Behind the scenes: South Carolina vs SC State
Come behind the scenes with Kendall Smith during the South Carolina Gamecocks week five match-up against SC State.
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MORE: ‘We’ve been connecting on all cylinders’: How trash brought the Gamecocks closer together
MarShawn Lloyd and Christin Beal-Smith felt like something was missing after South Carolina’s 48-7 loss to Georgia two weeks ago.
It led them to approach Shane Beamer to have a real conversation, one with “amazing” results.
“Honestly, last week, we talked to him just about everything really, about the team. And we felt like a lot of guys just felt that we weren’t as close as we should be,” Lloyd said.
Beamer said after the win over S.C. State Thursday night that he was seeing the same things that Lloyd and Beal-Smith were concerned about.
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“We’ve talked the last couple of weeks – going into last week and this week as well – that we needed to forget about the football stuff,” Beamer said. “We needed to get closer as a football team and more connected.”
The conversation the three had prompted Beamer to hold what some would, at first glance, see as an unconventional team bonding activity.
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Lloyd said that after a team meeting Beamer gathered the Gamecocks in their locker room full of trash and made each player pick something up.
“Coach Beamer told (everyone) to pick up a piece of trash and pretty much throw away whatever’s bothering you or whatever’s stopping you from being the best version of yourself,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd said that some players in the locker room highlighted things such as selfishness and lack of confidence that was holding his teammates back.
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“I feel like that was big, like a big team moment for us,” Lloyd said. “A lot of us really felt the connection in there.”
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Jalen Brooks described the team bonding activity as “really refreshing” and a way for the team to move forward.
“Whatever is behind us is behind us and just gotta keep on going on and then keep on moving forward,” Brooks said. “We’ve got a long season ahead and we’re with our brothers and that’s who we’re gonna be with.”
For now, it appears that Lloyd and Beal-Smith have accomplished their goal of bringing the team closer together. And it’s already translating onto the field.
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“Since then we’ve just been on one,” Lloyd said. “We’ve been connecting on all cylinders and it’s been great so far.”
South Carolina certainly has been connecting on all cylinders the past two weeks. The Gamecocks have scored 106 points in the last two games, compared to 72 in the first three weeks. Not only has the offense put up 50 points in the last two games, but South Carolina’s last two wins have been by an average of 43 points.
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Aside from the obvious increase in positive results on the field, Beamer said he’s already seen improvements in the locker room as well.
“They really enjoy being around each other,” Beamer said. “It’s a fun group to be around, they love to work and need to continue to get better.”
