Everything Shane Beamer said in his Tuesday press conference

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media on Tuesday to recap the team’s first scrimmage and look ahead to what’s next in fall camp. Here’s everything he had to say.

Opening statement

“Good start to preseason camp. I like the way these guys are working. Fun group to be around. No question about it. Had our first scrimmage last Saturday, another one coming up this Saturday as well. And then get into our mock game week next week as well. But it’s been a good start, without a doubt.

“I know I’m going to get asked about Rahsul (Faison). I don’t have an update for you right now. He wasn’t in practice Sunday. That wasn’t because of his situation with the NCAA. Just got hit on his shoulder a little bit in our scrimmage on Saturday night. So it’s nothing serious, just a bruise, but he was in the training room getting some extra work done on that Sunday night, when you guys were at practice, but he was back out there today in good spirits. Hope to get some good news on that soon, but we’ll see. But again, extremely respectful of the NCAA and the job they have, I know they’re analyzing other cases besides ‘Suls, and I appreciate them taking it under consideration or into consideration. Optimistic that we’ll get some good news hopefully soon, but appreciate and proud of ‘Sul for how he’s handling this situation and his mindset and spirit as well as his teammates, and how they’re helping him through this.

“Nothing really new injury-wise to report. Normal bumps and bruises that you have in preseason camp. Nothing long-term that would affect anybody playing in game, one other than Kobby Sakyi-Prah, true freshman. He’s got a lower-body injury that will be somewhat long-term. Wouldn’t expect him back anytime soon. And then Jackson Burger, who was really doing some great things for us from a defensive back and special teams standpoint, going back to the spring. The rate at which he’s improved from last year to now is really impressive. He’ll be out for a while, also. But everyone else that I had already said was probably going to be out long-term, no one knew to report other than those two. Optimistic that everybody will be good as we go into game one.

“Big week coming up, obviously, with the last week of preseason camp. We start class here next week at Carolina. So this is our last real camp week, if you will, where we’re doing afternoon walk-throughs and evening meetings and whatnot. That’ll wrap up after this week. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say how awesome it is the partnership that we have with with the Blanchard family and Rozier and Boyd and their family, and what they’ve done to support our athletic department and university and football program, having their name on the field this upcoming season and in future years. You talk about a family that loves Carolina, loves the state of South Carolina, loves this athletic department, loves this football program. If anybody’s name is going to be on the field, that family is one that certainly warrants their name being down there because of how much they bleed garnet and black and the kind of people they are as well. I know they talked about it yesterday in the press conference, how they lost their dad a few years ago. That was about the time that I moved here. Shortly thereafter, I didn’t know their dad, but Boyd and Rozier have become really, really good friends, golfing buddies as well. And I really think a lot of both those guys as people and am excited for them. Really cool. You talk about somebody that is in the family business, if you will, myself growing up the son of a coach, and then the Boyd and Rozier and what their dad meant to them and them being in the same business that their dad was, and then them being able to carry on his legacy and whatnot. Really, really happy for them. So kudos to them and Jeremiah (Donati) and Wayne Hiott and everyone here in the athletic department that helped get that done.

“Also hope everyone has watched the Netflix series by now. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? It’s been amazing feedback from so many people, retired coaches, current coaches, high school recruits, you name it. I mean, it’s been awesome. The people that have reached out and commented on what they saw from us during the series. My only complaint is that they should have made it 12 episodes; people would have watched it, and there’s so much content from South Carolina that didn’t make the show that I would love for that to be on there as well. But as I’ve told you guys before, it was successful for us because we don’t have anything to hide. We are who we are, what you see on cameras, what you see off camera as well. So it was very easy to work with Netflix, because we don’t have anything to hide in our program as well. The guys were just being themselves, and I’m glad people were able to see on the inside of our program.

“Having said that, I do have a statement to make. I think my wife is getting some undue criticism on the cookies that she makes, that’s in episode five, I believe. She’s actually had people who have reached out to her on Netflix telling her that she’s not cooking the cookies long enough. Much respect for the people who took the time to reach out to her to criticize her for her cookies, but the cookies are the freaking bomb, just so you guys know. I’ve got my girls back. She’s been making those cookies when I was an assistant coach. She’s been making those cookies for my position group that I coached, so the running backs at Virginia Tech, or the tight ends at Georgia, or the tight ends at Oklahoma. And now what you saw in that episode was her making the cookies. She does it every Thursday for all the people in this building. So to the people who reached out to her on Instagram to criticize her and telling her that she’s not cooking them long enough, come up here on a Thursday after practice when I put those cookies out and see how fast they’re devoured and gone, because they’re gone in about five minutes as well. And reach out to any tight end from the University of Oklahoma, from 2018 to ’20, or Georgia tight end, ’16 and ’17, or any Virginia Tech running back, if you want to ask about the cookies. So I got her back. Let me say that the cookies are awesome. She’s cooking them the right way.”

Just wanted to confirm with the injuries, Desmond Umeozulu and Jalon Kilgore, if they’re good to go?

“Yes. Normal bumps and bruises. Dez will be fine. Got banged up in the scrimmage the other night. Jalon has a little bit of a soft tissue injury on the lower body. But if we played today, they would play.”

Is Luke Doty still the No. 2 quarterback? And how much is he still focusing on special teams?

“He’s a really good football player. So yes, he’s still the number two quarterback right now. And yes, he’s continuing to work in a lot of areas. He’s working on all of our special teams, all of them, meaning our four core, punt, punt pressure, kickoff, and kickoff return. He’s working on all those. He’s working in the return game. He’s just really smart. He’s a talented guy, and he’s improved as a quarterback. So yes to all that.”

Was there anything from the Netflix series that you didn’t see in there that you wish were included?

“Yeah, there’s a lot. I think there’s so much content that they had. They were here for four weeks, three weeks where they came in basically on Monday, and they were here through Saturday. So you think about they showed the LSU game and showed the Alabama week, and then leading up to the Texas A&M game. But there’s a lot of content. You think about the amount of content that they could have gotten those five days. I think they spent some time with some of our players outside the building. I know they went, I think, trick or treating, with Travian Robertson and his kids on Halloween, and with some of the players as well, maybe were out there on Halloween that didn’t make it. I mean, I told you guys I went to Hunter’s flag football practice. Just stuff around the team, specifically, nothing that I can really think of. I just know that they had a lot of content with seven episodes and we were featured in three of them. There’s a lot of stuff that didn’t make it that certainly would have been good, but they did a great job on their own. I know they had other teams they had to feature, for sure.”

Is there any aspect of the game that you guys are better at at this juncture of camp, as opposed to maybe last year or other seasons you’ve been here?

“I would think situational football, and that’s mainly just because LaNorris (Sellers) is a little bit older. So we practice in the mornings, and then there’s a break now that our players have where the coaches go and watch tape, and then in the afternoons, we do a walk-through at four. We do a special teams meeting and offense-defense meetings around four, and then about 5:20, we have a walk-through in the indoor that we do for about 45 minutes. And we always finish up a walk-through each day with some sort of situational football aspect. And there were some days last year where having a new quarterback, whether it be LaNorris or Robby (Ashford), and it’s their first time going through a lot of those scenarios. There were a couple of walk-throughs where I blew a gasket last year because it wasn’t getting operated and we didn’t make good decisions. Not that we’re perfect, myself included, because you’re always learning and trying to be better in those situations.

“We did something today clockwise that I learned from as well. But I think we’re so much farther along from that standpoint where LaNorris goes out there and we do the same thing that we did last year, and he’s just a machine at it. And Luke’s really good. They remembered that walk-through last year didn’t go as well, and Luke kind of grabbed me afterwards. He’s like, ‘We’ve got your back this year, Coach. Like, we’re good. We’re so much farther along.’ And he’s right, you know, we spent a lot of time on it, just like last year, and we spent so much time talking about it throughout the season. I think we’re farther along, at least at the quarterback position. Now, you still got freshman receivers and freshman defensive backs that haven’t done that, but at least when your quarterback is more experienced, it goes a long way.”

How difficult is it for this team to balance the camaraderie in a position room versus the competitiveness and desire for snaps?

“It’s something we talked about in one of our very first staff meetings before we started camp, probably the day before the players reported. That was one thing that we talked about as coaches, that we as coaches, starting with me, have to do a great job this year of managing those personalities in those rooms. Everybody wants the ball, and we got to really, and I told the coaches like, we have more depth in my opinion. We have more depth at running back and receiver than we’ve ever had here since I’ve been the head coach. There’s a lot of guys. We don’t just point to one and say, ‘Here’s, you know, Xavier Legette, and he’s your guy or whatnot.’ There’s a lot of guys who want the ball, which is great. Same thing at the tight end position, there’s only one ball to go around.

“But understanding that a lot of things, one, it’s not all about stats, it’s about winning football games. That’s the most important stat to me. Supporting one another, we talk about celebrating others’ success, because if you celebrate others’ success, you get to celebrate more as well. So you see that out there as well. But we’ve got to do a great job throughout the season of that. I’ll use an example. Mazeo Bennett’s not going to catch 10 balls every single week. There may be a game where he catches 10, there may be a game where he catches zero, but how he can affect the game in other ways, we’ve really spent a lot of time just talking about that, but it just all starts in the offseason. Just building up the team and the camaraderie and supporting one another and knowing that ultimately, it’s always about the team and doing what’s best to win the football game each and every week.”

What impressed you the most, if anything, from the first scrimmage?

“Offense didn’t turn the ball over; that was good. I looked back at my notes from last year; they didn’t turn the ball over in that scrimmage last year either. Y’all have heard me talk about how we did in season some, but that was good to have them. We got like 117 plays in the other night. And the year before, that scrimmage was 108, I believe. So we got more plays, and there were no turnovers. Now, there were some plays, some throws where receivers got their hands on the throw, and probably should have been an interception, but they weren’t able to finish the catch. So that’s good.

“I think when you can go in there and have 117 plays and not turn the ball over, that’s a start, because we know how important turnover margin is in college football. And then just seeing young guys make plays. I thought we punted the ball well in there, we did some good things from a special team standpoint, and then seeing young guys being in the stadium for the first time and handling that environment.”

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With the kicking competition, you’ve talked about how you try to make it the most high-pressure situation as possible. But I imagine there just has to be an element of acceptance that for a lot of these guys who have no college experience yet, you can’t fully know what it’s going to be like when they’re actually out there.

“No, it does. You do as much as you can. You try and make practice as loud and chaotic as you can. You can go in the stadium, you can go on the practice field, and you try and put them in pressure situations. We had a deal today where it was a two-minute drill in practice, and we brought two kickers out to kick a game-winning field goal. And you just try and create as many different scenarios like that as you as possible. But still knowing, whether it be the kicker or the receiver, it’s just the defensive back that’s playing in his first college game, or anyone. Even LaNorris. I mean, he’s been in environments, but it’s different. When you go out there, you do it for real, but it’s a challenge, and another reason that we should be able to have preseason games and exhibition games and all that against an opponent.”

How would you evaluate where every phase of special teams is right now?

“I think we’re moving along. I thought, like I said, we’ve punted the ball well consistently. I feel like we have kicked well for the most part, can always be a little bit more consistent. So pleased there. Return game, we’ve spent a lot on. We don’t really do a lot of live, really none, cover a kick and tackle. It’s all tag off or thud up. But feel like we’ve made improvement in the return game, and we’ve got some guys that can certainly run, that have size and speed and can cover kicks as well. So I’m pleased. This will be a big week for us this week as well. But they’re really, really working hard. It’s awesome, though, talking about culture and guys being able to see other guys do things. I mean, seniors, Bryan Thomas, DQ Smith, I mean, those are two guys that are really doing a great job and working really, really hard on special teams.

“So it’s a great opportunity, great moment when you’re able to show those guys on tape doing that to younger guys as well. Because a lot of these freshmen who come in, they didn’t come to South Carolina to be the left tackle on the punt team. I mean, they had a, ‘I’m gonna go play linebacker. I’m gonna go play the running back and all that.’ So making them understand if a lot of them probably didn’t play special teams in high school, and making sure they understand the importance of it and and really emphasizing to them, we’ve got 100 and I think it’s 114 players on our roster right now, and we’re only allowed to take 74 to SEC away games. So, making sure those guys understand that those are hard decisions every week who the 74 that we take are, and a lot of the times it’s going to come down to special teams.”

What have you seen from Jackson Repp, and what kind of role could you foresee for him?

“Yeah, Jackson’s come in. I go back to last summer, his team came down in June to our 7-on-7 camp, and however many games they played that day, they played eight games, counting the playoffs. I mean, I bet he had like 20 touchdown catches in 7-on-7. They couldn’t cover him. And then we told him, ‘You know what? Come back to one of our individual one-day camps,’ and he went up against a defensive back in that camp that has committed to another school, and that defensive back couldn’t cover him that day. So we’re like, you know what? This guy’s pretty good as well. He’s undersized, but he’s just got a knack for getting open and whatnot, and that’s what I’ve seen. He plays hard, he catches the ball well, he gets open. And then he just got here. He’s coming off a little bit of a knee injury, so he just got here in the summertime. So as he continues to get in the weight room and develop, he’s got a chance to figure in and help us down the road for sure.”

How do you prepare the team, the program, and the players to embrace those higher expectations out of the gate?

“Yeah, I mean, I’d rather be ranked high and have those expectations than not. I mean, as a coach, when you’re not ranked high, like we were last year, it’s great because you can use that as fuel and motivation. But we want to be a team that’s consistently ranked high in the top 10, top 15, going into every single season, because it means we did some good stuff the year before, and we’re expected to do stuff again. The best teams in the country, year in and year out, they’re in those preseason rankings every year. But those teams, what we’re continuing to convey to our guys, and we’ve been talking about it since the beginning, is that all that matters is just what we do from this point forward. If you had a good season the year before and your quarterback returns, you’re probably going to be ranked pretty high, and that’s what we are.

“Now, do I think we’re a good team? Heck yeah, and we also have a lot of work to do. But as you saw last year, there’s a lot of teams that are, every year, there’s teams that are ranked in that preseason, top 10, top 15, that won’t be at the end of the season. And there’s a lot of teams that weren’t, aren’t right now, that will be at the end of the season as well. So just making sure that our guys understand every year is different. We didn’t really listen to it when everybody was telling us how terrible we were, maybe a little bit but we don’t need to be listening to it now when everybody’s telling us how great we are, because you say, alright, we’re ranked 13th and we are but also know there’s some prominent media members that put out their own little polls that we’re not in their top 25 so we still got a lot to prove. And I hope our players, I know our players, understand that and feel that too.”

Mazeo Bennett was in here talking about how Nyck Harbor really gave up one love to chase after another. Just wondering what you’ve seen from Nyck in terms of not only developing his skillset, but also his mindset now that he’s only focused on football?

“I’m really proud of Nyck. He shared a lot of that with some of the players the other night, and pretty powerful listening to him, but he did. I mean, people think, ‘Oh, Nyck Harbor just gave up track to run football,’ like that’s an easy decision to make. That’s not an easy decision to make when you talk about a guy who had a real opportunity to potentially run in the Olympics last summer, and less than a year later, he decides to give up track. He’s not just your everyday, ‘I’m gonna go run the track team and have a good college career.’ Like he could have run in the Olympics. And to give that up, to solely focus on football, that’s hard to give up one of those loves. And what I’ve seen is him give up that love and then pour all that energy and emotion and just poured it into football. And that’s what he’s done with his work ethic, just on and off the field. He’s improved so much. He works so hard, and he’s got a great mindset about the way that he goes about his business. He’s having fun out there. You can see it. Just the plays he makes. Special teams, he’s another one we watch him cover kicks as well. So he’s a big guy that can run, as you guys know, and he’s worked really, really hard, and I’m proud of him, because that’s not an easy decision to make.”

What’s the story behind bringing in Brandon Cunningham? I noticed he’s listed as an athlete on the roster. What do you kind of envision out of him, maybe not this year, but throughout his career at Carolina?

“Brandon was a guy that another one that we had in our camp last summer. Really impressive playing quarterback for his school, obviously. And we talked to him about with your size and the way that you run, not saying that you can’t play quarterback at the next level, but we really think you could potentially be a receiver or defensive back, because you’re tough, you’re athletic, you’re a good football player, you can run. He was adamant that he was going to be a quarterback, which that’s great. So we continued to keep an eye on him, but he played quarterback, and that was kind of it as well. I thought that was going to be what he chased as he went into college. And then I got a call in the summertime from someone telling me that he had already been accepted into school here at Carolina, and he was coming to college here anyway, but he wasn’t planning on playing football. So then I immediately called him up. I think it was his graduation day, actually, and I called him up. I’m like, ‘Hey, bud. If you’re coming here and you want to play football, we’d love to have you. That conversation that I had with you last summer has not changed. We think that ultimately you’re a receiver or a defensive back, but if you’re interested, do that.’

“So he jumped right into workouts in June, when he got to summer school. I mean, he wasn’t even planning on coming to play football. I think he was literally going to graduation. He was probably planning on just having a heck of a summer hanging out in the Upstate, and then a week later, he’s getting his face blown off by Coach (Luke) Day out here at summer workouts. So proud of him from that standpoint. And I do think long-term, his position is probably receiver or defensive back. He’s working as a quarterback for us right now, just to have another arm in that room. Obviously, we’ve got Luke, we’ve got Lenora, we’ve got Cutter (Woods), we’ve got Air (Noland), we’ve got Jimmy Francis. But when you start talking about, we get into the season and all that as well, we need more than five. We’d like to have six arms. So he’s working as a quarterback right now.”

Behind Sellers and Doty, what does the quarterback competition look like?

“Great competition. Cutter and Air continue to improve. The first thing I would say is that both those guys have really improved since spring practice. You see the work they put in over the summer. They’re having fun out there. They’re moving around well and and they each are flashing, as is Luke. I mean, Luke’s the backup right now, but those guys are competing and pushing. They’re all pushing one another, but we’ll see. We’ll certainly want to narrow things down as we get closer to game day here in a couple of weeks. But those guys have all had really good moments. They’re young quarterbacks that you want to teach off of as well. But I’m excited about it. There’s ability in that room, and they continue to get better.”

What did you see from the defense in the scrimmage on Saturday? Also, with the kicking battle, what did you see there?

I thought they did a good job of responding. Offense in the scrimmage the other night got off to a good start in their first four drives. Two of them I thought were really productive drives. I don’t want to say defenses on their heels, but they probably didn’t get off to as good a start in those first four drives. But then it was cool to see them respond. We had a goal line period where the defense really responded and flipped a switch, and then played well the rest of the night as well. So it’s good to see those guys respond.

“And we played a lot of our young guys, a lot of the guys that — competition’s ongoing — but a lot of the guys that are returning starters did not play, maybe as much as some of these young guys that we need to make decisions on. And then with the kickers, all of them got opportunities the other night, and all of them certainly had some really good moments, and all of them had a kick or two that they’d like to have back. We kicked a lot, but doing more of that now, just trying to figure out what that is and or who it is as well. So I’m pleased overall.”

Oscar Adaway was in here earlier talking about how when he was still at North Texas, he was walking to class, and he saw “The Office” video y’all had done, and he knew then that that was a coach, that you were a coach he wanted to play for. First, is that kind of something he’s talked to you about, and also, what’s that relationship like with Oscar?

“I love Oscar. He has told me that story, or I heard him tell that story to someone. Maybe he did when we were recruiting him. I don’t remember him telling me that. I heard that over the summer, that story as well, that he watched the little Office spoof that we put out, and said, ‘I’d love to play for that guy,’ and I appreciate him saying that. It’s pretty cool to hear. And then just the relationship with him, he’s a wise old soul. I mean, he’s an older guy that has seen it all and has worked really, really hard. Really good football player who’s gotten better in his last year of college football and has great leadership skills. And testament to him, he’s the president or chairman of the SEC Advisory Committee, or whatever the official word is. I know I probably just butchered that, but representing all the student athletes in the SEC. When we had our lead meetings down in Destin back in May, he was down there as one of a handful of student athletes from across the SEC that he was the president of that group, which says a lot about his leadership skills and the kind of person he is.”

You and Dowell Loggains obviously had a very tight relationship and worked very well together. So with Mike Shula now as the offensive coordinator, are there similarities with how you two are working together?

“I think it’s been great. I think the dynamic, first of all, in that staff room is awesome right now with all those coaches. It’s a really good group of people in that room. That staff dynamic with Mike and a couple of new guys we brought in, with Ben Burris and Davis Koetter, it’s just a really good dynamic in there right now. And then Mike’s been awesome. The fact that he’s been a head coach before is very helpful. And I can have conversations because he’s been a head coach and not necessarily telling me, sometimes maybe, what do you think about this? But there’s great communication, very transparent, and I know everything that we’re doing and why. Anything that I have an issue with, he’s great about communicating. But it’s been fantastic as well. He’s big time just as a human being, but then just as a coach also, and that with the offense and then that whole staff dynamic, like I said.”

Mazeo didn’t play in the spring game, so just being back in that competitive setting with the scrimmage this past Saturday, did you get to see anything from him in that environment?

“Yeah, he made some third-down catches, if I remember correctly, I know he did. He had one in the red zone for a third down. And that’s just kind of who he is. He’s a competitive dude who, when the lights come on, loves those moments as well. So it’s good to see him out there competing. He did some really good things for us last year. We’re counting on him to be one of those guys this year in that receiving room as well.”

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