What Shane Beamer said about South Carolina football’s first preseason scrimmage
South Carolina football held a scrimmage at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday for the first time this preseason. While the scrimmage was closed and the score was not released, it’s clear the defense won the day.
Coach Shane Beamer said the offense had a number of self-inflicted mistakes “that will lose football games,” citing drops,. holding penalties and more.
When asked later who scored touchdowns for the Gamecocks, Beamer responded, “Not many.”
In reality, freshman tight end Michael Smith caught a score and freshman running back Matthew Fuller scored in a specific goal-line period. Smith — who arrived on campus this summer — “is gonna play a lot for us on offense this year,” Beamer said.
Beamer noted that mistakes kept points off the board. Close to field-goal range on one drive, Beamer said, a few negative plays pushed the Gamecocks’ offense out of field-goal range. On another drive, South Carolina missed a kick.
That led Beamer to note that he has not been pleased with the kicking competition this preseason.
They’ve “been very inconsistent,” he said. “I don’t think we’re any closer to having a starter at that position.”
South Carolina started the scrimmage at midday, Beamer said, in part because the Gamecocks will play LSU and Alabama at noon. USC will scrimmage again next Saturday. The season opener is Aug. 31 against Old Dominion.
Scrimmage absences
At least eight Gamecocks did not participate in Saturday’s scrimmage for various injury-related issues: OL Markee Anderson, EDGE Elijah Davis, OL Jakai Moore, TE Reid Mikeska, RB Rocket Sanders, RB Juju McDowell, WR Vandrevius Jacobs and LB Bam Martin-Scott.
Beamer said none of the injuries is serious and he expects everyone to be at practice Sunday.
Sanders, the team’s projected starter at tailback, missed all of spring while recovering from shoulder surgery.
“Rocket Sanders is 100 percent healthy and does everything in practice,” Beamer said.
Martin-Scott this week said he’s been dealing with a hamstring injury. McDowell, Jacobs and Anderson were all seen working to the side with trainers at Friday’s practice.
How did QB LaNorris Sellers play?
Beamer, still yet to officially name a starting quarterback for Week 1, noted that both redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers and Auburn transfer Robby Ashford took snaps with the first-team offense.
“I thought LaNorris did a good job. I thought he looked very poised, composed out there. Made some nice throws. Had some nice runs. Managed the offense the right way.”
It seems to indicate that the offense’s struggles in the scrimmage were the result of silly, non-presnap penalties and a ton of drops by the Gamecocks’ wide receivers.
Beamer praised Sellers’ poise, noting that nothing ever seems to fluster him.
An example: During the scrimmage Saturday, he threw a pass that was batted down by the defensive line. Veteran DL TJ Sanders and some others on the D-line started chirping at him from the sideline.
Sellers was listening to OC Dowell Loggains speaking the play call in his helmet just before turning around and telling Sanders “to be quiet,” Beamer said with a grin.
“That’s something probably he wouldn’t have done last year. It kind of took me by surprise,” Beamer added. “He’s having fun out there.”
Cornerback battle
One of the biggest position battles South Carolina has to settle this spring is who will start at cornerback opposite O’Donnell Fortune.
After the first scrimmage, the battle between Judge Collier, Vicari Swain and Emory Floyd is still up in the air, Beamer said.
While Beamer noted that Collier has taken the majority of the first-team cornerback reps, he admitted, “We’ll probably end up playing all three of those guys in the game (against Old Dominion).”
Hockey shifts at EDGE position
Perhaps the deepest position on the Gamecocks’ roster is at EDGE, where the Gamecocks have a half-dozen guys in the mix: Kyle Kennard, Dylan Stewart, Gilber Edmond, Bryan Thomas Jr., Desmond Umeozulu and Jatius Geer.
Earlier this week, Edmond had said the rotation might be akin to hockey shifts, where players take the ice in short spurts, then get subbed out.
After the scrimmage, Beamer said that’s exactly how it played out.
“There’s not a first group, second group, third group,” Beamer said. “I saw all six of them in with all three groups. ... You’d love to have a little bit more (EDGEs), so we actually had to use some other bodies.”
You can do the math. South Carolina ran about 100 plays. There are two EDGEs on the field for every play. If they didn’t start grabbing some other guys, all six of the EDGEs would have been in for over 33 plays.
This story was originally published August 10, 2024 at 2:12 PM.
