How much stock Shane Beamer puts into how a player performs in the spring game
It happens every spring and at some point I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of it. That being, putting too much stock into a player’s spring game performance.
Now don’t get me wrong. If LaNorris Sellers looks like the next coming of Tom Brady out there on Saturday I’m sure every reporter, fan, and the local milkman in town will be saying the same positive things. And if anything, it should only make South Carolina fans feel that much better about the redshirt freshman QB.
Some coaches don’t put a lot of stock into how a player performs in a spring game. Shane Beamer isn’t one of those coaches.
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“I’m not one of those guys that looks at the spring game and says it doesn’t matter because it does,” said Beamer. “It’s another opportunity to go out onto the field and compete. It’s another opportunity to get better. For some guys, quite frankly, they step up when the lights come on, if you will, and they’re gamers. There’s a 14 practice body of work that we obviously put a whole lot of weight on but we’re not one of those people who say, ‘Hey, let’s just throw something out there (that’s) entertaining and go home. We’re competing and we want to win and each particular team does.”
Another reason why Beamer puts stock into how a player performs in the spring game is because the pressure cranks up a notch. Regardless of pumping in music during a scrimmage or flashing the lights at Williams-Brice Stadium, you can’t replicate the type of pressure players will feel come Saturday compared to any other point during the spring.
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“There’s something to the fact that when there’s people in the crowd, the lights are on, it’s on television. Some guys step up and elevate their games and you notice them. Other guys, and you hope that they don’t, but they go in the other direction. I think it’s a great indicator and it’s so important because we don’t get a preseason game in college football. We don’t get to scrimmage against another team. So for a lot of these guys it’ll be the biggest crowd they’ve ever played in front of, maybe… It’s a great barometer for individuals and how that perform in those situations.”
Saturday’s spring game at Williams-Brice will kickoff at 7 p.m. and is free to public. The game will be televised on SECNetwork+.
