Everything Joe DeCamillis said previewing South Carolina's matchup with Vanderbilt

South Carolina special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis spoke to the media on Wednesday to preview the team’s Week 3 matchup against Vanderbilt. Here’s everything he had to say.

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On Vicari [Swain]‘s second punt return on Saturday, watching from the sideline, did you know right away that the ball, after being blocked, hit an SC State player? What was your view of seeing him going after that ball?

“I thought he overcame coaching right there. That’s what I thought. But then, once I talked to Colin [Bryant], once I talked to Vicari, I knew it happened then. We call it a ‘no-consequence rule.’ We scored a touchdown on it — I think it was 2010 in Dallas for about 98 yards — and it helped us win that game. It helped us win this game, too, so it’s good that the kids knew that.

“I thought, with Mazeo [Bennett] having the ball out of bounds, knowing that rule, we call it ‘situational masters.’ And both those guys were ‘situational masters’ on those two plays.”

How many times can you say you’ve coached someone who’s had two punt returns touchdowns in a game?

“I don’t know that I can, to be honest with you. I’ve had some pretty good ones in the past — Timmy Dwight, Allen Rossum, some guys that were pretty good. But I don’t know if they had two [punt returns in one game]. I know we had two touchdowns in a game, but they weren’t both on punt returns. So, it’s a real credit to him. But the guys blocking for him are doing great job, too. Coach [Shane Beamer] gave the game ball afterwards to the whole group, and I’m really proud of them.

“The great thing about the first one was we missed a technique, and Vicari really made a heck of a move to get it started. That return really shouldn’t have gotten started, but he somehow got out of that and did a great job there. Hopefully, we can keep it going on the right track.”

Eriq Rice obliterated the punter on that first return. How much does that fire you up when you see Vicari running, and he’s got six or seven guys lead blocking ahead of him?

“Yeah, it’s pretty good, obviously. We have a meeting on Friday night, usually where we try to show them some positive plays going in. We had a play very similar to that that they saw, so it’s kind of cool that you saw the same [thing]. It was almost exactly the same play — except we didn’t score on the play before, and we did score on that one. It was good to see, but we got a lot of room to keep improve going forward.”

Shane mentioned your Friday night meetings and called them “very entertaining.” What makes your Friday night meetings very entertaining?

“You’d have to ask him. I didn’t know it was entertaining, I guess. It’s what we call a ‘mindset meeting,’ just trying to get our mind right for the game. That’s about as far as I can tell you how that goes. It’s something that’s a good tradition that I’ve done for a long time. I think our guys enjoy it, and I also think they learn ball in that one, which is what you want.”

After the SC State game, Shane mentioned that you challenged that punt return unit to get a return for a touchdown. What have you seen from an execution standpoint that makes you confident they can do it again against Vanderbilt?

“Well, I didn’t say we could get one on Vanderbilt. But I do say that we got to just keep executing — getting the schemes right, making sure that our assignments our right, making sure that our fundamentals are great.

“This team we’re playing against this week is probably one of the top teams in the SEC, as far as special teams goes. They were way up there last year in all the statistical categories that count. And I also think they have two big-time returners in No. 4 [Martel Hight] as the punt returner — he was No. 25 last year — and No. 0 [Junior Sherrill], who housed one against Tennessee. So, they’re really formidable, for sure. They’ve got a good group. That head coach [Clark Lea] has done a good job of accentuating it and making it important to his guys. You see that in the way they play. So, it’s going to be a good matchup.”

Have you seen any change in Vicari and how he carries himself after getting three touchdowns in two games?

“Vicari doesn’t really change too much. He’s happy-go-lucky, has a good time and enjoys life, which is what you want. So, no, I don’t think it’s gone to his head or anything like that. He was out there today in practice, busting it and going from there. I’m excited for the kid. Hopefully, we can keep the thing going in the right direction and, hopefully, keep making some plays.

Are there any special teams statistics that count more than some others in your mind?

“It’s too many to talk about right now, but yes. Like scoring touchdowns — that’s pretty good. And they have some touchdowns last year. I think they had two — one on a kickoff return, one on a punt return. So, those are statistics that I pay attention to.

“One of the biggest things that I think is a joke, they talk about gross punt. Nobody cares about gross punt — it’s what the net is after that punt. So, that’s one that I pay attention to, and they have a good one of that. There’s just a bunch of them, but they rank high in all those, I can tell you.”

In your career, have you ever gone against a returner that seemed so dominant that you didn’t kick the ball to them?

“Everyone says that, [but] it’s so hard to do because the one thing that nobody gets is that, ‘Yeah, you can just punt it out of bounds.’ That’s what everyone says, right? But the problem with that is that you have to protect for the punt, too. It’s really pass protection when you get to punt protection, to be honest with you. And if your edges are getting creased, there’s no way to punt it out of bounds. That’s the problem with it. Most guys aren’t able to just automatically turn it into, ‘Hey, I’m going to punt it out of bounds every time.’ Yeah, you can punt it out of bounds and get about 20 yards, so you’re still getting the same effect. But it’s harder than it seems, I can tell you that.

“Have I ever played against guys like that? Yeah. Devin Hester — I mean, he was always scary. I can go through a ton of them in the league, but those guys are definitely game-changers. And, hopefully, we can take No. 4 out of it this week, for sure, because he’s really special.”

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