Everything Mike Shula said previewing South Carolina's matchup with Missouri

South Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula met with the media on Wednesday to preview the Gamecocks’ upcoming trip to Missouri. Kickoff on Saturday is at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Here’s everything Shula had to say.

I think it’s fair to say the offensive line has struggled through these first three games. What have you and Lonnie Teasley talked about to try to alleviate that, and maybe have to scheme a way around it sometimes?

“Well, I think again, I think I answered this question last week, too. I mean, I think offensively, we’ve done some good things and we haven’t done some good things. I think they fall in line with a lot of us. So, yeah, we just keep working on consistency. As an offense, the negative plays kill you. It’s pretty cut and dry, you know, you keep the ball moving forward. You stay away from the negative plays, you get a better chance to move the ball and score points. So we can’t get the ball moving backwards, however it is, whether or not it’s up front, whether or not it’s another position. So again, the offensive line a lot of times gets noticed, sometimes for the wrong reasons, or they get noticed when something negative happens, but there’s a lot of good going on there. All I know is our guys practice hard. We’re getting better, as with experience, whether or not they’re young guys or new guys to our system. But we have to be better as an offense.”

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I know you’re obviously not going to share an injury report, but what can you share from what you’ve seen from the quarterbacks these last two days?

“Quarterbacks are doing well. They’re practicing well, practicing hard, and getting ready for a really, really good defense.”

What did you see out of Luke Doty stepping in to play quarterback when LaNorris Sellers went down? If Doty were to start this weekend, how ready do you feel like he is for that opportunity?

“Luke’s a really good communicator. He does a good job of getting people lined up. Probably what you all saw as well, some really good things, some things that were okay, and some things that we’d probably like to have back. But he looks smart. He’s very conscientious. He’s very inclusive with the guys on the sideline, guys in the huddle, and does a really good job communicating there. And then also with us, he has good ideas and thoughts. He’s a guy that you can tell has a lot of experience, but kind of like the offensive line and all of us, just keep working for that consistency.”

In a situation like Saturday night, where Sellers does go down right before the half, how much has to change in that moment with a different quarterback, with maybe a different skill set?

“I think a little bit. But we try to work as hard as we can, quarterbacks and coaches, just to where it becomes seamless if the next guy has to go in. You want to try to kind of tailor it, maybe to the guy who’s in there. So, as we know, it’s hard to get equal reps for all quarterbacks. So if a guy is not starting, then he’s probably not getting as many reps. So one of the things you try to do is kind of like, okay, hey, what plays do you like? What plays in our system? I know you like everything. I get that. I know you like everything, but what plays do you really like, and then you try to call those plays in the game, especially if they’re the things that you saw during practice, that they’re doing that defensively they’re doing.”

What’s impressed you the most about Nyck Harbor the last few games?

“Yeah, I think he’s kind of like, since I’ve been here, I think he just continues to grow and get better. Has he arrived yet? Not quite there. I think he’d probably be the first to tell you that. But the thing I like about him in general, though, is that he’s very conscientious and really works diligently to get better and gives good effort. He’s got good toughness. He’s still learning a lot about playing the position in every aspect, running routes, understanding route adjustments, tying in the run game with the pass game, running with the football, all that kind of stuff. But yes, hopefully he continues with the way he’s going, he’ll continue to get better and help us.”

Has Sellers practiced any this week?

“I think Coach (Shane) Beamer probably has talked about all that. I think he’s got all those answers.”

In regards to Sellers running ball, Beamer said yesterday that they’re the same plays that you guys ran last year. How accurate is that?

“Yeah, I would say there’s, you know, offensively, there’s a lot you work on in the offseason or training and things like that to have kind of a core set of plays, running game wise, passing game wise, whether or not it’s whoever’s running the ball, running backs, quarterbacks, whatever, and then you try to build off that with variations. And I think through my career and every offense I’ve been in, I think offenses have that. You have a base of foundation, and then you have variations off that, whether or not it’s a similar run with a different add-on, so to speak, or same exact run with a different formation, or same run with the same formation.”

How do you feel Sellers looked overall on Saturday, making decisions, getting involved and doing all those things before the injury?

“I thought he was really good, except that last one, just that one where they got the interception on that. But other than that, no, he was good. I thought we were really productive on first down. I thought we were doing a good job running the football, protecting and throwing it, you know, got the score on the first drive, and then we’re able to go down there again on that second drive and just, unfortunately, had the turnover.”

Why do you think it’s taken so long between that first drive and the opening drive against Virginia Tech, and some at the end, to find consistency?

“I think if all of us knew the exact answer to that, we’d all be probably making a lot more money. But you just work on, here’s the thing I think you have to do as a coach that I’ve learned over the years. You can’t just generalize on and just say, ‘Hey, just this one thing here. It’s one thing there.’ You kind of gotta, you look at each place and each drive separately, and kind of attack, you know, look at the good stuff, and then get the stuff that’s not good, that needs to be corrected, corrected, and then you move on. Instead of just saying, ‘Oh, this group’s not doing well, or we didn’t do well in the strike, but why?’ Or we’re not doing well in the red zone. Well, what? Why? Is it because it’s the red zone, or is it a certain play or execution, or what have you?

“So you look at all those things, and that’s why I love the sport. It’s a great sport. It’s all of us doing it together. It’s players and coaches. We live and die together. When things are going well, we feel like we’re all doing a good job. If they’re not going well, we feel like we’ve all got to do a better job. We need to lean on each other and work harder. And that’s what our guys do. I love this group, the way they respond to us and Coach Beamer. They give effort. They look in the eye. They want to please. They want to do everything you’re asking them to do. And hopefully that, you know, when you have people like that, you have good people that are talented, that work hard, that are conscientious, you just move like heck, and that good things will happen, and hard work pays off, and I think it will.”

How do you go about making adjustments in the middle of the game to keep that momentum for longer with these good opening drives?

“Well, I mean, those are all things that, again, you look at during the course of the game, you look at going into the game, you look at after the game. The communication with our staff and our players, we do a good job, and yet you want every drive to go 80 yards for a touchdown. You want every play to score a touchdown. But these teams we’re playing are pretty good as we move forward into continuing to play the SEC. And so there’s a fine line. And hey, you keep running those plays you work on, you look at other plays. You have plays off those plays. So all that stuff is kind of keep all that in mind and talk to your players about that, and keep working on trying to stay out of the negative plays is the main thing. That way you stay on the field, make first downs, and hopefully when you do that, you move the ball and get points.”

When you know what this group can do, but for whatever reason, maybe it hasn’t been happening, how difficult is it to remain patient and say it’s going to click?

“Those are things that are part of your job, if you coach and really as players too. You want every play to work, but there are ups and downs in this game, and the perfect game is still out there. And you just kind of keep asking your players to be dialed in, to be focused, to keep the blinders on, and making sure you do your job, and then the guy next to you does and be the teammate that you want your teammates to look at, say, ‘I can depend on that guy.’ And then if we ask our players to do that, we need to do that as a staff as well. It’s like I said, the culture that Shane has built around here is very important. It’s a tight culture. It’s a tight group of guys that want to play for each other and not let each other down. And I think when you have all those ingredients, I think eventually that stuff’s gonna be good. Things are gonna come your way.”

With calling plays from the sideline, do you feel like you’re getting everything you need on the field? Have you given any consideration to change?

“I think it’s been good down there. It’s good communication with the quarterbacks and with the guys on the sideline. The guys upstairs are awesome. I mean, those guys are awesome. They give me instant feedback, instant information, and it’s very smooth. They do a good job. They know my personality, so they know we need to get information processed fast.”

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