South Carolina’s offense hunting for consistency — even as criticism mounts
South Carolina’s offense is broken — at least that’s the outside perception.
It’s why head coach Shane Beamer has fielded questions about offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield’s future with four games remaining. It’s why tight end Jaheim Bell’s usage, or lack thereof, has become popular message board fodder.
It’s why, on Tuesday, Beamer himself spent 588 words, or three minutes and 17 seconds, explaining “personnel grouping” decisions in layman’s terms.
“We want to get our best players on the field,” Beamer said in an answer long enough that it could’ve doubled as a dissertation. “And sometimes you just say, ‘Forget what personnel grouping it is and what coverage you’re expecting. We need to get this guy on the field and get them the ball.’ And we do that every week. We haven’t done a good enough job of it — I’ll admit that.”
It’s not exactly a secret South Carolina’s offense has struggled. Scan the Southeastern Conference’s cumulative stats through nine weeks and you’ll find the Gamecocks at or near the bottom of the league in most every offense category.
But on the heels of an ugly loss to Missouri, South Carolina is trying to find some semblance of offensive consistency over its final third of the season.
“You look at it, we could be 1-7, or we could be 2-6,” starting center Eric Douglas said. “We’re 5-3. You just have to go out there and take everything with a grain of salt, execute and keep moving on.”
The 2021 season was always going to be a struggle offensively. Playing four different quarterbacks and putting in a new system has that effect on a roster. This year, though, was supposed to be better.
Quarterback Spencer Rattler came to South Carolina as one of the most ballyhooed signees in school history outside of perhaps Marcus Lattimore and Jadeveon Clowney.
The former Oklahoma quarterback has been far from that, whether by his own account or otherwise. He’s thrown for 200 yards or less in five of eight games this season. His nine interceptions are the most among SEC signal-callers averaging 15 or more passes per game, though he’s thrown just four in his last five contests.
There have been enough “wow” throws to be reminded why Rattler last year was considered a potential first-round NFL Draft pick. Still, the play hasn’t been consistently good enough to elevate South Carolina from its other offensive shortcomings.
Bell’s usage, too, has become a hot-button topic over the last week-plus. He entered the year with legitimate first-round hype and has yet to come close to delivering on that.
The do-it-all tight end played just nine snaps (with no touches) Saturday against Missouri. He played just 14, 16 and 14 in the previous three games before that, respectively, per Pro Football Focus.
By Beamer’s calculation — and just about anyone with a keyboard around Columbia — that’s not enough for arguably the Gamecocks’ most dynamic playmaker.
“Jaheim needs to be on the field more than what he was the other night,” Beamer said. “I met with Jaheim on Sunday. We had a great 30-minute conversation downstairs and I told him that. And that’s on me. I’m the head coach. He absolutely needs to be on the field more than he has.”
Added Bell: “No, I wasn’t expecting to only have nine snaps. I was expecting to have a big game. That didn’t happen, so on to the next week. We’re preparing for Vanderbilt this week. I’ve just got to prepare, like I said before, and just try to get ready for a big week.”
So where does that leave South Carolina?
Fans likely won’t respond well to the insinuation on Tuesday from Douglas that Missouri was calling out plays before the ball was snapped. That kind of predictability infuriates folks on the periphery and creates the perception of hotter seats for embattled assistant coaches.
Beamer said on Sunday he hasn’t had any conversations about changing play-callers or shifting responsibility away from Satterfield. He doubled down on Tuesday, noting he generally feels those discussions are best saved for after the season, though he did say he’d make a midseason change if he thought it was the “right thing to do right now.”
This week brings a chance to bounce back against a Vanderbilt team that’s marinated in the basement of the SEC East for much of the last decade. But this Commodores squad is improved. It played Ole Miss and Missouri tight. Its three wins this year are tied for the the program’s most victories in a season since 2018, even with four games remaining.
Look at the way South Carolina did offensively this past week and Beamer shouldn’t need more than three words to sum it all up — “Enough is enough.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 5:24 PM.
