Shane Beamer provides injury update on Dakereon Joyner, others

South Carolina managed to preserve its slim chances at becoming bowl eligible on Saturday with a win over Jacksonville State, despite it being a game where the injury update grew.

Running back Dakereon Joyner was the most notable of the injuries, and coach Shane Beamer provided an update on Saturday after the game.

“Dakereon’s got an ankle,” Beamer said. “We’ll see tomorrow how significant it is, but right now it’s an ankle. Don’t know prognosis for that one. Hopefully not long.”

Joyner has been a key complement in the backfield to starting tailback Mario Anderson, who has piled up 543 yards and two touchdowns this season.

The injured Joyner has been more of a threat in the red zone, where he has plunged in five times for scores. He has 115 yards rushing this season.

But Joyner wasn’t the only player to suffer an injury against Jacksonville State. South Carolina had several players listed on Beamer’s injury update after the game.

“Everybody else should be OK,” Beamer said. “Jakai (Moore) went out, he came back. Hunter went down, he came back and was fine. Who else? Ahmarean (Brown) had a shoulder, but he came back and was fine as well. That was a physical game. That was a physical team that we just played, and there was some hitting going on out there. But it looks like coming out of it injury wise everybody’s OK. Cason Henry went out, he came back as well.”

All in all, Beamer was pleased to get the 38-28 win with as many players as he had banged up and hitting the injury update during the game.

The win was a long time coming, snapping a four-game losing streak and preserving some small shred of hope that the Gamecocks can win out — against Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Clemson — to reach six wins and bowl eligibility.

On Sunday, Beamer shared how happy he was with the team after a really tough month.

“Going back and looking at the tape, really proud of our guys,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty at times, that’s for sure. But no one panicked. And in the fourth quarter, we outscored them 10 to nothing. And against a good team, found a way to win it. Certainly want to — and I told our team today that, you know, a team that wasn’t mentally tough would probably have found a way to lose that game. And we found a way to win it at the end.”