WATCH: South Carolina receiver Josh Vann reveals moment of offensive dysfunction on podcast with teammate Darius Rush
Things have not been off to a perfect start in Year 2 for Shane Beamer at South Carolina, and we got a glimpse of some of what might be ailing the Gamecocks amid their 1-2 start. On their podcast “Completely Cocky,” which aims to take fans behind the scenes of the 2022 South Carolina season, wide receiver Josh Vann and running back Darius Rush talked about a moment where things got a little sideways for the offense.
In the third and most recent episode, dropped on Thursday, Sept. 15, ahead of South Carolina’s soon-to-be beatdown at the hands of Georgia, the two also recapped the Arkansas game, which the Gamecocks lost, 44-30. The offense struggled against the Hogs, especially early, and Vann gave some insight into the struggles that implicated offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield for some less-than-optimal play calling.
“I know there was one time, not to bash the coaches or nothing like that,” Vann said, “but you know, it was like third down and we called a play that we haven’t went over in like three weeks. So you know, mind you, as a player, you’ve got to know the whole playbook so whenever something may get thrown onto you you can go out and execute and line up fast. But at the same time, we hadn’t went over it. So you can’t expect, in the heat of the moment, for somebody to recognize on the fly to know what to do. So it was just little simple mistakes from players and coaches, bruh. Butt like you said, Arkansas is behind us.”
The excerpt, shared on Twitter and beginning just after the two-minute mark of the episode, is a rare insight into the occasional shortcomings of a sideline operation. Bad play calls get made, surely, but to hear about them with this candor is certainly not a regular occurrence.
And as Vann noted, the players are responsible to know the play book — but he’s also right that it’s on coaches to put them in advantageous positions. For whatever reason, that just wasn’t the case on this particular third down against Arkansas, and something the offensive coaching staff and players would do well to clean up if they haven’t already.
“I just felt like it was definitely a slow start,” Van said before sharing the 3rd down call anecdote. “I don’t know if guys weren’t ready to play. I don’t know what the case is. I’m pretty sure we all were ready to play. It was just, we weren’t connecting on — beating ourselves on little things.”