Talkin' Ball: Stephen Garcia 8-28-24 | South Carolina Gamecocks

back to inside the Gamecocks the show The National Anthem every day at noon presented by Edward Jones and our friend Eric Ponder 864 862 2161 he went to South Carolina went overseas went to the Southwest border and now he's working on B behalf of all of our financial Futures 864 862 2161 ER Ponder and Edward Jones I can give you a personal uh I can personal personally endorse him I can tell you that because he's doing a lot for our family this guy's done a lot for all of our families when especially was in a uniform at the University of South Carolina made all of us very happy at times and really happy now because tailgate talks episode three is out this morning Stephen Garcia and Pat DeMarco welcomed Shane Beamer and it was um you keep calling yourself out man you got we got to we got to slow you down from from getting yourself in trouble every week I I couldn't care less man I I it doesn't it doesn't affect me one bit no know it doesn't it was so funny I was just started laughing when you told the story about the Sprite can did did Coach sper really say would just put in a Sprite can Steve yeah absolutely I mean I how could I make that up is like I like especially it's like you know that's that's literally what 20 or you know 12 years ago I'm not I have no reason I mean it's all it's all you know the statue limitations have passed oh yeah I think so unless the highman are in town then you're in deep trouble my man they're in deep trouble left there in town this weekend threat not a threat it's not a threat no no no no but he's definitely Persona nrata down here these days right Eric will send you to jail if he hears this conversation he'll find a way you oh man well for those that uh that haven't had a chance to watch or listen to it yet you can pull pull up both versions you can pull it up through Gamecock Plus on the chief Sports app and you can pull it up in podcast form on the chief Sports app as well it's very easy one click of the button and there you go and it is out uh if you missed the first two Boogie Huntley Luke Dodie week one with Pat and Stephen and the uh and the Steve or excuse me excuse me Miss Jerry the Jerry and Steve sper indoor facility and speaking of good sper last week he was their second guest and um so it's been been a lot of fun in the next couple of do you wanna do you w to mention who one of the guests will be going into the LSU game or do you want to hold on to that yeah we we'll hold on hold on that okay all right I it's really unique so I'm really excited for that one is I'm more excited about that than spur or be me too me too I can't wait to have that there's there's nothing like uh that that's not even a tease that's just ridiculous that I just did that publicly but it's all good all right man here we go week one dude week one we finally get to play football Gamecocks are going to run out there and knock heads with somebody not named uh South Carolina it is Old Dominion uh who will be entering Williams Bry Stadium on Saturday afternoon and uh and head coach Ricky rain who actually was at vanderbel 20 Mike right 2011 through 2013 I believe yeah if I'm not mistaken that's the the Jordan Rogers years right I think so is that did you play against Jordan no he was he was just after me so that's definitely the Jordan Rogers years okay yeah that's right okay yeah so I didn't realize so he was coaching there and now he's coaching an old or Old Dominion huh yeah yeah it's uh he's an OD ODU um offense is similar style to Tennessee obviously and we'll let you expand on this if they can't get it going it could be they can be you can be in big trouble but they they want to try to move it down the field as quickly as they can let me ask you a question I I'm gonna move this to the Forefront because Mike mentioned it a little bit ago and I had already had it kind of on my uh my list of let's talk to stepen Garcia about this so you hear a lot of this is all over the country um but when you get to week one or get to you're getting into the week one ball game and what do we show versus what what do we not show well if you're playing you know you got George and Clemson this weekend you show whatever it takes to win the dad gun football game but when you're playing Old Dominion or a couple of years ago Shane's first game you know you're playing Eastern Illinois or something like that like do you do what do you how do you prepare for a game do you hold things back so the next opponent doesn't see it like give us some insight into that I I I would not um I would hope he doesn't either I I would hope he uses this to send a pretty loud and clear message that you know they they got a chip on their shoulder they are very underrated and they're going to show them kind of what you know what their offense can do I mean everybody talks about their defense and how good the defense is supposed to be this year uh you know obviously there's question marks with the new quarterback and you know see what he can do but I mean if I'm if I'm coach being I'm letting it I'm letting it Fly and trying to you know send a message but I do kind of see the other point of let's not give him everything because we do have you know Kentucky LSU Old Miss coming up but at the same time as college football man like these guys watch they this is their job they watch film they break your film down they know what you're going to do they know what you want to do so I'm just a firm believer and just just do your thing man like what the hell's the point of holding back did when you went into a specifically season opener once you get through the first game second everybody knows kind of who you are anyways right I mean you'll put some things in here and there but they know about what you're doing um did Coach did Coach buer ever have these conversations in the quarterback room as y'all were preparing for the first game of the year if it was somebody that you expected to beat like well we're not going to show them this we're did you ever have those conversations no not not at all not at all I mean maybe he did think that if he did he never told me he never emphasize that that's something that you know that that's not the vibe I was getting uh you know same thing with Coach Mangus I mean they that that was not the vibe that I got they they said this is our game plan this is what we're going to do this is what they are not good at playing defense against so this is what we're going to back and you know this is what they argued against so we're not going to do that just that's just how it was back back then yeah Stephen I was gonna ask you and Jamie mentioned their their offense and just based on what I'm reading again it looks like they do a lot of what Tennessee does where they take the WID split them out split them out awfully wide outside the numbers and it got me thinking uh Tennessee and I know Carolina doesn't face Tennessee but I'm just curious as somebody who played in in various offenses in your career why has Tennessee's offense been so effective like I get it they've had Talent hooker was terrific a couple of years ago uh they've had first round receivers but they don't run a ton of different plays it's like they set that up and they've got their five or six things that they do really really well and and I thought by now defenses would have a little better handle on it maybe they do this year maybe they don't but what when you watch it what what do you pick up on I mean it's kind of what what coach sper kind of invented um you know he did the fun and gun or the running gun whatever was called and you know we we I just remember being in the same formations and have 10 different uh ways to get into the same kind of play if that makes sense so we'd have like a drag concept that we'd have a drag coming from slot or we'd have a drag coming from the other slot or from a drag motion him in run it from the outside I mean there's just so many different ways to get into the same basically play from the same formation or from different formations and you know it's it's you know what does it say keep it simple stupid was that that I think that's a reference to the offense right oriss principle yeah yeah when you try to when you try to outsmart yourself that's as the coach SP say that's when you look like a dumbass so yeah that's a good point kind of kind of like the guy that was calling place two years ago and he had a defensive end you know tossing the football into the end zone in Knoxville try to outsmart yourself very very confusing exactly exactly just just ran the football down their throat 75 yards let's bring in the defensive end and let's pull out the trick play here yeah that was that was it's baffling sometimes it's you know they try to outsmart themselves it's it's kind of confusing but who knows what the hell is going on through these guys heads yeah I just one more quick one what what's your biggest question about the offense coming into this game that you want to see answered early on in the season I mean what obviously we know you got a new starting quarterback you got a lot of new wide receivers but anything specifically that you're like okay I want to see this on Saturday and feel good about it going forward I would like to see the linemen the line hold up and pass protection and be able to see them run the ball effectively um I think if you can do that I think you give you know sellers a hell of a more comfortable opportunity and a better opportunity to succeed so I think those two things are going to be huge I mean that's that's with any quarterback in general but especially when you got a younger guy with not a whole lot of experience I think if you have a line that can hold up especially in Blitz packages because I'm sure they're going to try to Blitz the hell out of them try to confuse them with some you know dropping D ends and all that other stuff um but if you can pick those blitzes up and if you can run the ball effectively I think that's going to be a lot of pressure you know relieved off sellers you think there's an advantage Stephen in running you know trying to run not necessarily real high paced you know a Tempo game with the you know young signal caller but maybe kind of pushing those limits you know for him um that way if he does become reliant with the helmet Communications defenses won't key in on just making it look you know completely different than what they actually plan on running and disguising the the coverage schemes and things like that maybe kind of push the tempo a little bit with I I I would if I was if I'm them I'm 100% pushing the tempo just to get him as many reps game reps with bullets flying as as possible and I completely forgot about the the helmet communication thing that's that's an interesting deal I would I would absolutely hate that if if I was playing with Coach ferer I was gonna ask you if you'd like that or not no but with him yeah you're playing you're playing you're playing at Florida Tennessee Georgia there's 100 110,000 people in the stands the only person I could ever hear was coach furer you got all these people booing you and screaming at you the only person you hear is coach perer I would change my helmets with like Cliff or somebody that's right you're everything but the f word in the hle sh Shane actually said last week he thinks that there will be more signaling from the sideline with helmet communication not less because in college football you know how you try to speed things up and and defenses trying to change when you're trying to change etc etc he thinks there will actually be more maybe he's on to something I don't know I don't know it uh it worked pretty well for uh Florida State and DJ uh last week that was fun to watch he's just not an elite football player he's not a killer Stephen he's just not a killer man U I was talking on a podcast yesterday and you know they were asking about me and I have a couple people that play for for Tech and you know I kind of asked them what their thought process was and so I took Tech plus the points and then took the under and then live bet Tech to win outright and it was a good Saturday for me good start to college football um but you know and I was sitting there and I'm talking with a bunch of Florida State fans the other day and I'm just like man I've seen this kid at Clemson he's a big kid I'm sure he's a nice terrific dude but he is a not he is not a good thrower of the football he's just it's just it's it's I've seen him at Clemson I saw him at oron State I just I it's I feel bad for him because like I said I'm sure he's a great dude but good God they're going to have a long season ahead of him what is it about him I've heard that before too like physically coming off the bus I mean he looks like everybody's all American but he doesn't throw a great ball what what do you see specifically about that the in the in the close-up images that I've seen he looks like he has freaking tiny little shrimp hands it's it's it's honest be crazy he's got he's got like three three his his thumb index fing finger and ring finger and his middle finger they're like behind the laces of the ball so he's trying to throw it and I it's it's it's hard for me to wrap my head around it that you can be and I'm sure they're paying him a million dollars at least at Florida State oh oh yeah I don't get I have not seen him throw a spiral yet I mean let's be honest PT Manny made a lot of money and played a lot of football not throwing a spiral but he was accurate but yeah it was it's it's hard to watch a quarterback at at a Collegiate level throw a freaking wounded duck I mean it's it's hard to watch well well Lenor sers does throw spirals as you've pointed out multiple times he can quote spin the laces off of it and he's going to do that this weekend against Old Dominion something that was written about this morning by Tony Morell and the big spur is the fact that uh this isn't going to be you know Shawn Elliot's scheme from when he was back with Coach sper when you were there and then when Connor was there and I think that that that gave people some pause I think a lot of folks thought that Coach Elliott who you know very very very well was coming in to kind of fix this run game or whatever but it's been Collective um so G he has he has absolutely helped the Run game let's be clear about that like he came here for a reason there are things that he has helped them do it's going to be better alongside having you know better football players uh Stephen but um but what what what was it about Coach Elliott and his scheme that that made running the football so dangerous I I to be honest I don't know if it was much of a scheme as it was just his intensity as a coach his his demeanor um he got he want he had these guys fired up and wanted to play for him they would run through a brick wall for him um you know we had some talented guys as well and we had a pretty solid running back at the time also uh so that that definitely helps um but I mean it's as far as schemes it's it's I don't think it's much of a scheme I I just think it's it's just it's just all out just passion and that may be just from my experience with Coach Elliott um but I don't know yeah I'm not I'm not a scheme guy I'm more of a you know Joe's guy or whatever they however they say it jimmies and Joe's yeah all right so uh all right let's talk about Dow and and that offense you know going back to what we saw last year it's going to be a little bit different this year you got a different skill set from even though Spencer Rattler was just a dude I mean what a dude guy's a dude he's gonna end up starting this year by the way in New Orleans some some point in time he's gonna be the starting quarterback but he's not here at South Carolina anymore we know that lenorris uh does have a little bit more of a dual threat about him so kind of give us a rundown of of what you think about Dow Logan's offense why it has a chance to to be successful with Lenor seller skill set at the helm it's I don't know I think that's still a giant question mark U like you said I mean they're going to have to change the the scheme they're not the same player um and I was watching Perry's uh conversation with you earlier and uh I think Perry hit the nail on the head you know everybody wants to see what this guy's gonna be able to do he's a big kid um obviously he's gonna be able to take a couple hits to the chin but you know you got to be able to get back up and you got to be able to make the throws while you're getting hit in the chin it's and it ain't easy it is not easy at all but uh I think that's what everybody's kind of waiting to find out what he can do especially you know I don't want to say against a lower tier team but it's not an SEC team so I don't know I think this is this is a huge a huge uh weekend for for everybody involved how how does that grow though like like are when you when do you feel as a quarterback like you and the offensive coordinator of course your OC was coach spur your head coach it's a little bit different I get it right but but when do you feel like hey they're kind of taking the Reign like when does that trust Factor hit the level of of of you don't feel like you're being controlled as much anymore you get to kind of kind of do your own thing out there you you might be asking the wrong guy uh get Conor online too yeah yeah definitely want Conor that one H yeah I was I was I had all sorts of Reigns going on um with the ex with the exception of the the Alabama game that's and people ask me that all the time like what was difference it's like coach fer literally the whole week of practice was like n Stephen just do your game play your game and do your thing it's like man why couldn't you do that every damn week man but you know it's always it's always a sensitive subject for me but uh yeah I mean I to be honest I I don't know I think you just especially this early in in the game just kind of let them make mistakes I mean it's better to make mistakes early on the year against you know like I said not an SEC team uh you know kind of get those Growing Pains out of the way yeah I'll be interested to to kind of see what that looks like right you know uh and and what they I mean there's a lot of folks who firsthand understand what what Lenor sers is capable of doing but he's still a true freshman Stephen and when or I'm sorry he's a red shirt freshman right uh and when you're a red shirt freshman and and you go out there and there there's still a learning curve he's still going to make mistakes uh you made mistakes as a young player you have to go through how how hard is it to grow through those mistakes sometimes it's not it's not that hard um but I mean don't get me wrong I made plenty mistakes as I was older too um you know it's just it's just getting comfortable with it um you know that my my style of play was I'm going to try to fit it in a tight window you know come hell high water and you know it got me in trouble plenty of times but it also was extremely fun because when it worked it was it was a thing of beauty um that was just my you know play uh being a a big Brett faf guy so there there's that but I mean I think you just like I said you just go out there and just and just let it ride man um when you get when you start getting cautious and nervous and you know taking the checkdown when you have a potential you know touchdown downfield you know it's you start questioning your your confidence and that's when your confidence is done you're you're what do you [ __ ] out of luck what what's the biggest difference Stephen like okay Dominion we don't know what to expect on defense but we know one thing it's not going to look anything like it's going to look like in week two and week three with Kentucky and LSU right the biggest difference between you know these again a sunb belt level defense ver when you start playing the heavyweights in the SEC everything is obviously faster bigger stronger but as a quarterback you just have to process much quicker like what is the biggest difference for you as opposed to playing a uh a Southern Miss compared to SEC school or saying yeah like like an Old Dominion versus what they're going to see in week two versus Kentucky I mean don't get me wrong these guys that are in the sun Bel conference and these other conferences they they definitely have ability to be SEC roster guys uh you know maybe their High School grades weren't good enough maybe something happened they were injured but there's there's guys and I I realized this you know play obviously playing against the the Sun Belt level guys and you know other divisions like that but I also saw you know being up in Canada for those two years I was like how the hell is this guy this receiver how is he down or up here in Canada he he should be in the league 100% um and like a highest paid receiver type deal but you know there's there's extenuating circumstances I'm sure for everybody uh so to answer your question long longwinded response is you just got to go out there and run your game man do your thing go through the go through your progressions make the reads and like I said earlier you got to be confident in your read be confident in your ability and you know let it uh let it ride did you come out the same time as Aaron Murray at a Tampa no he's I think two or three years younger okay I think he was wasn't his last year 14 or something like that Mike at George I thought it was 13 or 14 yeah I I've worked with him a few times and we were talking about great athletes come out of Tampa and your name certainly came up we were just talking about the the number of guys that have played at a high level yeah at that in that that position but I mean he's obviously one of the best he's all time passing leader in the SEC and you had your run and there's I know there's but you guys went to different high schools right yeah we were we went to rival high schools Rivals yeah okay yeah I didn't um not to get too off track here did was O.J Murdoch from Tampa Stephen yep yep that's what I thought did you play against him in high school no no he was he was a little older I played uh a basketball with his younger brother yeah shrod I think he ended up playing at fa or FIU playing safety really okay man another sad story OJ you know brutal brutal Middleton Middleton High School he could flat out fly oh yeah I mean he moved was crazy all right uh so we talked about the offense flipping it over here for the next couple of minutes here and we'll get you out bud um but uh the the defensive side of the football you know we did we did get a depth chart this week news flash that's just not how it's all going to lay out I mean there's there's going to be all these guys are going to play coach Bamber talked about playing six defensive tackles yesterday probably five or six defensive ends uh Stephen you had a chance we talked about some of this last week and the week before um you had a chance to see those guys fly around we all know that the defense is older they're experienced they are moving quick they've got a lot of a lot of speed um but um but out side of you know what we've heard and and what you've seen with your own two eyes you go back to the scheme that has been run around here for the last few years with with uh with Clayton white it's an opportunistic style defense right like they they really try to get after you and get and create turnovers I think they've led the league and that combined the last three years in the SEC which is which is an outstanding number but outside of stopping the run in third down defense what what is key for you defenses that you played in the past that really gave you issues what is something that maybe could transition to when we talk about this team it's it's hard for me to answer anything defensive wise uh I just I had so much other stuff going on I just never really paid attention and you know coach buer I mean I don't I don't we barely even looked at any defense we we were just watching you know he would claim that we're gonna watch watch the defense but it was we're just watching us and he's yelling at me to take my steps and throw the ball so I hate to not be able to answer question I just I don't want to give a halfast answer no no I just don't know well I I think that there are numbers that are old like Mike was talking earlier about like 21 seasons in basketball there used to be kind of The Benchmark and how they you know figure out whether they had good year bad year based on 20 wins college baseball it used to be 40 wins right defense it used to be like well if you hold them under you know 20 points per game and 300 yards you've got a good defense I don't think those things are true anymore dude like people move the football it's a totally different game it's completely different you know everybody says defense wins championships that's that's just not the case anymore um and I don't think it's been that like that for for a good amount of time uh so yeah I mean that with the amount of the highp speed stuff the Up Tempo um it's yeah it's it's an offensive game and you know you got guys like DJ swaringer would never have lasted in in this day and age of college football he'd be kicked out of every single freaking game for targeting or I just feel bad man these these these defensive guys are are handicapped and I remember hearing an interview with um Tom Brady and he was saying the same thing he's like the level of football from when I first started to where it it you know where I ended it these defensive guys are they're handicapped you can't you can't touch anybody you gota politely ask him to you know to fall down so it's it's it's a lot different uh it's a lot different style and it 100% benefits the offense with as fast as offenses try to move not all of them try to move at the pace of like coach hypo in the in the Tennessee offense but they do try to move diligently I guess maybe some of that slows down I'll be interest to see if the if the helmet coms slow it down because like last weekend you saw more teams huddle so like I wonder if that's kind of changed some things I I I don't know but I do think that depth if you don't have depth on defense boy are you in trouble I mean you might have you know a bunch of guys that roll out there with the first team and they're really really good and that's great but if you don't have guys that can come in and spell guys I don't I don't know how you how you get through 12 games anymore yeah and this seems to be this seems to be the deepest group that Shane's had in four years doesn't it yeah and I remember going to that first practice and I was like man these guys are freaking huge and it seems like there's a lot more players on the roster uh yeah it it you know that and the facilities everything just looked completely brand new like the aliens just dropped them off so it's a good it's a good problem to have um at least I hope I hope too I hope you're right about that so you're going to be in Colombia this weekend uh obviously for the game um and then there's some other stuff going on what will will you be I know I'll I'll see you hopefully on Saturday plan on it at least we're gonna go over and tear up big funds Liquor Cabinet um beautiful that's what you do are the flints GNA be there oh yeah yeah yeah they'll all be there all right well that'll be fun that'll be fun seeing them if not have no fear man I have a key so get we get in it's it's all good um but um but uh what you know will you be bouncing around will will you sign autographs for people or yeah I mean whatever you know it's if people still want my autograph I and I've never understood that if people still want you to sign stuff and take pictures I don't understand why guys are like no I'm too good for that it's it's baffling so yeah if someone wants to take a picture or shotgun of beer or whatever I'll I'm down or take a picture while shot getting a beer yeah absolutely I hope that happens actually yeah Stevens venmo in case anybody was wondering for a shotgun beer picture is Stephen I'm just kidding he doesn't charge be a different side of Cameo that we could open up there there's a business opportunities here my venmo QR code on my shirt or something yeah that's right you you wantan to uh here you go look at that I would pay beer with Garcia right that's right we know how much money we talking sa is that shell no not Shelly where is shell we need to find Shell I got I shouldn't say that actually I'm sure this new uh this new policies are gonna want to tax the [ __ ] out of me on any venmo transactions you got that right yeah we're Shelly when we need her I'm I'm gonna be up there Thursday I think we land at like two o'clock and then I'm there till Sunday night wonderful well really look forward to uh really look forward to seeing you man always appreciate the time um I'll give you the last word to to pump up tailgate talks in the newest episode go for it yeah man we uh we got a chance to sit down with uh you know coach coach uh Beamer and you know it's it's kind of cool uh just getting a chance to to talk with him kind of not really off camera but just kind of hear the personal side of things and you know just reminisce about the times when you know he was coaching us and you know the stories of back then and you know just hearing the the perspective that he has for being a head coach I didn't realize that he was all over the place with I mean some Hall of Fame level coaches you know at Oklahoma Mississippi State Georgia obviously his dad Virginia Tech so I think it's really cool like his his entire story and um I'm pulling for him big time um and you know for him to even respond to my texts or my calls like he's like whenever you come to South Carolina whenever you come to Columbia please text me we'll link up it's always great to see you and you know we love the alumni and especially you for all that you do and have done for the University so you know he do have to do that and for him to do that I think is is pretty badass and it was exciting for uh for us to actually officially talk to him on our on our podcast so you know hopefully uh hopefully he does well this year and you know we're pulling for him and he was actually very excited to be on it too Shane Shane when he uh when he does something man he he does it you know he he doesn't just show up just to be there he'll he'll invest his time in it and um it's a great conversation out now tailgate talks with Shane Beamer thanks dude look forward to seeing you this weekend great stuff yeah man we I'll text you we'll we'll link up when you get in there Friday uh may maybe I've gota I'm trying to get there Friday if I can if not it'll be early Saturday morning okay well let me know we about okay sounds good I'll see you all right fell appreciate you man thanks dude