WATCH: Animated Shane Beamer heaps praise on Georgia defense
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer couldn’t believe this question about the Georgia defense. Following his team’s 40-13 loss on Saturday, Beamer’s face lit up as he talked about the Bulldogs.
“They’ve got like 100 five-star football players on their defense,” he said. “They have a defensive lineman that weighs 340 pounds and runs better than everybody on this call. They’ve got five-star defensive backs. They’re big, physical and fast. Other than that, they’re really freaking good.
“That’s why they have the top defense in the country. It’s hard to run the football against them. There wasn’t some magical scheme they came up with. They’ve got five-star recruits and they’re really physical.”
Georgia held the Gamecocks to just 82 yards rushing on 2.4 yards per carry. Starting running back Kevin Harris was bottled up for just 31 yards on 16 carries. The Bulldogs also forced two turnovers and had three sacks.
Georgia jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter and never trailed. They went into halftime with a comfortable 26-6 advantage.
Bulldogs quarterback JT Daniels stole the show as he finished 23-of-31 passing for 303 yards and three touchdowns. All three scores went to a different receiver.
A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Beamer spent two seasons at Georgia in 2016 and 2017 as a tight ends and special teams coach. He joined South Carolina from Oklahoma, where he was the associate head coach. It is his first season as a college head coach.
The coach will look to secure his first SEC victory when the Gamecocks take on Kentucky at 7 p.m. ET Saturday at home. Shane Beamer will likely be glad he doesn’t have to face the Georgia defense again, but Kentucky isn’t to be taken lightly.
The Wildcats have retooled their offense with transfers Will Levis and Wan’Dale Robinson. It could be a different kind of challenge for South Carolina this weekend.