Everything Shane Beamer said previewing South Carolina's matchup with Ole Miss

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media on Tuesday to preview the Gamecocks’ upcoming matchup with Ole Miss. Kickoff on Saturday is at 7 p.m. on ESPN

Here’s everything Beamer had to say.

Opening statement

“We’re back at it, obviously, with another opportunity this week to go compete. Got a big challenge in Oxford. Lane (Kiffin) has done a phenomenal job at Ole Miss of elevating that program and sustaining success just year after year, the way they just continue to be one of the top teams. It’s impressive. Credit to him. I was texting with another SEC coach about a week ago that had played Ole Miss this season. And I hadn’t seen a whole lot of Ole Miss on tape at that point, other than Kentucky, because they had played Kentucky before we played Kentucky. And that coach that had played Ole Miss said, ‘It’s amazing, as good as Ole Miss was last year, they’re better this year,’ this coach that had played them.

“And then you turn on the tape and you see what he’s talking about. The quarterback that is transferred in is playing at a really, really, really high level. The running back is a weapon. Hardly ever comes off the field and just continues to produce. Receiving core is dynamic. Size and athleticism at the offensive line position and tight end position, great run after the catch skill on offense. Defensively, got a lot of new transfer portal guys that have come in on the back end, the back seven, but up front, a lot of the same guys that we went against last year. (Suntarine Perkins) is a great pass rusher and the two tackles inside. It’s not every day you line up and play a 6-foot-8, 330-pound defensive tackle, but that’s our challenge this week, and that’ll be a challenge when we kick field goals, too, because he’s an absolute weapon on their field goal block team, being that long. So really impressive, offensively, defensively, special teams-wise, coaching, everything that they’re doing coming off a huge win in Norman, because we know what that Oklahoma team is about. And then we’re going into another hostile environment on the road on a Saturday night in the SEC, but also an opportunity for our guys to go compete, and looking forward to a challenge.”

The Insiders Forum: Discuss South Carolina football!

A story broke yesterday saying that the 2027 USC-Clemson football game could be played on Friday of Thanksgiving weekend or a Saturday. If the game got moved to Black Friday, what would your opinion be?

“Yeah, I saw that. That was news to me. I’ve got more important matters to worry about right now, not when we’re playing Clemson in 2027,” Beamer said on Tuesday. “Those are conversations that Coach (Ray) Tanner and I had two years ago before the ’23 season; there was talk about us potentially doing that. There was talk about the possibility of that happening last year. So I know it’s been something that has been talked about at different times.”

“Those are conversations that Coach (Ray) Tanner and I had two years ago before the ’23 season; there was talk about us potentially doing that. There was talk about the possibility of that happening last year. So I know it’s been something that has been talked about at different times. I know Dabo (Swinney) has talked about it, his feelings, my feelings. I’ll always want to do what’s best for the fans. I think it’s great from an exposure standpoint, because it would be the only game on. Everybody in the country was watching that Georgia-Georgia Tech game last year that was on Friday night, including me, who stayed up way too late watching that game before a 12 noon kickoff at Clemson the next day. And I’m assuming our players were all up late. But you have the eyes of the country, Friday night primetime. So there’s a lot of positives from that standpoint. Certainly, we’re respectful of the high school programs that are playing playoff games on that weekend, potentially, most likely, not just in South Carolina, but around. So I think there’s a lot of different dynamics, but ultimately, you want to do what’s best for your team. You also want to do what’s best for your fan base. And I think there’s a lot of positives in it, and there’s some drawbacks in it as well. But that’s something that Jeremiah and I haven’t even discussed, and that’s down the road. I’m kind of indifferent towards it, and I see the positives on both ends of it.”

You mentioned on Saturday, simplifying the offense to where you’re calling the 10 best plays and getting the ball to the best players. How does that process work during the week of getting the players’ opinions on it, as well as Mike Shula and the rest of the offensive staff?

“There’s a lot to it. I think that, for one, it’s the volume that you take into a game plan with. So let’s say that, you know, I don’t know what NFL teams have, I think most NFL teams on their call sheet probably have 100-plus plays available to call on a game. I’d say most colleges, when I was at Oklahoma with Lincoln Riley, that little sheet of paper that you see him on the sidelines with, I think usually has about 65 or 70 plays. I’d say that’s what most colleges are from a play call standpoint; we’re no different. We talked last week about shrinking that number a little bit. It wasn’t drastic. It wasn’t like we went from 90 plays to all of a sudden, you got 40 to choose from. I mean, I think it was maybe 10 less than what we had, 15 less than what we had against Oklahoma. When you do that, you’re able to practice it versus more looks in practice and things like that, defenses, I mean, the schemes you make it.

“It’s certainly LaNorris (Sellers) every week, not just last week, but every week LaNorris has great ideas. Luke (Doty) has great ideas. I mean, those guys are up here all the time watching tape at night on their own and coming up with ideas that they bring to Shula or they talk to me about, and so that’s always part of the process. So it’s simplifying the number a little bit. It’s getting input from players, like we always do, the offensive staff together. And then when I talked about the 10 best plays, I was really referring to, you know, we have openers. I think Mike talked about it last week. It’s not necessarily 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and here’s the 10 plays we’re going to call and start the game in a row, but here’s the openers. We know what the first play is going to be, and then how we kind of roll after that.

“My statement to the offensive staff last Saturday morning in our staff meeting was, you know, and I’m looking at these openers of our top 10 to 20 plays. There’s some really good stuff in here because of what we’re doing schematically that we want to do. We want to spread them out a little bit. We want to throw the ball down the field. We want to move the pocket. And I said something along the lines of, you know, we got 20 plays here. To me, we could just keep calling these same 20 over and over again, because this is really our best stuff. And so that’s what I was referring to on that one.

“I thought they did a good job of mixing it up. But that’s what that process is, volume early in the week. Here’s our set number. And then the big part of that, too, is being able to, so today, for example, we did first and second downs. And then once I leave here with you guys, I’ll go in there with the offensive staff at 1:30, and we’ll watch the practice tape until whatever time, 3:30, and then we meet as a staff at four o’clock, and then from four o’clock until we go home at night after the staff meeting, they’ll be working on third down. And then we’ll do the same thing tomorrow, and they’ll be working on red zone and having as much carryover, meaning we don’t need a ton of new plays when we go to third down tomorrow. How many of these first and second down calls can we also call on third down, based on what they’re doing? And then when we get down to the red zone, red zone is more specific because the field shrinks, but how many of these first down, second down, and third down calls can we also call in the red zone, so we’re not asking our players to learn a new scheme, if that makes sense.”

What are the pros and cons of going up tempo, and how do you think that’s something that might help this specific group of players?

“I think anytime you can mix up tempos, like the teams that go fast all the time, that’s great, but you at least know they’re going fast all the time. The teams that mix up tempo, where it’s not always fast, but they may hit a big play, or they may hit a first down, and then they go fast, but you’re kind of off balance, those are the ones that present challenges, and Ole Miss is doing a great job of that. If you guys watch the TV copy, or if you watch their game last week against Oklahoma, they did that where they slowed it down at times, and then they were in the huddle for different reasons, but then they broke the huddle, and then they went and played.

“Being able to mix up tempos, I think, is good, and it’s good for us from an offensive standpoint, and we always have mixed up tempo and gone fast at times, but I think sometimes it’s a good way to kick start something if you’re a little bit sluggish and and being able to just get on the ball and go, there’s pluses to it. The tempo, you force things on defense. There’s minuses to it, you’re not able to make a whole lot of calls at the line of scrimmage, so teams are bringing a lot of pressures and different looks. You’re kind of rolling the dice a little bit because you’re not able to communicate as thoroughly, maybe, as you would if you were slowing it down. Not to mention that’s great to be able to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to go fast,’ but then you go fast and you go three-and-out, then your defense is getting back on the field fast as well, which you don’t want to do. So there’s different aspects to it. We wanted to mix it in there last week, and that’s something that’s always been a part of our offense that we’ll continue to utilize if it’s the right plan of attack each week.”

Going back to the topic of changing things to simplify the offense as you head into November, where you’ve had a lot of success, looking back on the previous years, are there changes or a couple of changes you made over the years that helped you in that success?

“I think for us, it’s just continuing to get better throughout the season. That goes back to strength and conditioning, training room, nutrition, young players that we are playing that just continue to get older as the year goes. The freshmen that we’re starting on offense right now, Donovan Murph, Brian Rowe, Shed Sarratt, those are true freshmen that just continue to get better. Our team, we pride ourselves on getting better throughout the season because of how we practice and the way guys develop. So I think it’s more that than anything. And again, I don’t want there to be this major story all of a sudden, you know, we made changes to the offense last week, and we shrunk the game plan, and that’s why we performed a little bit better. We still didn’t score enough points to win. We always, each week, tweak how we can be better. And last week, yeah, we did minimize the volume of stuff that we had, but again, it wasn’t drastic. I mean, I had that conversation with LaNorris about simplifying, and he’s like, ‘I don’t think we need to. We’re not doing that much,’ which he’s right. We weren’t doing all this stuff where the guys didn’t know what they were doing. It was more for me last week, just trying to narrow down and hone in on our very best stuff. Let’s go execute. Let’s just call it over and over again. So that’s what we need to continue to do, is just accentuate the things that we do really well, and then just continue to have great resolve on the process and just continue to work and get better.”

You mentioned after the game that you guys need to finish more. Is finishing something that can be taught with a team, or is it just that, at some point, it just clicks?

“No, I mean, I think it’s something that can be taught. You hope it clicks. I hope it’s something that you develop. Every day in practice, we make a big deal about the last period of practice, and it’s the fourth quarter, and we’ve got to go finish. We did it even more so today, every, you know, offseason workout in the summertime or in the winter, we’re talking about finishing. So it’s something that we emphasize all the time, and we’ve been a good team in the fourth quarter since I’ve been here as the head coach, and it’s maddening that we haven’t been better this year, the fact that, you know, you could say could’ve, would’ve, should’ve, I get all that. But there’s two SEC games that we led going into the fourth quarter, Missouri and Alabama, and we’re not able to finish. LSU, it’s what, 17-10, and we got a fourth down in plus territory, and we don’t get it, and we don’t finish that drive. I mean, look, everybody, there’s a handful of plays every game, but you just sit there and say to yourself, man, if we just finish in the fourth quarter against Missouri and Alabama, we’re sitting here with the same record after eight games that we had last year. And if we finish against LSU, and I know all those things, I’m not taking anything away from them; it’s just the fact that we had to lead and we didn’t finish.

“So it’s a mentality, it’s an execution. I don’t think it’s from a, I know it’s not from a lack of effort or a lot of mistakes. It’s just tip your cap to the other team. I mean, Alabama was on the road and in a hostile environment and found a way to win that game in the fourth quarter. The other game in Missouri, at home, never flinched, and they found a way to win that game in the fourth quarter. You look at all of these games, I mean, Ole Miss, a lot of their games, Lane talked about it, I think after his game the other day against Georgia, they’re beating Georgia going into the fourth quarter, and then Georgia outscored them into something like 17-0. And then the other day against Oklahoma, they’re losing going into the fourth quarter, and then they outscored Oklahoma 9-0. And dominating the fourth quarter is one of the things of how we win the game plan to win, and we haven’t done a good enough job of it. So you look at everything that you’re doing from a schematic standpoint, how we can be better in the fourth quarter, and then just a total development from a physical standpoint, mental standpoint, and we just got to perform better.”

What have you or the offensive staff seen from Jayden Sellers in practice the last few weeks that led to him getting more snaps in recent games?

“He’s just a football player, and you guys have heard me say that before. The moment is never too big for him. He just loves competing and having fun, and when the ball’s in his hands, good things happen. It’s just very natural for him. He’s an instinctive guy, and he doesn’t really say all that much, but he’s just, you know, he’s very much like his brother. When the lights come on, he just gets another gear and competes, and that’s what we saw in practice, whether it be from a return standpoint, you know, sometimes in practice we have him back there as a returner, and he had a long return the other day in practice, a couple weeks ago in practice against our starting kickoff team and and it’s like, dang, maybe we need to think about him as a returner back there, or the receiver position when he’s out there. He just has a knack for making plays.”

Have you seen Jayden bring out a different side in LaNorris? What is it like coaching their dynamic, seeing their dynamic?

“I don’t want to speak for them, but I feel like there’s an excitement, proudness from LaNorris when he sees Jayden doing things. I think it was last week in practice that there was a play that we call all the time that Jayden basically plays like the slot in our offense, that we feel like he did, but sometimes you felt like LaNorris never threw that ball to the slot on that particular play, and then all of a sudden last week, Jayden’s in there, and it’s going to that guy every time, and we’re like, ‘Hold up now.’ So I think there’s a little bit of that, but I think it’s just more just an excitement and happiness from LaNorris towards his brother to see him out there making plays, but then also knowing that his brother is a good player that can make plays for sure.

“But they got a good connection, and that was a heck of a play on the fourth down that we went for the other day. I mean, they both did a great job on that one because we went for it, and we tried to get them to jump all sides. They didn’t jump. We changed the call based on what we thought they were getting ready to do. And then all of a sudden, as we’re changing the call, they jumped into a max blitz pressure, which most of the time you see teams get a defense get out of a pressure to get into coverage when the team checks, they check from coverage into a blitz and heated us up and brought everybody. And then LaNorris did a great job, and our offensive line hanging in there, because they were bringing the house. And then just very much like brother to brother, having that connection where LaNorris drifted out of the pocket and Jayden kind of adjusted his route and found a way to get open and hit him for a big play on that 4th and long, which was pretty cool to see. Credit to both those guys for being on the same page and two brothers making that connection in a critical moment.”

What’s your take on Lane Kiffin and what he brings to the game from a personality and entertainment standpoint?

“I think it’s great, I mean, certainly I think everybody’s been on the other side of barbs – whatever. He is who he is, which I appreciate. I think he’s very genuine. It’s not an act of how he is, who he is. I think he would be the first to tell you — I don’t know him well, but having gotten to know him in the few years that I’ve been in the league as a head coach, he’s just very real. He definitely keeps the SEC coaches group text rolling. He definitely keeps that entertaining and lively, with stuff that he may send on there, tweets that he has seen, whatever it might be. He keeps it entertaining for sure. He is who he is. And I’ve got a lot of respect for him from that standpoint. He’s a brilliant offensive mind. He’s a brilliant coach.

“I texted him after, I don’t know if y’all saw that E60 thing that Ryan McGee did with him. I mean, I thought that was a phenomenal interview. I sat there and watched it with my wife and was like, ‘Wow,’ because you saw a side of him that maybe you hadn’t seen.  He’s basically the same age (as me), but as he’s matured and been in this profession longer, I think he has his priorities straight. He is who he is, and it’s working for him. So I’ve got a lot of respect for him, what he’s done at that program, because I’ve been in that state at Mississippi State as an assistant coach, and familiar with the Ole Miss program from being in Mississippi when I coached there. Seeing what he’s done at that program and what he’s done, being true to himself, it’s pretty cool.”

Speaking of being yourself, you’re very superstitious, correct?

“I say that I’m not, but I am.”

OK, so two questions. Does that influence what you wear on game days? And does that influence which of your two parking spots you park in?

“No, I’m usually in the same one that you’re referring to, the one closest to the curb. I usually park there. If I’ve been in another one, it’s because somebody else, Emily, I guess, would have made parking the other one. So parking spots? No. What I wear? Yes and no. It’s not like Coach (Kalen) DeBoer. I know he’s on this black hoodie thing at Bama, I wouldn’t say it’s like that. Trying to think, I did the white pullover because I wore it against South Carolina State, a little white short-sleeve pullover. I did that, and we won. And then I wore a hat that night because of the rain. And then I think I did the same thing again against Oklahoma, and that didn’t work. So I’m like, never again. So, probably retired the white short-sleeve pullover. Outside of that, not really. I’d say the biggest thing, and it probably drives the coaches crazy, is in the staff meetings, basically the Coach Shula sits on my right, Coach (Clayton) White sits on my left. And when we’re talking about different things, where each week, I ask the defense something or ask the offense something, and I’ll ask them both, after a loss, I’ll mix up who I asked first, if that makes sense. So, like last week, it would start with Shula. We lost. Okay, this week, we’ll start with Clayton, and we’ll do defense first, and then last night, I’ll be honest, I finally just told him, screw it. We’re not doing that anymore. Clayton, you’re up, so we’re just doing it that way. And I said, hopefully, do it with you the rest of the way. So pardon my language. I’m not supposed to say screw it in a press conference, but it’s so yes and no. There’s superstitious things that I have. What route I take the morning of a game, if I go, when I go running, I’ll switch up the route a little bit. I say my wife and kids are probably more superstitious than I am, but there are little things that I’ll just try and change up a little bit.”

How do you feel the receiver’s room looks going into this last quarter of the season?

“Yeah, I think those guys have all continued to get better. I think you’ve seen guys develop more and more that we want to feature. Guys like Nyck Harbor, you saw what he did last week and what he does to what he does to defenses. He’s continued to develop and come along. I think you see the freshmen, you know, Murph and B Rowe, and Malik Clark is a guy that continues to get better, that has been playing in games. So you know, seeing those guys the way they’re working, Jayden and his development. So you see those freshmen continue to come along. You see Nyck continue to take steps. Jared Brown and Mazeo are still right there in the mix. So it’s a solid group of guys, and they complement each other well, and been pleased with their continued development. I thought Donovan Murph did a lot of really good things on Saturday and continues to get better. We need all those guys to continue to come along. A couple of freshmen that aren’t playing right now, Lex Cyrus, Jordan Gidron, are going to be really, really good players here, and they continue to work and get better. So pleased with that group overall.”

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Another SEC coach, Brian Kelly at LSU, got fired this past weekend. There’s been a ton of turnover around the country. How aware of that fact are you when you go through your day-to-day, weekly, monthly operations here, that at any given school in these power conferences, the same people who hired you and love you can run you out of town. Just how aware of that are you?

“Yeah, I think it’s something that you’re always aware of. I mean, LSU fired Ed Orgeron two years after winning the national championship. Florida fired Dan Mullen, not even a year after playing in the SEC Championship. And I can remember my last night as a coach at Oklahoma, we beat Iowa State in the Big 12 championship, and Lincoln Riley invited me and Emily and the kids to come over to the house because they knew I was going to South Carolina the next day, because I’d already accepted this job. And I remember watching Florida and Bama on TV at Lincoln’s house playing in the SEC championship in 2020, and then by November 21, he’s fired, and I think that was back-to-back SEC Championship games for Florida, if I’m not mistaken.

“So even before this year, you realize that, and it stinks. You hate that part of the job. Those are good people and good men, and hate it for them, but you understand what you’re signing up for. You understand the expectations at these jobs are to win football games, and you understand the urgency to get it done week in week out. So it doesn’t change how I do my job. So I do the same job I’ve always tried to do, and that’s having urgency each and every day and thinking short-term what’s best for the team right now. But also long-term, what’s best for the program. And you’re weighing all those things out without a doubt, but, yeah, it’s definitely eye-opening to sit there and see Brian, I mean, I was with him what? Six games ago, seven games ago? They beat Clemson at Clemson, and they’re the talk of college football, and then that. But it’s unfortunate. But I don’t know enough about all those situations to comment on, and I just try to do the best job I can here and keep working hard. And I know all the people that are relying on me and counting on me to win football games here.”

As far as this week goes, primetime game again. How much do you think about or talk about with your team?

“So much, yeah, all the time that what an opportunity as competitors, and we talked about that last week before the game, that you sit around and feel sorry for yourself because of how we performed against Oklahoma, but you get another opportunity to go compete on national television, on ABC last weekend that, you know, I don’t know how many guy I guess everybody has, like, different forms of television now, but I was like, back in the day, like, even if you didn’t have cable television, you got ABC, and I’m assuming nobody’s like that anymore. Maybe they are. But basically, there’s gonna be a lot of eyes on you this weekend when we play Alabama, and what an opportunity that is in that spotlight. We talked about it again today, another opportunity that national television, No. 7 in the country, on the road at night in their stadium, Halloween weekend on national television. Again, it’s a great spotlight, and a lot of people are going to be watching because it’s the SEC. I know you guys have all seen it, just in regards to TV ratings, with the SEC compared to other conferences. Like it’s not even a comparison right now, the SEC TV ratings compared to other leagues. So eyes are going to be on you and and what an opportunity to put our team on display, our culture on display, guys as individuals on display. And we embrace that, and it’s an awesome opportunity. It sure beats not being on national television, playing a team that you know, there’s not going to be a lot of eyeballs on.”

What are the conversations with you as a coaching staff for the freshmen or the newcomers who don’t see the field or haven’t seen the field about your guys’ plan for them long-term, and what it will take for them to get on the field, whether this year or in the future?

“Yeah, we try and over-communicate with those guys where they are and constantly be in communication with them. I mean, they’re getting coached throughout the day. We do a lot of good on good work in practice. We do a lot of scout team work that those guys are in, but we try and recognize recognize those guys as much as we can. We continue to coach them, even if they’re not playing a lot. And then, I tell the coach or the assistant coaches all the time, make sure that every player in your room understands what their role is right now and why, and if they’re not playing, they understand why not, and if they are, they understand why they are. I really would just say, just over-communicating that where there’s no surprises, and then just continuing to coach them throughout the year and seeing all those guys get better. I mean, there’s guys that are really that, me and Joe D were talking about it yesterday. There’s guys that haven’t played in a game yet, but we’re basically at this point where you can play in four games that have really improved the season from an offense, defense, and special teams standpoint, that they show up and guys that were playing a little bit less earlier in the year, whose role continues to increase. Kendall Daniels, I mean, he’s really doing some good things for us on special teams right now, and when you’re doing that, that potentially opens up more opportunities for you on defense, where he’s going to be a really good player. So I think it’s just, we don’t say all of a sudden we’re going to start working with these guys because they’re playing on Saturdays, and then we’ll get back to y’all in January, we’re coaching everybody and communicating with everybody on how to be better throughout the season.”

What’s kind of your conversation with Sellers right now, just in general, going into this game with Ole Miss?

“Same as always, just checking on him. You know how you’re doing when we practice on Sunday night. Those are the conversations. From a physical standpoint, as a quarterback, you take a pounding running and throwing, so checking on him from a physical standpoint, and just being present. I don’t have to have a ton of meetings with him throughout the week. I sit in pretty much every quarterback meeting each day, where I’m in there with him, and he sits in the front row at team meetings, so I’m seeing and I’m able to communicate with him. And I’d say my conversations with him have been consistent, and just like they are with all the players, just communicating how can I help you guys be even better this week? How can I help you, LaNorris, be even better this week than we were last week? And those are conversations that we have pretty regularly.”

Who meets the most with Sellers during the week?

“I’d say primarily, it’s Mike Shula, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He’s the one that’s meeting with him. Davis Koetter, who’s been a fantastic addition to our staff, Davis worked at Texas the last couple of seasons and works with our quarterbacks also. So Davis and Coach Shula are the ones in those quarterback meetings. I think Luke Doty talks to him a lot because they play the same position, and Luke’s been an awesome resource for LaNorris in so many ways, on and off the field. But that would be the main coaching coaches that are talking to him are those guys. But LaNorris has a great relationship with everybody in our program, but then he talks to everybody, and everybody enjoys being around him, whether it be Luke Day in the weight room, Derrick Moore in character development, Clayton White on defense. But as far as the most talking each and every day is Coach Shula, because he’s the quarterbacks coach.”

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