pass protection. Really good overall running back.
— Going to wait a couple days to make a decision on the starting quarterback battle. Noted that Ashford and Sellers took the bulk of the reps today and did well. Davis Beville also did good today. Knows they have more than one quarterback they can win with.
— Feels confident in all of the options opposite of OD Fortune at defensive back. Offense threw the ball a lot more today, which tested the secondary. They competed and made some plays. DQ Smith continues to be Mr. Steady and Consistent. Had some good pass plays today but also some nice defense out there. Spoke about Swain, Collier and Floyd all being up for playing time in Week 1. Didn’t specifically name a starter opposite of Fortune.
— In terms of how the run game looked today, it starts up front with a much-improved offensive line. Beamer brings up multiple names from the new guys that have done well. Feels they have a solid eight up front that can help them win. Likes what the tight end group is doing in the run game. Looked back at some tape from last year with Spencer Rattler running. Realized Ashford or Sellers will make those guys miss this year. Excited about the depth they have at RB this year. Hopes they don’t end up in a situation where guys get hurt there.
— Had some drops but fewer. There isn’t an excuse for some of them. At the same time, they spent more time this week in walk throughs just working on a catch circuit. It’s paid off.
— Will start to have conversations this week on the depth chart. Will tell the team on Tuesday they’ll start doing some scout team type stuff and where their role is right now. But that doesn’t mean that’s their role the whole season. Things can change as the season goes on. Brings up TJ Sanders starting out on the scout team at one point and moving up the depth chart. Same deal with a guy like Jaron Willis.
— Feels like he has multiple quarterbacks they can win with — he means that. Ashford and Beville have started SEC games, even though Beville was at Oklahoma when they were in the Big 12. They both continue to get better, same with Sellers. Likes the group. All have done a great job competing.
— Did a preliminary look at what the travel roster may look like for Kentucky. There would be freshmen literally at every position, other than DT, that would be on the trip. Likes the freshmen class. It’s a talented group. A lot of positions will feature freshmen playing.
— Wish Elksnis and Mikeska were healthy to play in the scrimmage today as tight ends. Brady Hunt, Michael Smith, Josh Simon have been great. Maurice Brown will help them there. They aren’t your big blocking tight ends. They can do more than that.
— Jabari Ellis and Eric Douglas were here at the scrimmage today. Remembers back to the first year when Jabari spoke to him about giving the last Saturday off before the regular season started the year after he left. Beamer remembered that and made sure to do that this year. Players will be done by 6 p.m. on Friday and have off til Sunday.
— Juju McDowell and Bam Martin-Scott looked good today. Excited about both of them.
— How they use Juju and Luke Doty will be very game plan specific. Sees Juju being a factor. Doty is a leader of this football team. Both will be important on special teams. Juju may be the punt returner this season.
— Feels good with where the offense is at right now. Do they have an NFL caliber quarterback like they did last year? No. But with what they’ve got, they’re doing well. Brings up guys like Dre Jacobs and Dalevon Campbell making an impact. Feels good not great about where they’re at. Means they have work to do and room to improve.
— Markee Anderson hasn’t done a whole lot this week. Hopes they can do some work with him this week. Feels he can be an impactful player they’ll need on the line this year.
