Football: Shane Beamer News Conference 09/03/24

that was a test in case y'all didn't notice yep and for all the jokes of me saying I'm not going to stand up here like an idiot and people probably saying you are an idiot and things like that as well brought that on myself also but as I was saying thanks to our fans second hottest game on record from what I understand last weekend um it was loud Gamecock walk was awesome and then uh the electricity in there was fantastic and hate that we had the weather delay but Crow noise was a factor even till the end I mean Old Dominion had some pre- snap penalties there at the end of the game when they were backed up down there by the cockpit so appreciate the fans that were there and and making Saturday great and hopefully next Saturday when we're back in Columbia it'll be even better congratulations to Kyle Canard and Dylan Stewart being an SEC Defensive uh lineman of the week awesome Kudos and and recondition for those guys certainly well deserved without a doubt and hopefully the first of many for uh for those guys and then other ones on our defense also I know we've had some defensive tackles that have won that award in the past and and um surely believe that we'll have other guys on our defense winning it this year as the year goes on excited to open up SEC play this week up in Lexington have great uh respect for Coach Stoops personally and uh his program always enjoy going up to Lexington as many of you know I lived in Kentucky for eight years and and grew up in elementary school following UK Athletics and Louisville Athletics was rolling at the time in basketball with Denny crumb and pervis Ellison and the Bradford Smith and all those guys and and then certainly Kentucky basketball with joob B Hall and Eddie Sutton when I was growing up and Kenny Skywalker and Mel Turpin and and always followed Kentucky football great quarterbacks of the past some of y'all are too young to remember these names but guys like Pooky Jones and Billy Jack H Haskins that played quarterback at Kentucky both those guys were from Murray Kentucky or went to high school in the Murray Kentucky area that that um kind of grew up around and which is where I was from so always follow them and always enjoy going back up to uh to Kentucky and it'll be a great atmosphere on Saturday up in Lexington got a big Challenge on our hands obviously you watch them on offense we know they have weapons at receiver uh big veteran offense of line talented quarterback and and Brock vandagriff who I'm very familiar with from trying to recruit him when we were Oklahoma um and uh new offensive coordinator but they're you know operating at a high level offensively defensively veteran defense 10 returning starters I think 10 of the returning starters are either Juniors or seniors so it's guys that we've been playing against here for a while that have a lot of uh experience in them it's essentially the same defense as last year uh they've just traded out a um linebacker that's with the Panthers now and brought in a linebacker that just happened to start at Georgia last season as well so they're really really good on defense and led by arguably the best defensive tackle in the entire conference and Walker number zero so really talented uh defense and then special teams wise uh Brown the receiver is has returned four kicks for touchdowns in his career um he is Elite as a kickoff returner and we've got to do a great job being able to to cover kicks so big challenge but our guys are really really excited about going up there and playing on Saturday competing starting out play looking forward to seeing a ton of Garnet and Black uh in that Stadium on Saturday afternoon I know this is a trip that our fans always enjoy uh going on and I know a lot of people that are going up there and we got to have a good week of practice and put on a good performance for them on Saturday but looking forward to seeing a lot of Gamecocks up there as well so questions Shane the guys were in here talking about some of the offense and about execution communication that kind of thing as you look back on it talk with the coaches was there any schematic change that maybe needed to be had or discussed not really old dominion and and let's give Old Dominion some credit um the way they play defense makes it tough to do a lot of things um and just the structure of their defense they they take away a lot and this isn't a well their Old Dominion you should be able to do this no they they take away a lot with what they do schematically so it was going to be a challenge I said that on the radio show last week I said that leading up to it that the way they play defense is different and is a and is a challenge and we didn't do a good enough job of of executing surely David after every game you look back and they're saying schematically that you would tweak and and do differently but you know for the most part we got to coach better we got to you know execute better but you know you don't have 35 minutes time of possession and and uh uh a 16 play drive a 13 play drive a 10pl drive and stink so we did some good things was it good enough on Saturday absolutely not nobody is saying that but we also did some good things and if we got to be able to finish drives in the red zone and not kick field goals and if we kick score touchdowns down there and not kick field goals I think everybody's feeling a lot different about things too uh Lenor was in here talking about how he felt like he played timid at times what he saw he was watching himself what what's been sort of the the message to him from from DLo and and you and whoever else that uh to to kind of get past that and improve upon that relax have fun he's our guy he's a hell of a quarterback um um you know there's a lot of pressure on that guy he's he are going into Saturday he's you know from the from the state local kid starting his first game as a Gamecock in a in a Gamecock uniform and and uh the expectations rightfully so I me he's a really good quarterback he had high expectations and and I told him on Friday that he didn't need to go out there and be Superman just go out there and relax and we're better around him and I believe that I told him we're better around him on offense than we were were last than what Spencer had around him last year now we don't have Xavier Legette a first round pick but if you just look at our depth at all the positions in the offensive line I feel like we're better overall as an offense just from a depth standpoint than what we were last year so I told L Norris lean on those guys you don't have to do anything by yourself and I don't feel like he tried to do too much I think it's just you know the expectations game one you're in that Stadium you want to play great and and um you know he did a lot of really good things he made some nice throws the Deep ball that unfortunately we weren't able to connect to him there's not guys in the world that can make that throw and um he showed his ability to run so he did some good stuff I've said it all along hail we be a team that offensively continues to get better each and every week I mean we started eight new guys on the offense Saturday that it was their first game in a Gamecock uniform if I'm not mistaken including two true freshman and that's not an excuse there's a lot of teams across the country that are starting and playing new players but there's a lot of new faces around Lenoris and we're going to continue to get better uh throughout the season and and Lenoris is right at the top of that list and he just needs to know that he doesn't need to try and do too much just go out there and have fun and and play work hard and prepare the right way during the week and and then game day should be the fun part for him uh after the game Saturday you were talking a lot about the perimeter blocking um how much of that when you went back on film was effort and how much of that was schemed um a mix I would say there were some schematic things that we didn't quite execute like we needed to just as far as um you know going in there and digging out defensive backs uh in the box that receivers have to there were some times that we you know the look kind of got cloudy and we didn't quite end up on the right person that was a part of it there were also times where we didn't go in there with quite the the intent or the strain that we needed to a lot of times that we did I know you guys break down the play of every game and I'm sure you guys have pointed out Mao Bennett's effort in Perimeter blocking if you haven't you need to go back and watch it closely uh he competed his rear end off in the perimeter blocking game and being willing to come down into the box and take on people uh in the Box we need more of that you know I think a lot of times we were in the we were in the right place but we didn't just execute with the best technique or uh the intent to get things done that it took on that one and it was a difference in maybe you know explosive runs and not so combination of both and and uh something that we spend a lot of time on we always have a drill on Tuesdays in practice where we work perimeter blocking and today was no different and we'll continue to get better at it Debo is such a big veteran for you guys how big is he as a voice for you guys in the locker room especially with the younger guys especially as you go into an SEC matchup in week two yeah uh he's huge uh not just Debo but all so many leaders that we have and obviously said it before there's so many when we vote on Captain at the end of the captains at the end of the season so many of the top vote Getters from last season are still here their leaders Tonka TJ I mean Tonka Boogie Luke Dodie veran you know there's a lot of guys TJ I mean we got a lot of older guys that are leaders on this team but Debo is is right there at the top he was a Voice last year on our team and brought great leadership to the to the team and to the uh defense particular and then this year is no different he's been that way since January and and um he's somebody that um he does a great job of that whether I talked to him on the phone last night about some stuff that needed to get handled and and he gets it done so he's he's been he's been awesome you alluded to kuy's defensive line they got some big dudes they wreak a lot of Havoc but what have you seen from your offensive line maybe going back and through the film from the game Saturday that can make you feel really good about their ability to keep them from wreaking the Havoc they do to so many other teams we played really really hard on the offensive line um I can't remember if I said this last night on the or Sunday night on the teleconference before it got cut off but go back and watch case and Henry on the fourth and one that we handed the ball off to Rocket you want to see the mentality that we want to play with on the offensive line watch case and Henry on that play uh so our offensive line played really really hard uh Josiah Thompson started at left tackle as a true freshman I'm sure you guys can appreciate how hard that is to do in the SEC it's two years in a row we've now done that but he didn't look lost as a freshman he played really really hard uh there's one you know uh Blitz pickup issue that we'd like to have back or I'm sure he'd like to have back but he didn't look lost as a freshman having Vera out there as the older guy kind of to settle everybody down I thought he was great he was one of our players of the game as a staff after we looked at it and and just um you know it it yes we had some protection issues that we certainly got to get cleaned up that comes back back to us as as coaches but I'm excited about our offensive line as they continue to develop and and guys continue to gain experience and you're exactly right I mean this this number zero he can absolutely wreck your entire game plan um not like mess up a play he can wreck your entire game plan and um he is a load to handle but it's not just him 13 on the outside's a really good player and nobody talks about the other guys they have inside 90 and eight and nine I mean they're a they're very Twitchy and and athletic and very disruptive inside so we've got to do a great job on the offensive line this week for us to be able to do the things that we want to do offensively Shane how do you feel like the connection between Lenoris and the receivers were on Saturday and what do you chalk up to on some of the maybe the high throws Lenor has had or guys just not being in the you know right spots to haul in a catch yeah um I thought it we just looked off and we weren't clicking on all cylinders I'd be lying if I sat up here and said we we were you know the ball over there to Nick on the on their sideline was just a high throw I think that's just probably more mechanics by um by lenorris that will will get cleaned up without a doubt um you know but for the most part I thought he thought he threw the ball well certainly there were some you know misreads and some plays that he would like to have back just like Call's D would like to have back and plays that our other guys would as well so um we we need to be better there's no question about it I don't like it you know we're we're it I hate to say it but it's true we're we're continuing to uh Jael as a receiving core with the quarterback three of those guys Dre camp and and Nick didn't go through spring practice as I said and and we're trying to do it as fast as we can and and we should have been better than what we were on Saturday night or Saturday afternoon there's no question about it but we're you know told the team today we're 88 days from the Clemson game so we ain't got a lot of time to sit around and wait and wait for this thing to jail like we got to jail right now and we can't just sit around and just wait for it to happen we got to make it happen because each day we're getting closer to the end of the regular season and we've got to come together pretty quickly here hey coach a lot of players came in and said the communication is the biggest thing that they want to improve upon head an end to week two what do you chalk that up to is it week one Jitters new season or anything you can really Point your finger at yeah I mean I appreciate him saying that I don't quite know if it's necessarily communication I mean I I um um the the one that I would say would be a communication issue is maybe the the Deep pass that we gave up with to Old Dominion early in the game that was just a a little bit of a malfunction with the coach to player helmet communication that didn't everything didn't get quite get conveyed like it needed to get conveyed having said that we can't allow somebody to run past us even if there is a breakdown in the communication but the rest of the stuff I don't you know appreciate them saying that and certainly we need to communicate better but overall I thought it was good the quarterback run that wasn't a communication issue that was just not being in our Gap uh aspect and then uh some of the you know mishaps we had on offense I don't know if it was necessarily a communication issue is it just not quite executing which starts with us as coaches so uh we'll be better you know it's not going to be any easier we we we communicated we we were at home where it's easier to communicate we're going to be on the road in front of 60 plus thousand on Saturday on National telion where it's going to be harder to communicate but I didn't have a lot of issues with the communication aspect of it but certainly I think as you play more and and guys get more more confident uh the best teams I've been around are the ones that communicate and talk the most offense defense and special teams and and we need to do that without a doubt you brought it up and a couple other players we had in here today too about the Red Zone struggles is there anything specific you put your finger on with not finishing drives or just go back to everything else with the offense it needs to be better no um but it's it's concerning because it's two years in a row of coming here after the first game talking about red Red Zone issues in the first game if you think if you I'm sure you guys remember the North Carolina game last year we had three possessions inside the 22 yard line I think or 25 yard line that we got it we didn't score touchdowns on or whatnot and there was a factor in that North Carolina game and then certainly the other day we didn't do a good enough job in the Red Zone um it's everything it's it's it's uh it's calls it's it's execution quarterback receiver running back tight end offensive line coaches where we all just need to be better it wasn't anything where we just said oh my God this is just an absolute breakdown we just it's hard down there in the red zone and we've got to be better about getting the ball uh In The End Zone than what we were on uh on Saturday following up on what you said about the helmet communication issue on the touchdown are there any other specifics you can or details you can share about that and were there any other instances where that was a problem no I don't think so I think the biggest issue is you know when it cuts off at 15 seconds and I maybe I believe I'm correct in saying this it comes back on manually it's not like just an automatic button where as soon as the guy gets tackled it automatically just turns back on I believe there's like an actual human being that turns it on and off if I'm wrong on that I apologize but from the way it's been explained to me so when you're playing teams that go really really really fast we need the guy that turns the helmet communication back on to turn it back on really really really fast and not like waiting for the referee to wind the 40 second clock or whatnot either or referee to give him a signal we got to go you know so no excuse we got to be able to get signals in calls in and execute we just uh had a little bit of a delay being able to communicate on that particular play and that's not I'm not blaming the helmet communication because we gave up a deep Ball but we just we've got to we got to overcome that but we also need to make sure that that um um we're able to talk to our players as soon as the plays over because the offense is is rolling I I hate to belabor the point but is it like the same person are they in in the stadium are they doing it for both teams like how does that they're in the stadium yeah they're in the stadium I don't I know we we have a guy on our sideline I guess they have one I don't really know him I just I know how ours operates I'm not sure the whole system but it's something that we've addressed that that we've you know I don't think it'll be an issue going forward and again it there was one play where it was a little slow getting in and and and uh not a not an issue it wasn't an issue after that game one Jitters game one Kinks we got to work out for sure but again haven't said that I mean we I'm not saying that's why we gave up that play we've got to be able to we've worked we've we've coached forever where we don't have helmet communication we got to be able to get the signal in and everybody's got to be able to make the call and and if you don't know what if you're not sure then don't let somebody run past you somebody get deep um as well but it wasn't an issue after that we've addressed it think we got all the issues worked out and to answer your other question no there really wasn't I thought other than that it was very smooth offense and um offense and defense as far as the communication to the player on the field went Saturday what was your favorite Kyle Canard play from Saturday favorite Kyle Canard play um we see the uh man when you're player of the week and you have that many I I know if I have one to be honest with you um all of them um and I'm not trying to dodge the question all of them when you have that many uh pressures and hits there were there were a lot of good ones I appreciate the way that he plays and and pretty pretty or I'm pleased with that whole Edge room Kyle Dylan JT Gil you know Dez get BT back healthy it's a uh that's a good group and and like the way that we can keep throwing people at teams shanea tomorrow I think you got to do your first injury report and I guess you have to do it Wednesday thday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday how long do you anticipate that taking week to week I mean do is it kind of a you had to rearrange your schedule is it a pain a pleasure what um I wouldn't say it's a pleasure for sure um did not have to rearrange the schedule I think between you know we meet as a staff every day at 4:00 in the afternoons and uh are Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursday Mondays Tuesdays Wednesdays Thursdays we do and um in that we always meet with Clint and talk about all the injury situation as well so between Clint hagger George W myself I don't think it'll be much on my plate you know I would imagine a lot of head coaches aren't even going to mess with it they're just going to give it to the trainer and trainer's going to say does this look good and the head coach is going to look at it for five seconds and say yeah it's fine and uh so I don't it's not it's not a big deal it is what it is and and I don't think it'll be too time consuming from my standpoint when you're watching the film back on Dylan store what do you feel like allowed him to be so explosive and get into the back field consistently obviously God blessed that young man with a lot of ability so that's the first thing uh two Sterling's done a sterling Lucas has done a great job you know coaching him up and you know just being able to bring a lot of different pass rush moves whatever you want to call it his physicality his speed like I said his got given ability that helps him and then Sterling's coach coaching that allowed him to do that but then you got to give credit to the other 10 players out there as well for both those guys you know some of those uh some of those pressure sacks or dline games or dline pressures where there's other people involved and somebody's doing their job and Dylan's the one that happens to come free or Kyle happens to come free um that's what was about to happen on the long quarterback run we just didn't quite execute it like we needed to so DBS and linebackers covering to make that quarterback hold on to the ball and not be able to get rid of the ball quick and you know it's a great credit to to our defensive defense as a as a whole unit Shane I'm sure a couple weeks ago you uh read about your coaching pal in the upstate now taking text questions from fans instead of getting into it you still talk to the fans when they call and is that something you like doing do you ever worry about a Tyler from chaping calling in or something like that no I do we were two and six one point at one point last year Pete so yeah you get a little worried about calls when you're two and six but one we've got great fans um and I enjoy that aspect of it I do I don't mind asking the questions they have the right to call in if they think I'm doing a crappy job they got every right to call in and question what we're doing and and tell me I'm doing a crappy job I understand why Dabo did it and not you know disagreeing with it I don't mind you know that aspect of it we take questions from the studio audience as as you guys that have been there to that show know and people that are there in the crowd and then people that are willing to call in as um as well so I always look forward to hearing from Hampton from Ohio who typically calls in every week and whoever else that calls in I um I enjoy it and and part of one of the things that makes college football great for now we're one and0 if I I may change my tune as we go were were you surprised at all based on what you thought going into the game that the the passing game wasn't clicking on all cylinders like you thought it would and and how much did the six defensive back look actually affect the passing game um in in its connection versus The Run game um surprise maybe I mean did I think that we would um throw the ball better on Saturday more efficiently than what we did sure I mean I did uh but I knew it was going to be a challenge also and um you know quarterback starting his first game and a lot of new people around him we uh I didn't think expect us to go out and throw for 400 yards against that solid defense and we really wanted to run the football and that's why we ran it 50 some times or whatever it was on Saturday uh so we need to be better because I thought we would be better on Saturday and have every uh confidence in the world that we will be going forward but at the same time I know the challenges that that style of Defense presents just because you know it's very they take away your easy access throw so it's easy for people to say well just throw hitches and throw Slants well they take away a lot of that with the way that they play defense and it's very much a three three 31 type look whatever you want to talk about it and there's a lot of guys back there and they all fit the run from different places and then they all can drop into coverage from different plac places and um we needed we know certainly there's some things schematically we could have done better to help for sure we connect on some of those throws we're probably not in here on Tuesday talking about the passing game but I know firsthand I mean when we when I was at Southern C Southern C I'm sorry I talked to Lincoln last night when I was at Oklahoma and we we were playing in that League that was like the invogue defense because Iowa state ran it and Iowa State came down there the year that Oklahoma had had um Baker Mayfield in 20 the year before I got there 2017 I believe is what it was and Iowa State came down there like that's the style of Defense they ran and it kind of became the invogue defense in the league and then Baylor started running it the year that Baylor played for the Big 12 championship against us and and Iowa State continued to then Texas started dabbling in it and I know from coaching tight ends at Oklahoma and working with Lincoln it it presented challenges and if you go back and look at a lot of those games and we lost to Iowa State when I was at Oklahoma and and Baylor I think had us down one year 28 to3 on a Saturday night we came back and won and beat them later in the year in the Big 12 Championship if I'm not mistaken so it presents challenges and uh we weren't the only team that has struggled with that there's no question about it having said that do we need to be better absolutely our players know that our coaches understand that no one's happy in this building with the offensive performance at all and we can be better on defense we busted two things and gave up about 120 yard yards of of Defense on two plays you know special teams was sloppy in some ways did some good but we all need to be better there's no question about it starting with me Phil yes sir thank you very much uh after watching uh King at Georgia Tech a couple of games in castalano's last night and then seeing sers run the ball so much Saturday uh in theory what kind of threats does a quarterback like that oppose of cause for a um or create for a defense as they're preparing for you knowing you've got a quarterback who can take off and run at 20 some OD times yeah just that it's another threat you know normally if you're coaching defense you're worried about you know the running back and and you're not so much worried about the quarterback you don't have to account for that guy there's games defensively where we've gone into a game saying you know if they run Zone Reed and the quarterback pulls it great we're not worried about the quarterback like make him pull it and we'll let the quarterback go run uh I don't think teams can necessarily say that about us and it presents uh presents problems do we want to run Lenoris 20 plus times every game like we did the other night no but uh the fact that you can do some different things formally uh and get people out of the box but still have the ability with a 240lb running back to run the ball downhill presents problems for for defenses and all those guys I got home last night and got in time to see I think the fourth quarter of the Florida State game and that quarterback for Boston College is a little bit of a different type player than Lenoris as far as size goes but he can do a lot with his feet and can certainly throw it as well and that's what excites me feel about this offense just as we continue to get this passing game going and lenorris gets more and more comfortable uh we can do we can do a lot you know and present problems to teams because of the ability to to run and throw hey coach I had a question about Nick Harbor he had some targets but no catches is that someone you'd like to scheme open looks for or just kind of keep running the route tree and trust that L Norris will find him no we want to scheme um stuff for him we got a lot of guys that we we need to to get touches if you will and try and find ways to get the ball in their hands whether it be the running back position or tight end receiver but Nick there's no question about it um he's a guy that presents a lot of problems to defenses even if it's just the the threat of him running past people and and catching deep balls we've got to continue to and and uh We've we've certainly have in the past and and will'll continue to also you've talked a lot about like growth and uh especially with the wide receivers and lenorris but I'm curious like from a general perspective how you walk that line which I imagine is sort of tricky between being like okay this has to happen fast but also okay this can't happen overnight in terms of chemistry jelling things of that nature yeah I think you just contined to to work and and that's the thing that I told our players this morning and I read this one time or somebody said it but be willing to do the unrequired you know if we just think that as a team we're just going to be able to come in and and come to meetings each day then go out on the practice field for a couple hours each day and then take off at 12:00 noon and we'll see you tomorrow and you don't think about football and you don't put in extra time to think that it's just going to happen it probably isn't you know be willing to do the unrequired meaning the extra work and what whatnot and that's the thing it's just we can't you can't force feed it but to me you just keep your head down and you just continue to work and maximize every rep in practice and and being able to do extra stuff which I thought it was great I mean um Monday is the Players off day and I was walking through here yesterday morning and and you've got you know couple Luke Dodie and Robbie Ashford are in there watching tape together and and the DBS are always in here on their own or you see people down there getting extra stuff done in the training room or weight room or one of our backup long Snappers goes in the indor on Mondays just on his own to just practice his snapping as well just stuff like that that uh we've got a lot of don't get me wrong and we just need to continue to do that stay the course and and and uh it'll uh it'll come you know it's a long way to Game 12 but it's not and then it's 88 days away so every every day that's probably the biggest thing just every day every rep and practice matters every every meeting matters and the more and more comfortable and what not we can get the better we'll be clicking here really soon hopefully Saturday thank y'all sorry for the delay