Why Shane Beamer is warning against ‘complacency’ before USC football spring game
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer has something clear to his team: Don’t let up as spring practice winds down.
USC held its 10th practice of the spring on Tuesday. The Gamecocks have five practices left, including the spring game on April 15 at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“Human nature is, ‘OK, we are 10 practices down, (and) we’ve got spring game, Easter weekend coming up,’ ” Beamer said Tuesday at his weekly spring news conference. “Human nature is to go, ‘We are good and we can kind of coast.’ What I am looking for is players, coaches getting better, every single person in this building. There better not be any complacency in here after 10 practices and with one week of spring practice left. We’ve got a lot of work to do.
“I want to see how we are going to progress and get better,” Beamer continued. “Do older guys continue to improve or do they get caught by some of these younger guys? There are no jobs given here. If anyone is getting complacent and think they have a job locked up, they are going to be shocked pretty quickly. I want to see these young guys pushing these older guys.”
South Carolina held its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday. Beamer said USC ran about 115 plays and gave plenty of reps to guys who haven’t played a lot.
The Gamecocks had only one turnover in the scrimmage, which Beamer was pleased with considering how good the defense was in forcing turnovers last season (1.8 per game, tied with Missouri and Florida for first among 14 SEC teams).
Beamer also was happy with how the offense was in first-year offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains’ system.
“First scrimmages are always interesting, especially in the spring because you have a lot of new faces,” he said. “I thought operationally we were good at getting calls in and as far as executing offense and defense. We got a lot of work in and no big surprises. It was a fun tape to go back afterwards.”
“We wanted to get a lot of younger guys a ton of work because we gotta make some evaluations.”
One position group wide open
One of the areas of concern coming into the spring was running backs, but Beamer was pleased how JuJu McDowell, Dakereon Joyner and Newberry College transfer Mario Anderson performed.
Defensive ends also continue to be a position that is wide open headed to the end of spring and into the summer. No one really has separated themselves in that spot.
“Basically, anybody who is listed as a defensive end on our website is getting work at edge, and they’re all getting work with the first group,” Beamer said.
South Carolina will practice Thursday before getting the weekend off for the Easter holiday. The Gamecocks will focus on short-yardage and end-of-game situations before next week.
The Gamecocks, who went 8-5 last season with big wins over Clemson and Tennessee, will hold practices next week before the spring game. Beamer’s anticipating a raucous atmosphere for his 2023 team’s public debut.
“I would hope it is more electric in there this year,” he said. “I tell recruits all the time, there has never been more excitement and energy about South Carolina football than right now.”
South Carolina football spring game
- What: 2023 Garnet & Black Spring Game
- When: Saturday, April 15, at 7 p.m
- Where: Williams-Brice Stadium
- Admission: Free for all fans
This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 2:48 PM.
