South Carolina Gamecocks College Football Pregame Quote, 09/17/2024

SHANE BEAMER: “I know I said it after the game and said it in the teleconference on Sunday. I posted something on social media but just wanted to thank our fans for last Saturday. What an amazing experience to be a part of and to get to coach in. From College GameDay to even before Saturday. Friday, the environment around Gamecock Park when we walked across the street to the walkthrough. Saturday with College GameDay. Saturday in the stadium. It is what college football is all about. Thanks to our fans for that. We had 52 recruits that we have offered scholarships to. So 52 recruits with scholarship offers from South Carolina were at that game and that is all they could talk about. Then, I mentioned last week that on Monday night, we take an hour as a staff and just FaceTime prospects and a lot of the ones that we talked last night that weren’t here on Saturday but were watching on television, all they could talk about was the environment they saw on College GameDay and the environment they saw during the game. Thanks to our fans for that. As we told every single prospect, this won’t be the last time that College GameDay is here. That won’t be the last time that we play on a national stage. I think I just read that it was the most watched noon SEC game in seven years, six years, something like that. Won’t be the last time this season that we are in big time environments like that, as well. We will continue to need our fans and so grateful for them. Having said that, have to move on. Can’t let Saturday linger. It is behind us. Nothing we can do about it now. …

“Offensively, they are playing two quarterbacks. Not just like put one quarterback in the game and take the other one out but put both quarterbacks in the game and run their offense. It is a lot that our defense will have to prepare for.  Coaches are thieves so when it comes to two quarterback systems, I have seen some things that I like for us that, who knows, we may run this week that we stole from them. They are really good from that standpoint. Defensively, they present problems. They play really, really hard. They made it really tough on Ohio State to run the football in the first half. Special teams wise, very aggressive. Very opportunistic. Attempt to block kicks when we kick field goals. Extremely aggressive trying to block our field goals. Extremely aggressive trying to block punts and they do a good job and have good players, as well. Another challenge for us. It is opportunity number four for us and had a good practice this morning, I thought. Didn’t see any signs of Saturday lingering. Obviously, Saturday and Sunday were tough. No question about it. But we are excited to get the opportunity to go compete again in Williams-Brice on Saturday night which I know everyone is excited about as well being across the street on Saturday night.

“Health wise, certainly, a physical football game against LSU last Saturday. As we sit here on Tuesday, optimistic that all of our keys guys will be able to play. Everybody did a little bit today to a certain degree. I think they will all be able to do a degree more tomorrow and we will see as we get closer to Saturday from a health standpoint where we are.”

On if LaNorris Sellers can’t go, is Robby Ashford No. 1?

“Yeah. We told Robby and Davis that they will continue to compete this week. LaNorris assures me he is good and will be ready to roll. Robby went into the LSU game as the second quarterback and came out of the LSU game as the second quarterback. He will be better for it. Davis is someone that we have a lot of confidence in. There is no question about it and will continue to develop everybody at every position.”

On where Luke Doty will fit in, if at all, at quarterback

“He would be in the mix, as well. The thing with Luke all along has been, you go focus on receiver and special teams, but you are not getting too far away from quarterback. Luke is a smart kid. We have gotten him some reps at quarterback periodically throughout the season and he doesn’t miss a beat when he goes in there.”

On with LaNorris saying he will be ready, do they have to protect him from himself with a long season to play

“Yeah, but we are trying to win a game Saturday night. That is not going to be easy either. I know it is easy to say, well, this is not an SEC team and they are 1-2 and they lost to Ohio State and Rutgers. This team presents problems. We have to do what we have to do to win the football game on Saturday. Certainly, we are always going to do what is best for our players and our football team. We have a bunch of competitors and Saturday, LaNorris wanted to play in that game. I didn’t think it was best for him or the team for him to finish the second half from a health standpoint. I just didn’t think he was where he needed to be. Certainly, if a guy is where he needs to be and any position, quarterback or kicker, whatever.  If they feel like they are where they need to be in order to be able to play and we feel like they are where they need to be, then we are going to get them out there, for sure.”

On if he received any feedback from the SEC about officiating

“I did. I know coach Tanner had some conversations on Sunday and typically, if we send in plays each week, we usually get them back on Monday night. I got them back on Monday night and it is a video that they send of the plays that we sent in and then its the plays sent back to with a voice over of the play. Received that last night about 9 p.m.”

On wanting to get the run game going outside of Rocket Sanders

“One, we have to be able to play more. We have been in games where we felt comfortable with Rocket. Not just from because of Rocket’s ability as a running back but Rocket from a pass protection standpoint. He is really good and we like him in there. We just have a lot of confidence in him. We were in a dogfight Saturday and it is hard to take guys out. We got other guys in there and other running backs played and Oscar was in there some. I have coached running backs at two different schools and you can’t just ask one guy to play 60, 70 plays every game at that position. He is going to get worn down. One, we have to be able to get other guys in there whether that is Oscar, whether that is Juju, whether that is Jawarn Howell, Matthew Fuller, Bradley Dunn, all those guys have been on every trip with us. They went to Kentucky. They have been in uniform and dressed out every game. They have to continue to come along where we feel comfortable putting them in there but we also have to be willing to just throw them in there and let them continue to develop and get better, as well.”

On if he felt satisfied by the SEC’s response

“It doesn’t matter, kind of, what I think. The voice over comes back from John McDaid. He is the head of officials who was a referee in this league and was a referee way back in the Big East days when my dad was coaching. Someone that I have great respect for. If I pick up the phone and call him, he will answer the phone year round. I have a great relationship with him. Jason, the head referee in that game Saturday, I have great respect for him. He is very professional and great to deal with on game days. A lot of the times when we don’t send in plays after a game, it is honestly thinking that like, what is the point? I know they missed it so why do I need to send it in? We don’t send in a lot of plays. We did this week because, frankly, there was a lot that I wanted some clarification on that I disagreed with or wasn’t sure what they were calling or why this was a penalty. Some of them from Saturday where ones where, we got flagged for this but if we had done this, would we have still been flagged? Stuff like that. Things that I had questions about. There were some certainly that I maybe didn’t like what he said but I get it. There was some that I absolutely was on board with with his response and there were a couple that frankly, we can agree to disagree on some of them, as well. All good. I appreciate their responses and know that officials have a tough job. There was a lot of plays in that game and I am sure LSU was upset with a lot of things that maybe weren’t called on their end. Who knows. In the end, it is just like I told our team, officiating didn’t decide the game. Were there some impactful plays? Absolutely and more in one game than I can remember. At the same time, if we just do what we are supposed to do and not even put it in officials hands, it is a whole different story.”

On the procedural penalties and if they tweak anything they do in practice

“We talk about it and try to educate it. We have done different things around here even in practice. 2021 and 22, we were really good and one of the fewest penalized teams in the league. 2023, we crept up and we weren’t as good in 2023. One of the things that I did this offseason was looked at the 10 least penalized teams in the country. I just called the head coaches of 10 of the least penalized teams in the country. Called Jim Harbaugh and called P.J. Fleck and called Tom Herman who is down at FAU. Wake Forest was one of those. There were five of them that I talked to and just, ‘Hey, what do you do in practice if you have a false start or you have an offsides? We have tweaked some things that we do in practice when we have them compared to what we did last year. I think in a situation like that, it is trying to go back and educate and clearly, we have to do a better job. We had two offsides penalties that are maddening in critical situations. One of them was before a two minute timeout that they probably weren’t even going to snap the ball. It is stuff that we have practiced in August in walkthroughs. We have talked about, hey, with the two minute timeout this year, it makes sense for teams to run up the line and try to draw you offsides because they don’t have to snap the ball. Clearly, I didn’t do a good enough job of conveying that in the walkthroughs because it happened to us on Saturday. Or, we had a penalty for a receiver not being set when the ball was snapped. That is something that we have talked about a lot. One, we have to get set but quarterbacks, you have to look outside to the widest and make sure they are set before we snap the ball. Clearly, we, meaning me, haven’t done a good enough job of getting that message across so just continue to emphasize it even more and then just try and educate on penalties. I have been a part of a lot of different things where the whole team runs out on the practice field on Sunday and circle up and say, ‘Hey, I am Jordan Kaye and I cost the team 15 yards and my bad.’ And then the whole team does 15 up-downs. I have done that. I have down you run for penalties. I have done where you watch a penalty tape of the penalties. I have done where you don’t even talk about them. I have been a part of all of it in my 25 years as a coach. I feel good about where we are. We just have to do a better job as coaches of emphasizing it and really getting the message across.”

On where he has seen the most improvement from the offense

“I think just continuing to get more and more comfortable and confident and that is what is going to happen when you are basically starting three freshmen in a lot of ways and a redshirt freshman quarterback when you talk about Mazeo, Josiah, Mike Smith. Receivers in (Dalevon Campbell) and Dre that weren’t here in the spring time. With each rep and each game, they are going to continue to get more and more confident and comfortable and that is what I saw. Two, the offensive staff, they spend a lot of time at the end of the week talking about how we want to open the game. Openers that we really want to get to early in the game and having a plan. Certainly, on Saturday, I thought LaNorris did a good job of making good decision. I said it on the teleconference Sunday night, the first play of the game where we pulled and dropped the ball off to Josh in the flat was a nice way to start the game and happen to be the last play of the game, as well. Just good decision making, clicking. Players getting more and more comfortable with what we are asking them to do but also, getting more and more comfortable with the scheme. The run game changes a lot week to week. Not so much schematically but formationally and schemes a little bit. The passing game, it is, essentially, we do the same thing. We just kind of dress it up each week and add a shift or motion or a new formation or whatnot. I think guys are just continuing to get more and more comfortable with what we are asking them to do.”

On how the players who made crucial penalties are doing mentally this week

“I think good. There were some, we were on a national stage on Saturday and it is one thing that I worry about as a coach. They are players, yes, but I care about these guys as young men. Certainly, no one felt worse about Saturday than what Kyle did and that is a shame because he played his rear end off on Saturday and did a heck of a job. He apologized to the team in the locker room after the game and I know he was upset about it. It says a lot about him that he came in here and stood in front of you guys and talked about it today, as well. You worry about him. Alex Herrera is a heck of a kicker. As a coach, I worry about Alex because he feels terrible about the end of the game and you worry about him when he is outside of the building and what people have to say or whatnot. We all know that that game didn’t come down to one play. We all had a hand in it, myself included and could have been better. You really just wrap your arms around these guys and we all have each other’s backs and that is essentially what it is. We had an opportunity to win that game because of everybody and we need everybody going forward.”

On the challenges Akron presents

“It is different. The two quarterback thing they are doing really is unique. They are all over the place with that. Like I said, pretty cool some of the stuff that they have done with it. The quarterback, he has been around. They are experienced guys. They have receivers that can run. Running backs that compliment each other well. A tight end that is their leading receiver. They present a lot of problems and Coach Moorhead is an offensive guy. That is why he got the head coaching job at Mississippi State was because of the offenses that he was running at Penn State and they were just lighting people up. Schematically, they do a great job and they have good players, as well. It is what we talked about as a team this morning, myself to the team in the team meeting was, our defense really has to be locked in with what is going on from a mental standpoint because these guys can make you look silly if you are not.”

On what Mazeo brings to the offense

“He gets more and more confident. He has a great competitive spirit about himself. He is physical in the run game. That is what I love. A lot of times, you see receivers, particularly freshman receivers. In high school, they were asked to get go open and catch the ball. Now, we are asking him to go in there and crack block, legally, on safeties or linebackers that are in the box. He is going in there and he is throwing his body around and he is a lot like the rest of our freshmen class. Just mature beyond his years and a great competitive and just really enjoys playing the game. I think you see that at practice and you certainly see it on Saturdays.”

On if there are a couple of things he wants to see from the team going into the bye week next week

“A win, honestly. Beyond that, certainly, coming out of this game with a win. Coming out of this game healthy. We talked about it as a team this morning. We are now a fourth of the way through the regular season and after Saturday, we are going to be a third of the way through the regular season. How quickly can we get better? Each day is getting closer and closer to the end of the regular season. I would love to come out of this game on Saturday healthy and with a win. Also, just really feeling like we have gotten better. You are seeing signs of that. I just mentioned some of the receivers and Fred Johnson as a freshman is doing a good job from a special teams teams standpoint. David Bucey is a true freshman playing on a lot of our special teams. He continues to get better. Really feeling that we made progress, we came out healthy and we won the game, most importantly.”

On his message to Herrera

“I called him after the game when I was driving home just because I wanted him to know, he hit a good kick. It wasn’t like he hit a crap kick that never had a chance. He hit a really good kick and just barely pulled it. You can tell about his reaction with Kai and a lot of people in the end zone. A lot of people thought he made it. My wife was down in the tunnel and she thought he made it. He just hit a good kick. My message to him was, one, you are a big time kicker and you have hit some big time kicks this year already and you are going to hit some more big time kicks to help us win football games as this season goes. Keep your head up. I wish we could have gotten you a little bit closer there to have an even better kick. As I mentioned on Sunday night, we were trying to get to the 35-yard line I believe was like the max point and felt really good about being at the 30s. We were certainly in range and felt great about his ability to hit that kick. He hit a good one but just missed it a little bit. That was just the message to keep your head up and we were in that position because of you, too, and some of the kicks he hit earlier in the game.”

On giving up 13 sacks and describing what has gone into those

“It’s too many. You can look at stats and skew stats any way you want but 13 sacks is 13 sacks. Through three games, that is not what we want. Now, we have played some pretty good defenses. Lets give them a little bit of credit. I do think those statistics balance out and even out as the year goes as everybody starts playing similar competition throughout the season. Certainly, it is way too many. I think you have to look at everything. It is not just one position. It is all the above. It’s tight ends. It’s running backs. The one that we got hit and strip sacked on the other day was the running back and tight end. We have had some with the offensive line. I think when you have 13, you have to certainly look at everything. What are we asking our guys to do schematically? Checking at the line of scrimmage. Checking some of that. Personnel wise, just a guy getting beat.. We have had some of that. Certainly, three a game is not a good figure. That was one of the things that we said going into Saturday against LSU was we have had too many negative plays against Missouri the last three seasons and they have sacked us and they did a good job on Saturday. It is a combination of everything. We have to do a better job and can’t give up three a game on average.”

On Rocket and LaNorris running over 20 mph and if those numbers were accurate

“Yes. We had LaNorris at 20 point something and we had Rocket at 21.1 is what we had. We actually recognized him in the team meeting this morning. We had four players over 20 miles an hour on Saturday and Rocket was our fastest at 21.1. Kudos to him. He will be the first to tell you he probably came in in not the best physical condition when he got here. Kudos to him and our training staff and nutrition and strength and conditioning staff that he was able to do what he was able to do on Saturday and run 21.1 miles an hour. … It was him. It was King Ford was one of them. Moe Brown was one of them. There was another one and I can’t remember who it was. … And Kamaar Bell, he had a personal speed best. I want to give some love to the big guys. He ran 18.6 miles an hour which is pretty dang sporty for an offensive guard. Both of those guys roll. I would have guessed Torricelli, too, because he can roll. All those guys can run. Josiah, Vershon, I will give Cason a little bit of credit. But yeah, Kamaar, 18.6. So the team was excited when the team recognized him.”

On ball security issues and how they coach that

“That one is hard for me too because that is all we talk about and in practice, we do some sort of, we call it turnover tackle circuit. We call it stiff arm. Sideline and back and everyone works on stiff arming with ball security. … We do what we call double ball where you put two balls in each hand and a lot of college teams do this. That drill and we have other drills for that. We do it every Tuesday and Wednesday during practice. In addition, after that is over, we always start practice like today with a takeaway circuit where the defense works on taking the ball away but also another ball security circuit just for the offense. Kind of going back to the penalties, we just have to do a better job emphasizing it. To answer your question, we have put the ball on the ground seven times in the last two games. You are not going to survive doing that. A lot of them is just, Dowell will tell you and the quarterbacks will tell you, they have to be better with their ball security. Not hanging on to the ball too long in the pocket and when you are in the pocket, making sure we are using the techniques we want you to. When you are running it, make sure you are carrying the ball the way that we teach you to carry it. The one that happened with Josh the other day. It was over their on their sideline. I think that ball was in his inside hand, if I am not mistaken. We teach to get that ball on the outside hand because the pursuit is coming from inside out. It is frustrating but at the same time, something that we are emphasizing but we have to do a better job of emphasizing it, for sure.”

On what Nyck Harbor looks like in practice

“It looks like a guy that is working hard to continue to get better. A guy that works hard to continue to learn what we are asking him to do and a guy that is working hard to catch the ball consistently just like all of our receivers and every player that we have. It looks like he is out there working really, really hard to be a great player because it is very important to Nyckoles to be a great receiver. He is doing a really good job on special teams covering kicks for us and was on the kickoff return team the other day and did some things on offense and will continue get better along with the rest of our guys.”