Gamecocks’ new offensive coordinator to concoct versatile, ‘explosive’ scheme at USC
In the back of his mind, South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer always knew he wanted to bring Marcus Satterfield to Columbia. The only question was: in what role?
In more than 20 years of coaching, Satterfield has done a little bit of everything. He’s coached quarterbacks, tight ends and receivers. He was an offensive coordinator under Matt Rhule at Temple, then director of recruiting under Rhule at Baylor. Most recently, Satterfield coached offensive linemen — again under Rhule — with the Carolina Panthers in the NFL.
Beamer and Satterfield have been friends for two decades, dating back to their time as graduate assistants at Tennessee. When incumbent offensive coordinator Mike Bobo announced he’d be leaving for the same role at Auburn last week, Satterfield was the first person Beamer called. It became clear then what role Satterfield should occupy.
Beamer introduced Satterfield as his new offensive coordinator Monday, and he pointed to the coach’s versatility and expansive knowledge as reasons to expect an explosive, well-rounded Gamecocks offense.
“He’s done nothing but improve his resume and get better as a coach and has been a head coach as well,” Beamer said. “He’s not just somebody that I’ve worked with and I know, but in my opinion he’s a phenomenal offensive football coach, a great recruiter. I’m excited about being able to blend what they did with the Carolina Panthers, in the New Orleans Saints Joe Brady offense with some of the elements that we did at Oklahoma, as well.”
Much like Beamer, who learned from Lincoln Riley’s Air Raid concepts at Oklahoma, Satterfield had the benefit of studying under Brady’s tutelage this past season in the NFL.
Satterfield, 44, said it’s strange to say he has “a mentor that’s 31 years old,” but there’s no question Brady is one of the rising offensive stars in football. Brady served as an offensive assistant in 2017 and 2018 with the NFL’s Saints before helping LSU win a national championship in 2019 as the Tigers’ passing game coordinator and receivers coach. In recent days, Brady’s name has emerged as an NFL head coaching candidate with the Atlanta Falcons.
From the Panthers hiring Brady to the Arizona Cardinals hiring Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury, there’s been a recent surge of college football concepts infiltrating NFL offenses, from run-pass options to jet sweeps. By coaching at both the NFL level and in high-end college offenses, Satterfield has experienced the best of both worlds.
“It’s amazing how the NFL has really studied the college game and try to utilize it, especially the jet sweeps and all the different motions in the run game,” Satterfield said. “I mean, I can’t tell you how many hours of Oklahoma film that we watched in the offseason (while with the Panthers).”
Having only just met his new players for the first time on Sunday, Satterfield declined to place a broad label like “RPO” or “pro-style” or “triple-option” on his offense, saying he wants to design a scheme based on the team’s personnel and to get the team’s best players out in space. The Gamecocks are still fleshing out their roster and are especially bare in their receiving room, where they’ll be losing leading wideout Shi Smith to the pros.
One area where South Carolina excelled under Bobo in 2020 was on the ground, as sophomore running back Kevin Harris finished second in the Southeastern Conference with 1,138 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. With the expected return of halfback MarShawn Lloyd, who tore his ACL before the season, Satterfield said Monday he thinks USC’s ground game “has a chance to be dynamic.”
He also praised South Carolina’s offensive line and talked about the talent at tight end, which received a boost when veteran Nick Muse announced his return. Satterfield said stretching the middle part of the field with tight ends is a key part of Oklahoma’s offense and something he and Beamer hope to incorporate in Columbia.
“I think we’re going to blend what Shane did at Oklahoma, what I’ve done my entire life, what I’ve learned from Joe Brady, and we’re gonna try to maximize our personnel,” Satterfield said. “And the cool thing about our offense is we can move people all over the field and we can get people to create mismatches. I learned a lot from (Brady) this year, just being able to get in different formations and get a guy with a certain skill set lined up on another defender that gives us a mismatch and utilizing them. So the main focus of our offense is to create explosive plays, score touchdowns in the red zone and win the situations.”
As of now the offense looks to be amorphous, a combination of philosophies. Balance will be key. Much like Bobo, Satterfield said he doesn’t believe in playing strictly in a hurry-up or no-huddle offense, saying there are times to speed up tempo and times to be more deliberate.
Some of the modern flairs that Bobo added — the pre-snap motions, sweeps and “window dressing” — will likely remain intact. And Satterfield said one of the key lessons he learned during his time in the NFL was the importance of creating formations that help quarterbacks more easily gather information on the opposing defense before the ball is snapped.
Satterfield’s experience coaching at all levels and all positions should allow him maximum flexibility as his offense takes shape in the coming months.
“There’s not a position group on the field that I could not coach, and I’m at least somewhat of an expert on each one of them,” Satterfield said. “So I think it’ll be good for everyone just to have a guy like me that ... they can ask questions.
“A lot of coordinators that have never coached offensive line don’t understand the strains on an offense line. A lot of them may ask them to do things that are impossible at times. I’m never going to put a position group in a position where they can’t have success or have a chance to have success.”
