Spencer Rattler, MarShawn Lloyd rally to support of South Carolina offensive line
South Carolina’s offense has a lot of room for improvement. Head coach Shane Beamer said as much after Saturday’s 35-14 win over Georgia State and again Sunday night while speaking on his weekly teleconference.
“We all had a hand in it,” Beamer said Sunday.
That includes the offensive line, which spent much of the 2021 season facing criticism from those outside the program and bearing the brunt of those who opted to point fingers at what might be holding the offense back. Some of that criticism has already resurfaced in 2022.
But it’s too soon to over-react to any one thing from the very first game, Beamer said.
On Monday, two of South Carolina’s offensive leaders followed in Beamer’s direction by sending words of support over social media toward the offensive linemen, who once again have been maligned on message boards, podcasts and Twitter.
And it was two of the Gamecocks who depend on the O-line the most who were coming to the defense of their teammates.
“Chill on my offensive line,” running back MarShawn Lloyd. “I usually don’t do this, but I’m tired of hearing this about them. Them boys work hard. Don’t be a fan later. We will be straight, I promise you that.”
QB Spencer Rattler followed up with: “Amen! Love them guys. We’ll be just fine.”
South Carolina managed 79 rushing yards and Rattler was sacked three times in the 21-point win.
No Gamecocks offensive lineman ranked inside the top 50 run blockers among SEC offensive linemen who played 20% of their teams snaps this week. In pass blocking, USC’s Jaylen Nichols ranked eighth among SEC linemen; the next closest was Dylan Wonnum at No. 49.
“We all had a hand in it: coaches, quarterbacks, offensive line, running backs,” Beamer said Sunday night. “Sometimes it’s a quarterback handing the ball off when he should pull it. Sometimes it’s a quarterback got confused on coverage. ... The offensive line certainly had their hand in a lot of it. We didn’t do a great job handling their movement.
“Running back wise, we missed a couple blitz pickups or stayed in to protect when we didn’t need to. Receiver-wise we had some sloppy routes. Receiver-wise we got our butts kicked on the perimeter blocking. Tight end-wise we had some sloppy routes and got our butts kicked on the perimeter.
“We all had a hand in it.”
This story was originally published September 5, 2022 at 7:06 PM.
