Everything Shane Beamer said previewing South Carolina's matchup with Oklahoma

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media on Tuesday to preview the Gamecocks’ Week 8 matchup with Oklahoma. Kickoff on Saturday is at 12:45 p.m. and will be on SEC Network.

Here’s everything Beamer had to say.

Opening statement

“I should have said this the other night and forgot, but I want to thank our fans who were down at LSU the other night. They were awesome. From looking out my window at the hotel all day Saturday, we stayed right on the interstate, I feel like every time I look out the window, I saw a car on the interstate headed towards campus with Gamecock flags on the car driving into campus, all the rabid fans, but you saw a lot of South Carolina fans out there tailgating also as we came in. When the busses dropped us off, all the Gamecock fans that were there to meet us when we got off the bus, that was awesome. All the fans that were down there in that corner by our locker room were loud and made their presence felt, and it was a sea of garnet and black down there, which was awesome. And then during pregame warmups, I looked up in the upper deck, kind of behind our bench, and there was a whole swath of garnet and black up there in the upper deck also. So really appreciate them making the trip down there.

“Sorry that we didn’t get a win for you. Wanted nothing more than to get a win while we were down there for all of our awesome fans that were down there. But really, really, really appreciate them traveling and making the trip down to Louisiana. Great having them there. That’s what South Carolina football is about, what this program is about, what this university is about, what this fan base is about. So thank you very, very, very much. And then we’re going to need you again on Saturday. First day game that we’ve had here at home. So we’ve got to get up early and get the tailgating going early. Get in here early. I know what traffic is like going to the State Fair on Saturday, and we know it’s going to be a lot of traffic, so leave early, get here, and tailgate. We need you in there early, and we need a home-field advantage. We talked to our players, it doesn’t matter the game time, location. None of that should change how we play, and none of that should change how we cheer and the noise we make on Saturday. Whether it’s a 12:45 game or a 7:45 game, it needs to be loud.

“We’ve got a really, really good opponent coming in here that’s playing their first true away game. Nothing against the home-field advantage that Temple has, but I don’t think playing in the Eagles stadium is the same as playing in Williams-Brice. And last week down in Dallas, I’ve been a part of that game. It’s an unbelievable environment, but it’s still a 50-50 crowd. This will be their first true away game in front of 80,000-plus, and they need to feel us on Saturday, and I know they will, like I said, I know our fans will do their part. Got a big challenge. Coach (Brent) Venables has done an amazing job there. He has taken back over the defense this season, and it is obvious the impact that he has made. I know y’all love stats. When you look at their stats, it won’t take you long to find them in the defensive rankings nationally. They’re pretty much one, two, or three in literally every category, it feels like, and rightfully so.

“They’re active and disruptive up front. The linebackers are all experienced, and got a transfer that’s come in from Oklahoma State that’s really added to that. The whole secondary returns. They brought in a true freshman, a corner that’s playing really well, and then, of course, Mason Thomas, and what he does up front, he makes life really, really difficult on opposing offensive lines, and then the movement they have up front with the defensive tackles. They’re well coached, great players. The transfer from Florida State has made an impact on the other side. Special teams are opportunistic. They faked three punts last year themselves, one in the bowl game, one against Missouri, and one against us. They’re opportunistic. They challenge you with their schemes, special teams-wise. And then, offensively, the impact that John Mateer has made on their entire program. I mean, what a player he is. You go back and watch his Washington State tape, he is a football player. A ton of respect for him. It’s evident what kind of leader he is and how those people on the players of that team rally around him, and the toughness and competitive spirit he has to go out there and play in that game against Texas last week. He’s just a heck of a player, and everything starts with him. Solid running backs, physical offensive line, a tight end who was playing linebacker for them last year, who’s come over to the other side of the ball and is doing a nice job. They’re better at receiver. They had some injuries there last year at the receiver position and decimated that whole group, and those guys are back healthy. And then they’ve added a couple of transfers there that are playing in the rotation.

“So they’re highly ranked for a reason. They’re well coached. They’re tough. Physical, play hard. I know the tradition in that program from being there for the three years that I was there. So we’ve got a big challenge Saturday. Looking forward to being back in front of our home crowd. I’m sure you’ll ask about injuries. I’d say all those guys that you want to know about, they’re all questionable right now. We’ll have a better idea tomorrow.”

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In terms of blocking schemes, how different do you think Shawn Elliott’s approach will be from what Lonnie Teasley had?

“Yes, if I were Oklahoma, I would go back and study every game that Shawn had as the head coach at Georgia State, every game that he coached here as the offensive line coach, and every game that he coached at App State, and that’s a good start for them. Having said that, in all seriousness, certainly there’s going to be things in the run game that he really likes, that maybe we haven’t been doing as much that will add, certainly we’re going to add some things to the scheme, but we’re also, you can’t just blow everything up and say, okay, all of a sudden, we’re going to become a, you know, whatever type team, and we haven’t been doing it all season. So we’re going to continue to do what we do, but there’ll be some new twist off of it. There may be one or two new schemes that he feels like he wants to implement. So there will be some schematic changes.

“I think, more than anything, it’s just a different voice in that room. Every coach is different. My style is different than Kirby Smart’s style or Steve Spurrier’s as a head coach; every coach is different, and you’ve got to be who you are. Lonnie Teasley’s style of coaching is different than Shawn Elliott’s. It doesn’t make one right or wrong. It’s just different. So that’ll probably be the biggest thing is just the coaching style, the voice in that room. There’ll be some things that we’ve tweaked already, just in regard to some technique things and terminology of how we call some things that Shawn’s more comfortable with. So there’ll be some changes. You can’t blow the whole thing up, but definitely some schematic changes. And then just general coaching tweaks.”

How confident are you that a different voice will cut down the number of penalties?

“Confident. But then also, you turn on the tape of Oklahoma, and you see how active they are, and I think they’re right at the top of the SEC in sacks and TFLs. I think I’ve told you guys before that on Mondays, always watch what I call the ‘Havoc tape,’ and it’s just the opponents’ tackles for loss, sacks, and turnovers. Usually, in a four-game body of work, there’s 30 plays on there, I think it was 68 yesterday. And even Hunter, he had the day off from school, and he was up here with me. He went to the fair and came over here for about 30 minutes and brought me dinner, and he was watching it with me. He was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It’s a lot on there, so they’re active, but that is the hope, certainly, that we can cut down on the pre-snap penalties.

“Today at practice, Shawn was literally lined up across from the center pretty much every play of practice, screaming, yelling, clapping, barking, blowing whistles, making move calls himself, just trying to make things as difficult as he possibly can. So would it be nice to say they’re going to go out there and have zero pre-snap penalties on Saturday? Yes, it would be nice to say that. Is that realistic? I don’t know, but it definitely needs to be less than. I think we had six on offense the other night alone, and I think of those six, five are only offensive line. So yeah, we need to cut down on that without a doubt, and maybe a different voice will help us do that. We’ve been trying to emphasize it and implement it even more in practice. But a different voice in that room may help things just from a mental standpoint of the scheme we’re asking them to run, what we’re asking them to do on the play once the ball is snapped, but then also the leading up to the snap, too, the things that the center that’s going on in our minds.”

What are you seeing with the amount LaNorris Sellers has been pressured throughout this season? Is it more the offensive line, or is it Sellers? How do you kind of look at the pressure he’s been under and how to correct it?

“It’s a combination of everything. It certainly starts with the offensive line. I’m not going to say that it doesn’t, but again, we’ve all got a hand in it. I mean, the other night there were a couple of pressures where, yeah, we got beat on the offensive line, and when you’re playing against a good SEC defense, that’s going to happen. There were a couple of pressures the other night where a tackle should have been getting some help by either a tight end or a running back, and for whatever reason, it didn’t happen. He thought he had some help outside, and he didn’t, and we gave up a pressure.

“But, overall, yes, it starts upfront, but when I look at the pressure we’ve given up, we’ve all got a hand in it, whether it be the quarterback not getting rid of the ball quick enough or the running back or the tight end or receiver running the right route. But we need to be better. It’s too much. I think I mentioned it on Sunday night. When you look at how many sacks we’ve given up since I’ve been here, we’ve been near the bottom of the SEC, I think, every season. That’s not playing winning football. So whoever’s responsible for it, we’ve all got a hand in it, players and coaches, and it needs to be better. Confident that it will be here going forward.”

Going back to the other night on the teleconference, when you’re talking about turning things around in 2022 after Florida, and last year after Ole Miss, are there any general, specific things that you can draw from those two seasons that can apply to this year?

“I think it’s different. You think about last year, we were 3-3, that was the halfway point of the season. Florida in ’22, that was what game 10, I think, was the Florida game. So it’s different points of the season. I think the only thing I take of take from it is continuing to just keep getting better and what’s next and what’s in front of us, and, yeah, that’s in the past. That’s in the rearview mirror. In the first six games, we learned from it, but it’s behind us. And two years ago, after Florida, last year after Ole Miss, and then Alabama, that’s behind us. All we can control is what’s next, and right now, what’s next is today was having a great Tuesday practice. Tomorrow is having a great Wednesday practice, and then going out there and focusing on Oklahoma and trying to play really well against a really good team on Saturday and just keep moving forward. Control what you can control and keep getting better. That’s what I told the team out there at the end of practice today, was we’ve always been a team that has gotten better as the year has gone. You can say a lot about the teams, about coaches, the head coach, but one thing that you can’t say is that we haven’t gotten better every single season as the year goes.

“I saw signs of that. We didn’t win the game, but I saw signs of that on Saturday, and saw signs of that with the way that we went out and approached practice on Sunday night after I got off the teleconference with you guys. The way that we practiced today, I see signs of us, not signs, I see us getting better. And then the key for us that you take from previous years and then this year is we’ve just got to keep doing that and just keep moving forward. We can’t sit around here and be sad boys, because we’re 3-3 and just lost a heartbreaker in a lot of ways to LSU. It’s pick yourself off the mat and get ready to go again. And that’s life. And that’s what we did in ’22, that’s what we did in ’23 to a certain degree, when we were sitting there at 2-6, and what we did last year and what we need to do this year as well.”

After the game on Saturday, you said that you had told the other coaches to give Matt Fuller the ball. What does that process look like? Did that really have to be addressed, or is it a rotation thing?

“Yeah, I’m glad you asked that. We always meet on game days as a staff, and we talk about a lot of different things, the coin toss and overtime, and what I want to see offensively, defensively, and on special teams, so we’re all on the same page, and injuries and recruiting and whatever. But we always finish the meeting with, ‘How are you going to play the players?’ So Clayton White will tell me how we’re rotating the linebackers, so I know and everybody knows. Joe D knows from a special team standpoint. And then the same thing, Coach (Marquel) Blackwell, tells me how we’re going to play the running backs, and what he says, what he did. And I knew that ‘Sul (Faison) was going to start, we’re going to get Matthew in there early, and then Oscar has his role also, and that’s kind of our three guys. And then Jawarn Howell’s ready to go as a fourth guy, along with Bradley Dunn. And then we said, you know, two-minute drill, Oscar will be in there. He’s good from a protection standpoint and route running, and we’ll rotate those guys through.

“My issue was Matthew had the long run, and then I think it was going back and looking on Sunday, I think it was like 16 plays before he was back in there again. Now, Sul went in the very next series, and then I think there was another series where Oscar came in. Then right after that, Matt did get in for a couple plays, and then I think we went three and out, and then we were right back in the back-to-back two-minute drives. We had a two-minute drive, we had the punt pinned deep, used our timeouts, got the ball back again. So you had back-to-back two-minute drives and a drive after Matt’s touchdown. So I understand what we were doing. It was more not I wanted to see Matt in there in the first half and they went rogue and didn’t put him in. We were doing exactly what we said. It was more just a point of emphasis at halftime, let’s get Matt Fuller the ball in the second half, along with our other running backs. I mean, ‘Sul ran the ball well, and Oscar did some good things and and we did get that in there after that run, but I would have liked to have it start the next series. And again, Coach Blackwell was the running back, and I’m on the headphones. If I want Matt in the game, I’ll say, ‘Get back in the game.’ Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. But maybe you know that ‘Sul went in, and I’m great with that. And then, you know, Oscar had a series, but we need to certainly need to find ways to just continue to get (Fuller) in the game, along with those other running backs, also, because we got a lot of confidence in all of them.”

With the new voice in Shawn, is the mental approach that he sets with the guys where he can have the most immediate impact?

“Yeah, I think so. It’s a little bit of both. There’s certainly physical things, from a technique standpoint. Now, how we line up and block the inside zone play, or how we line up and block the counter play, as far as who’s blocking who, that’s not going to change. The techniques you use to make those blocks, there’s some things that maybe Shawn believes in a little bit more so than Lonnie did, and there’ll be some changes from a physical standpoint with that. Yes, some terminology, the mental aspect of it, there’s no question about it. Calls on the offensive line, whether it be protection, run game, that Shawn’s more comfortable with. We’re not asking our guys to learn a new offense, but little tweaks mentally for sure.

“Coaching is teaching. I believe that a great coach is a great teacher. There’s a different voice in there, and there’s a different style of teaching, and I think that will help the mental aspect of it. There’s no question about it. Not that Lonnie wasn’t, but just a different, I tell our coaches all the time, if a guy’s not getting the material, you’ve got to find a different way of teaching it. Maybe it’s drawing it on the board, maybe it’s individual meetings. Maybe it’s different, it’s a PowerPoint, it’s a video, it’s whatever it might be. You’ve got to find different ways to connect with guys, and I think Shawn just has a different voice, and maybe saying the same thing, but just a different way of saying it, or a different message. And trying to make concepts even simpler for them, doing the same thing, but just saying it a little bit differently, if that makes sense.”

What makes Brent Venables’ defenses a little tougher to prepare for and then have to game playing against?

“Maybe they would say they don’t, they just do so much. So much. You play Missouri, okay, they’re going to play, you know, pretty much man-free coverage, and these are going to be their top pressures. But here, you kind of have a good idea of the fronts they’re going to be, and you can say the same thing about us. I mean, we’re going to, we’re multiple, but kind of do what we do defensively. LSU last week, yeah, they’re going to play a lot of man-free, and then on third down, every once in a while, they’re going to bring some pressure and drop into some cover two. But basically, they’re going to be who they are. These guys, they are who they are. But, man, it’s a lot of defense. When you’re a brilliant defensive coach like Coach Venables is, that’s obviously his forte, and it’s how he ended up at Clemson, and it’s how he got the head coaching job at Oklahoma, because he’s a great defensive coach.

“I know people have said this about me as a special teams coach, hey, you can fake a punt because, you know, you don’t have the head coach to answer to, because I am the head coach. Well, he’s a defensive coordinator. If he wants to bring eight dudes on one snap, you can bring eight guys, and they’re just they play his imprint on them, or impact is one, how hard they play when you watch the tape, they are getting after it, man. I know him well, I’ve got a lot of respect for him, but what I know about him, that’s who he is. He’s intense. They get after it, and they play the play harder than the opposing offenses most of the time, like you’ll have them protected initially, but they just continue to come. And that’s impressive, watching their tape. But then you add that, along with really good players, zero inside, and the other deep tackle, 32 and 97, I mean, they’re really good upfront. And then just the volume of defense that they do, multiple fronts, multiple coverages, multiple pressures, got a lot of respect. I’m sure they would say it’s simple, and we make it look complex, which I’m sure there’s a lot to that. But when you’re sitting there breaking it down, it’s not just one or two things that you can say, here’s what they’re going to do. They do a lot, and that’s why they make it really, really hard on people. Texas won the game, but they made it really hard for Texas. And you’re going to have some ugly runs. So I got news for you, we’re going to have some negative yardage plays on Saturday. There’s going to be a tackle for a loss in there just because of how they play defense. But you just got to keep chipping away, and then hopefully you pop some in there in the run game and pass game. And that’s what Texas was able to do as the game went on.”

You see the way John Mateer was affected last week by Texas, but he was also coming back from the hand surgery. How much do you guys try to pull from what Texas did in the hopes of affecting him this weekend?

“Yeah, you certainly look at that. We’ve got to do what we do. Texas has got some really good players on defense. They’re well coached on defense, and they affected the quarterback, and they got pressure on him. So for us, it always starts with stopping the run. We’ve got to stop the run first. They’ve got talented running backs in that room, and they’re coached by one of the greatest ever to play in DeMarco Murray. So that’s a really good group in that running back room. Offensive line coach I’ve worked with, Bill Bedenbaugh, is fantastic, so they’re well coached upfront. So you’ve got to stop the run, and the quarterback’s a runner. He’s a weapon with his legs. So we’ve got to do that, but we’ve got to be able to affect the quarterback by not letting them get the run game going, and then being able to put pressure on him, because that’s what Texas was able to do. He felt Texas in their backfield at times, and he had to get rid of some throws under pressure. And then that’s the blueprint with any team that you’re trying to play. So, you look at Texas, what Texas did, but you look at what Temple did, you look at what Auburn did, look at what Michigan did, and you look at, you know, going back to Washington State, because Mateer and the OC both came from Washington State. You look at what teams did against them. So that’s something that we’ve been doing all summer, like we do with all of our opponents, and it’s something that we’re looking at this week.”

You’ve been around a lot of programs. Have you noticed different programs what works and what doesn’t in terms of building chemistry and the relationship between offensive line and quarterbacks? Do you feel like if something succeeds in one program you can’t apply it, or is it just too different?

“I’ve been around a lot of different offensive line coaches in my time. When I started going back through the head of all the great line coaches I’ve been around, there’s some great ones, going back to my graduate assistant days, and then my assistant coach days, and they all have different ways of teaching what you know, one coach may call a slide to the right. One coach may call it Ray. One. One coach may call the same thing Rock. One coach may call the same thing Roger, one coach may call the same thing Ricky, and that’s their call and their style. I think it’s a tough position to coach, because it’s five guys that you’re all trying to get on the same page, and every coach has a different style. Bill Bedenbaugh, the offensive line coach of Oklahoma, his style is a lot different than Sam Pittman’s, who I worked with at Georgia. It’s just different styles of coaching. Doesn’t make one right or wrong. I think the biggest thing is just one: be who you are. That’s got to be your style. And as a coach, whether it be offensive line or any position, your personality needs to show in your players.

“I tell our guys all the time, you’re the head coach of your position, so what you’re putting on tape like that’s your resume, and that’s how hard they play. That’s an indictment on you and a reflection of you, more so than anything, whether it be offensive line or other positions. I think it’s the connection that you have with guys and the relationships that you have with guys, where you’re spending time with them, yes, on the field, but you’re spending time with them off the field, where one, they’re playing with great effort for you, because they love you and they care about you, and you’re connected. But then two, you’re building those connections and bonds. Because, let’s face it, offensive line is unlike any other position on the team, because it’s five guys that all have to be in lockstep. So I don’t know if that really answers your question, but I think every coach has their own style. Every coach is different, and you’ve got to be who you are. But I think the one common denominator is the alignment that we’re all in this together for one another, that you can coach on this style, but at the end of the day, us five, like we’re aligned with our coach and the rest of that offensive line group, to go be who we are. And to me, the great ones I’ve been around, that’s what they’re able to get.”

You’ve been very complimentary of Oklahoma’s defense and very aware of the talent they bring. You have also been aware of your offensive line struggles and made a coaching change because of it. What gives you the confidence that this is the week that you go out there and put it all together and win this game?

“We’ve got good players, and I feel like we haven’t been playing to our potential on offense, and that’s not just on the offensive line. I think we’re better than what we’ve shown, and our players will tell you that too. Our coaches would tell you that. So knowing that we have good players, and we do, it’s not like we went out here and signed a bunch of, I don’t know if there’s such a thing as two stars anymore, but I don’t know if we went out and signed a bunch of two stars that are also playing on the offensive line. We got some really good SEC offensive linemen who were recruited by every school in the country. I believe in those guys up front. I believe in what we’re doing offensively. And I saw the signs. I know y’all love stats, and I get it.

“Like, I get it, if you look at overall stats, we’re not very good. If you just look at SEC games only from an offensive standpoint, we’re slowly working our way up, and we’re near the top in a lot of things from an offensive standpoint. I saw the way that we ran the ball in the fourth quarter of the Kentucky game. I saw the way that we ran the ball against LSU. And I get it, you’ve got to take yardage out from sacks. But I don’t think anybody had run the ball for more than 160 yards against LSU, and we gained close to 260 the other night. And it’s more than just Matt Fuller’s long run. So seeing that and the progress we’ve made, knowing how important it is to our guys up front on the offensive line and our entire offense, gives me great hope. We know it’ll be a challenge. It was a challenge last year out there against them. It’s a challenge for every team that plays them, their offense against Oklahoma’s defense, because of how talented and well-coached they are. But I know our guys are. They’re great competitors, and they’re excited to get out there and try and take another step on Saturday.”

Are Shawn Elliott and Ben Burress auditioning for the full-time jobs going forward at those positions? And secondly, do you expect Travian Robertson to return this season?

“I don’t know if audition is the word, like my focus right now, and this isn’t like media coach speak, it’s truly just trying to do everything we can to beat Oklahoma. We’ve got a lot of football left in this season, and I’m trying to just empower those guys to be their very best this upcoming week, and the rest of the season will take care of itself. But I will say this, I have a lot of confidence in both of those guys; otherwise, they wouldn’t be in the position that they’re in right now when I made the change. As soon as I talked to Lonnie, I grabbed Mike (Shula) and Shawn and met with them in my office and told them what I had done and and I said, ‘In my opinion, Ben needs to be the tight ends coach going forward,’ but you guys, let’s talk about it. If y’all don’t feel that way, and everybody’s in agreement. So Ben will do a great job with the tight ends. Shawn will do a great job with the offensive line. Let’s focus on this week, and then everything else will take care of itself as we go.

“Travian, I would hope, will be back. He was out at practice again today. He was actually standing on the balcony and watching practice today for the first time. He usually has been sitting in sitting in a chair, and he couldn’t really stand, but he was standing over the railing today and watching practice, and I know he was out there the entire time watching from the balcony. He texted me a picture yesterday. I guess he had surgery yesterday, where he got all the screws out. So he sent me a picture of all the screws that have been in his feet, which wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever seen when he sent me that one, but glad he got the screws out. I think he said maybe one more surgery. And then after that, he felt like he’d be on his feet and kind of moving forward at a fast pace. So optimistic that he’ll be back out there coaching soon. But he’s doing a lot not on the field. And then Jordan Dove and Jamil Walker, who’s also working with that group, they’ve done an awesome job with those defensive tackles in Travian’s absence.”

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