Shane Beamer believes Kentucky has improved: "There's a lot that impresses me"

South Carolina has taken control of the Kentucky series during the Shane Beamer era, winning the last three games after the Cats won seven of the prior eight. Last year’s 31-6 loss to the Gamecocks may have been the most disheartening yet. Kentucky came into the game at Kroger Field as a 9.5-point favorite, but could only muster two field goals and 183 yards of total offense in what turned out to be LaNorris Sellars’ breakout performance.

That loss is still frustrating to look back at, but Shane Beamer believes Kentucky has improved. On today’s SEC Teleconference, Beamer praised the work Mark Stoops and his staff did during the offseason in the transfer portal, which has resulted in a stronger squad than his team embarrassed last year.

“Have a big challenge on Saturday night with Kentucky coming to town. A ton of respect for Coach Stoops and his level of success he’s had in Lexington for a long time. Winning is hard, and he does it consistently, and I respect his team and the way they do things; they make you earn it, they make you beat them. Got a really talented team. They’ve certainly improved since last year with the development of their roster and portal additions.”

That’s a whole lot of coach speak, but when asked for specifics, Beamer said he believes this Kentucky team is more “athletic” and “twitchier” than last year’s squad.

“They had their opportunities, for sure. I would say one, just the athleticism on their team. They’ve always been physical and tough; that’s Coach Stoops’ DNA. But you watch Kentucky, this year, they’re that, but I think they’re even twitchier and they’re more athletic than they were last year. Veteran secondary that has come back, some portal additions up front on the defensive line and outside linebacker that have made a difference.”

A player that Beamer knows especially well: Seth McGowan. Beamer was still on Oklahoma’s staff during McGowan’s year in Norman, so he bore witness to the running back’s powerful style.

“The running back, he and I were together in Oklahoma. He runs with violence, and we’d better do a great job of tackling him this week, or it’s going to be a long night. And then they’ve got athleticism at receiver, a big, physical offensive line. I know they’re starting a new quarterback this week. He’s a big, athletic guy who can make throws. So there’s a lot that impresses me.”

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Sold-out crowd at Williams-Brice

Speaking of that new quarterback, this will be Cutter Boley‘s first road and SEC start. The redshirt freshman got a taste of life on the road in the SEC last year at Florida and Texas, playing the entire second half in Austin. Saturday, he’ll have the reins from the get-go in a sold-out Williams-Brice Stadium for the 7:45 p.m. ET kickoff. South Carolina also sold out the Vanderbilt game a few weeks ago and lost 31-7, so Beamer knows his team has to give fans something to cheer for to create one of the rowdiest environments in college football. The Gamecocks are 0-2 in SEC play so far, losing last week at Missouri 29-20.

“Huge,” Beamer said of the game being sold out. “I mean, it is what it is. You’ve got their first away game. You’ve got a quarterback making his first SEC start on the road. We need that crowd to be hostile and loud and be a weapon, and we know they will be. And then we got to do our part as coaches and players to make sure that we’re performing well on the field, or they’re not going to be a weapon, because we’ve got to give them something to be loud about.”

Kentucky has been doing its best to prepare Boley and the offense for what’s coming, piping in “Sandstorm” and that miserable rooster crow into practice this week.

“We’re blaring music and stuff all day long during every single rep,” Boley said on Tuesday. “We’re really working on that communication piece with the O-line, the wideouts, and the running back, making sure that everything gets communicated and everybody is where they need to be. I think with the music, we’re doing a really good job simulating that.”

Silencing the crowd at Williams-Brice and snapping the losing streak to Beamer and the Gamecocks would be quite a way to kick off the Cutter Boley era. Fingers crossed.

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