I watched hours of Mike Furrey's Limestone offense. Here are some of the things I saw

Last Sunday, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer parted ways with offensive coordinator Mike Shula following ten underwhelming games leading the Gamecocks’ scoring efforts.

With that move, Beamer revealed that passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach Mike Furrey and run game coordinator/tight ends coach/interim offensive line coach Shawn Elliott would take on bigger roles in the offense moving forward. Then, on Wednesday, Beamer confirmed that Furrey would serve as the team’s primary playcaller for the rest of the regular season.

Furrey, who is in his second year at USC, was previously the head coach at Limestone. While leading the Saints, Furrey oversaw some explosive audiences, especially during his second stint with the team from 2022-2023. That surely played a role in Beamer’s decision to turn over gameday playcalling duties to him.

I watched several hours of Limestone’s offensive film from when Furrey was at the helm.

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Below are 10 observations from the film.

*It should be noted that this is not a comprehensive analysis of Furrey’s Limestone offense or even a prediction of what he might bring to the table as the interim playcaller. This exercise is merely pointing out some of my own personal observations from watching the available film from that era and relating those observations to South Carolina’s 2025 offense.*

*Any stats pulled from the South Atlantic Conference’s official athletics website*

Furrey’s offense was well-balanced.

The offense looked to be concerned with getting the ball in the hands of the best players, while simultaneously making sure multiple playmakers stayed involved.

The stats bore witness to that. In 2022, Limestone averaged just under 200 yards rushing per game, while also averaging over 260 through the air. Then, in 2023, the rushing total dropped to around 160 per game, but the passing offense improved to average 285 yards. In both years, Furrey’s team was first or second in the South Atlantic Conference in many offensive stats.

Contrastingly, South Carolina has struggled with balance and consistency on offense.

The Saints utilized that balance to confuse defenses.

Furrey’s offense saw non-running backs run the ball and saw non-receivers catch the ball. Even if a defense knew whether Limestone wanted to run or throw, they didn’t know who might be getting the ball and in what way.

Playaction was a weapon, as well. Because Limestone could run the ball, they could also draw the defense in with the threat of that run.

Jet sweeps, pop passes, motion-to-wheel routes (!!!), and other quick-hitting plays to the outside kept the defenses honest and forced them into having to choose between selling out against the run or playing the perimeter in certain situations.

Some of South Carolina’s best plays of the year have come on play calls like these. Perhaps Furrey’s influence will increase the frequency of their usage.

Limestone wasn’t afraid to go up-tempo.

There were several instances on film in which Limestone got to the line of scrimmage before the defense was ready. Going no-huddle, up-tempo allowed them to keep tired defenders on the field, limiting their opponents’ ability to substitute.

The faster pace also kept the Limestone offense in rhythm. The Gamecocks have lacked that much of the year. However, the offense has gone more up-tempo in recent weeks.

Pre-snap motion was common.

Sometimes, Limestone sent guys in motion as some eye candy for the defense. Other times, the motion was a significant part of the play. The Saints would shift formations, use traditional line of scrimmage motion, reverse field on motions, and deploy orbit motions.

The motion man was utilized in a bunch of different ways. Sometimes he’d carry the football or catch a little pop pass. Other times, he was a decoy. He would catch balls in the flat or run a baby wheel route. He was, at times, an option man on a pitch or a short RPO toss.

He’d also turn upfield and serve as a lead blocker on counter plays. With South Carolina liking to pull Brady Hunt, Maurice Brown, or Jordan Dingle across the formation anyway, perhaps this is something they might utilize with the tight ends.

There were option elements within the offense that would fit well with Shawn Elliott.

With a good running game, many of these plays resulted in handoffs, but Limestone tagged some of their zone plays with quarterback pull options or some simple RPOs.

With LaNorris Sellers at quarterback and Shawn Elliott serving as run game coordinator, South Carolina could see an uptick in this type of play call.

Furrey made use of different types of weapons.

Shoutout to running back Tre Stewart for Limestone; he looked really good on film. However, the Saints also brought in a big ballcarrier for certain short-yardage situations.

At receiver, Furrey had a go-to pass-catcher or two, but other guys saw targets, as well.

South Carolina tends to spread the ball around, but not necessarily at the receiver position. Through nine games, only two receivers have more than 14 catches: Nyck Harbor and Vandrevius Jacobs.

Time of possession wasn’t overly important.

Some offenses, like Vanderbilt’s, really need to possess the ball to work. Others, like the Tennessee Volunteers’ offense under Josh Heupel, don’t operate that way.

Furrey’s Limestone group seemed less concerned with holding the football as they were with moving it down the field by any means necessary.

The time of possession numbers have been low for South Carolina, too. That’s been more due to ineffectiveness than tempo, though.

It seemed like Limestone used a lot of 11-personnel and 10-personnel.

Without knowing exactly all the players and their listed positions, it seemed as if Furrey deployed a lot of one-running back, one-tight end or one-running back, zero-tight end sets on offense.

That is a little different than what South Carolina has done for much of the Shane Beamer tenure in Columbia. The Gamecocks utilize a lot of two-tight end sets and even some two-back looks. While 11-personnel (one running back, one tight end) is not uncommon for USC, they rarely have zero tight ends on the field.

On passing plays, the ball came out quickly a lot, even on deeper throws.

Based on the film, it seemed like Limestone designed a lot of its passing game to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly.

Some of that meant short throws and quick game. However, the Saints threw some deeper routes (fades, especially) with quick-release designs. They also would get the ball out quickly after a play-action fake on posts, corners, and seams.

Quarterback LaNorris Sellers has had some solid success on quicker throws. That also would alleviate some pressure (pardon the pun) on the offensive line.

The passing attack went after man coverage.

From the film available, Furrey’s Limestone offenses tended to get uber-aggressive against man coverage. That was especially true if there was no safety help over the top or if the offense could get the ball out before a safety could roll over to help.

On several occasions, the Saints ran slot fades to try to take advantage of a nickel corner or a safety in man coverage. Quick-hitting deep balls were common in those scenarios.

South Carolina fans have clamored for fewer longer-developing routes, no matter what it looks like. Aggressive, quick-hitting attacks downfield would surely make the Gamecock Faithful happy.

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With the team on a bye, Carolina will have an extra week to get acclimated to Furrey as the team’s playcaller. Elliott and the rest of the offensive staff will have an increased role in the game planning, too, per head coach Shane Beamer.

Furrey will make his South Carolina playcalling debut on Saturday, Nov. 15 against Texas A&M. The Kyle Field-hosted contest will begin at noon (Eastern). ESPN will air the broadcast, and the ESPN app will make the action available via streaming.

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