Everything Mike Shula said about South Carolina's offense heading into Week 7

South Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula met with the media to examine the offense and preview South Carolina’s Week 7 matchup at LSU on Saturday. Kickoff will be at 7:45 p.m. on SEC Network.

Here’s everything Shula had to say.

What is a balanced offense?

“Well, to me, a balanced offense is a good mix of running and throwing it, and then there’s other ways where you try to attack defenses, inside, outside, down the field, intermediate, short, all that kind of stuff.”

After five games, how close do you guys think you are toward your goal of being balanced?

“Still working towards it.”

How close do you feel like LaNorris Sellers is to being the player he was last year? Did you see things in that Kentucky game that made you feel that way?

“Yes, I do. I think he’s working every week towards getting better.”

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What was it you saw in the Kentucky game that stood out about Sellers’ performance?

“Well, he made some plays on all down distances, made good decisions, made some good throws, did some really unbelievable things that you don’t coach, and helped us win a game.”

What makes Matt Fuller an ideal SEC running back?

“Matt is still learning and growing as we go. He’s a hard-nosed back. He’s hard to tackle. His style still kind of remains to be seen because he hasn’t had a whole lot of carries, but he gave us some tough yards. As you guys probably saw, every time he got hit, he was kind of going forward, not going backward. So I think that, you know, you talk about runners running behind their pads, playing low, and being able to take on hits and tacklers and still be able to gain momentum after the hit.”

With Michael Smith moving on, what were some of the things you guys have seen over these last five weeks or so to have the other tight ends playing ahead of him?

“Well, I can tell you about each guy. I mean, Brady (Hunt), I think he’s done a good job. He’s very knowledgeable of our offense. He’s smart, he’s got a fast mind. He has improved his run blocking. He’s got good hands. Starting with the first game of the year, he had a little more juice after the catch than maybe what I give him credit for. Jordan (Dingle)’s done a good job. He’s tough, he’s hard-nosed. He’s getting more comfortable with what we’re doing each day. Those guys both get good effort. And then Moe (Brown) has done a good job, too, of coming in and doing some things that we didn’t really ask him to do a lot of last year. He’s very explosive, very powerful, both as a blocker and when he gets the ball.”

What were some things you had seen from Fuller in practice that allowed him to earn more playing time?

“I just think he’s gotten more consistent, more comfortable with his assignments, both with the ball and then without them. It’s important to him. He’s one of many young players on our offense who keep getting better and better. Sometimes, as coaches, you’re a little bit leery of putting a younger guy in there, and yet you still want him to get experience. Well, how does he get experience if you don’t put him in there? So sometimes you just gotta trust it and throw him in there, and then he gets better because of the game experience, which I think Matt has done.”

What have you seen from Vandervius Jacobs to have so much confidence in practice that translates so easily in games, week to week?

“Hard work. Yeah, he’s worked really hard. He’s very conscientious about doing things right and asking questions, and if they’re not right, he wants to make sure that he gets it right the next time.”

Shane Beamer has mentioned before that the running backs have left some yards out there. How big a problem do you feel like that’s been, and how do you coach and correct those things?

“Just like you do every other position? I mean, when you have success, it’s not usually just one position or one guy. When you don’t have success, it’s the same thing. So I think you just coach as hard as you can on every play and teach and detail out the fine points of every play and show guys when it’s good enough and why, and when it’s not good enough and why, and then this is how you do it better. And then just make sure there’s clear communication, understanding of what he’s being asked to do, and he can do that through different ways. Just practice reps on the field, in the meeting room, get them up on the board, draw things up, watch the video. The best, best way to learn is through game experience, as we know.”

How have you seen defenses switch their coverage knowing Nyck Harbor’s ability to beat them over the top?

“I mean, even in (the Virginia Tech) game, they played him a little bit softer, but he’s also been challenged, too, in press coverage. That was really the one time, if I remember correctly, I think that was the one time that they actually did come up and press him in that first game. But, yeah, no, they’re playing him a little bit softer, and we get that, and he gets that. The things we’re working on with him, or just, you know, like a lot of our guys, is just being real precise, precise with your routes, being in the right spot on time, and making adjustments on the run, which happens probably 75 percent of the time.”

Correct me if I’m wrong here, didn’t you play against LSU at Tiger Stadium?

“Yes.”

What do you remember about the atmosphere?

“Great memories there just because of the atmosphere. It’s a really cool place. I know there’s a lot of stadiums now that have gotten bigger and louder and all that kind of stuff. That was probably one of the original ones that everyone talked about being the loudest. It’s SEC football. They’re passionate. They’ve got great fans, but I learned about another team that’s got really cool home fans too, since I’ve been here, and it’s unique in our conference, and it’s why we as coaches talk about, that’s why we coach here and why our guys come to the SEC.”

After the Kentucky game, Beamer mentioned there were some times when Sellers got to the line, saw the defense, and chose to run. Can you describe his role on the line, how he saw those things, and when you guys are watching it on film, how do you coach those things?

“Yeah, there’s certain plays, yeah, sure. Like a lot of other quarterbacks in college football, where the option to whether or not it’s before the ball is snapped or after the ball is snapped, to run the ball, or to hand it off, or what have you. Maybe change the play. And it’s not free running, it’s not every play, but on certain plays where we try to limit it, where we make it a situation where it’s pretty clear for him to make it, where he’s going to make the right decision. And then, because we want all our guys, especially LaNorris, we want him playing fast. We don’t want him having to think about a lot of things. So we want him, whatever those decisions are, we want them to be the looks that we practiced all week and that he’ll make a good decision on Sunday. As we know, he’s very athletic. He’s very talented. He’s a unique runner as a quarterback, the way he runs. But the main thing is, you know, whether or not it’s running the football or throwing it, just continue to make good decisions that keep us on the field, where we’re getting first downs to stay on the field.”

How would you assess the offensive line’s play through the first five weeks, and do you feel like you guys are progressing towards a spot where you feel like things are getting better?

“Yeah, I think so. I think we’re getting better. I think they’re just like every other position on offense. I think we need to get better, and I don’t think we’ll ever be where we want to be, but as a group, the perfect game is still out there. So we’re practicing with those guys up front. It’s been a different group, as you guys have seen. There’s a totally different group on the field at the end of the fourth quarter of the Kentucky game than it was in the first quarter. So we’ve had some substitutions. The guys have done a good job. Coach (Lonnie) Teasley has done a really good job of having guys learn multiple positions so they can step in all of a sudden and know what to do. Has it been pretty at times? No, but there’s also been some, really sometimes, where we’ve done a really good job running the football and playing to keep away. I thought our guys did a really good job. Now, maybe it wasn’t flashy with a 10-15-yard gap. But we did a good job at the end of the game last week, when we had to run the football and try to keep our defense off the field to win the game. I mean, I know we had the lead, but still, there’s some really good things that I think we can point to and look forward to because of what they did.”

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