What Shane Beamer said in his Tuesday press conference previewing Vanderbilt

Fresh off a huge win, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media on Tuesday to preview the Gamecocks’ upcoming trip to Vanderbilt this weekend. Here’s what he had to say.

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— Wishes everyone a happy Election Day and hopes everyone will be able to get out and vote.

— Excited to get back out on the road again this week. Has a lot of respect for Vanderbilt and head coach Clark Lea. Has followed his program closely. So impressed with what he’s doing this year. Vandy is doing the things teams have to do to win football games.

— Knows Gamecock fans travel well to Nashville. Expects no different this weekend.

— 2022 is similar to right now from the standpoint that they got beat bad by Florida in Gainesville before things got rolling. That was not their best performance. But they had two weeks to change the trajectory of the program. When they beat Tennessee, they had two weeks to get it right. Had to lean into proving people wrong. Thinks this year is very similar. They remember what you do in the whole month of November. There’s a lot of people that probably think SC can’t do this two weeks in a row. So, it’s a challenge for them to see what they can do.

— His reaction to Greg Sankey enforcing stricter rules on the fake injuries was good on him for doing that. There was already a policy for not doing it. He told the team he ain’t paying the fine when that stuff happens previously. It’s not what anyone wants to see. No one wants to see double-digit injuries in one game that maybe aren’t injuries. It’s not good for the game. Glad to see that statement come out. Appreciates Sankey’s leadership and what he’s trying to get done.

— It’s going to be a challenge this weekend in Nashville. Vandy’s DBs have size, which will be a challenge for the receivers. The receivers are going to have to be able to perimeter block those guys. It’s the same deal for SC’s defense with how sizable Vandy is on offense.

— A lot of the success they had in the run game on Saturday came from perimeter blocking. It’s a point of emphasis and something they talk about all the time. They’re fortunate to have a WRs coach like Mike Furrey.

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— You don’t want to turn Sellers into a robot where you’re afraid to make mistakes (in reference to the turnovers being an issue earlier in the year). No matter what you’re doing, you can play with proper ball security in the pocket against A&M. Coached Sellers up to carry the ball the right way. There were times he didn’t carry the ball great. But you’re always emphasizing with everyone how they want to carry the ball. But Sellers continues to get better with his experience as to what’s going on around him.

— The coaching staff always does a summer scouting report on the opponents with new coordinators on the schedule. Vanderbilt has a new coordinator so they wanted to study their offense a little more. It was really a wake up call when Vandy beat Virginia Tech. Certainly got on their radar after that. Better pay attention to Diego Pavia and what he can do. It’s very evident how they feed off his energy and competitive spirit. Likes what he’s about, for sure.

— Practice on Sunday was awesome. There was no hangover. It was just excitement to get back out on the field. But there is some worry about can they recreate the same type of week they had in practice leading up to the A&M game. But they’re doing some really good things right now.

— The offensive line has gotten better individually. They made the point last week that these players have the experience now. They aren’t new anymore. They’ve worked hard and gotten better. But the health and continuity is critical. It should continue to grow and get better. There are some things to clean up, though, especially with communication.

— DeAndre Jules is a little closer. Doubts he’ll be ready to play this weekend. They’ll see how he is this weekend. Mazeo Bennett practiced today and should be good. Everyone else practiced and should be good.

— This is a really good football team they’re playing on Saturday. They know they have a big challenge. It’s always about them. It’s not all about the other opponent. It’s the standard they want to play with and know they can play. They see the playmaking ability Vanderbilt has. They don’t do things to beat themselves.

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— Won’t be glued and watching the CFP rankings show tonight. Will be here working. May have the television on for background. Does it matter if they’re ranked? No. Won’t really use it as motivation in any way. They have a 1-0 mentality. If you do the things during the week, that gives you the opportunity to go out and become 1-0.

— It’s human nature to say blow it up when something doesn’t go right. You have to stay the course. Did some really good things on defense throughout Clayton White’s tenure. Knows they went through a tough stretch last year. But you also look at the way the defense played down the stretch last year. Knowing they had so many players coming back, it’s him sitting there saying is it best to blow up everything or do you have the right guys and system in place. He said hell yeah they do. No one works harder than Clayton. He’s a fantastic defensive coordinator.

— It stinks to lose the games they did earlier in the season. But they just make sure they don’t do that again with what went wrong in those games.

— First reaction to Sellers trucking the one defender on Saturday was words he can’t repeat. It was yeah. Wow. Best way to put it. It brought a lot of energy and excitement to the sideline. He’s so strong. He’s a freak in the weight room. Just look at his lower body. Another SEC head coach texted him and said that he has Superman playing quarterback. It isn’t surprising to see how Sellers runs. Knew he was going to be a problem for teams trying to tackle him. He really did a great job of that the other night.

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