There is no panic in South Carolina’s locker room right now after a pair of SEC losses to Arkansas and Georgia. The Gamecocks were outscored 92-37 against a pair of teams currently ranked in the top ten nationally, but there is still a long season remaining ahead of the team.
South Carolina has three-quarters of its schedule left in front of it, starting with a 7:30 p.m.. kickoff against the Charlotte 49ers on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“We went through every play to allow every player in that room to see how close we are,” Shane Beamer said about the offense. “We’ve got guys open, and we’re close to popping runs and things like that. It’s not moral victories by any stretch of the imagination, but I think our guys saw that, even though it didn’t look like it by any stretch of the imagination — it was nowhere near good enough — I did feel like we made some improvement. There are plays to be made; we’ve got to make them. We’re not doing that enough right now.”
Down-to-down consistency has been the biggest sticking point for the offense through three games. Explosive plays have been a somewhat regular feature — even last Saturday Spencer Rattler found Jaheim Bell on a 46-yard pass to kickstart the team’s second possession — but turnovers and negative plays have frequently stalled out the positive momentum.
Rattler is still easing into comfort in Marcus Satterfield’s system, and the next two games are the ideal "get right" games on paper. South Carolina will play against Charlotte, currently dead last of all 131 FBS teams in total defense, and FCS South Carolina State before jumping back into SEC play.
“That’s a unique tool and quality that you have to develop,” Satterfield said about knowing when to press and how to stay within the game plan. “Obviously you are going to press a little bit and the urgency is going to continue to grow a little bit throughout that game [Georgia] the way it was playing out. But I think he just has to trust his abilities and trust the guys around him that eventually there is going to be some plays made that get us back in the game.”
While it might be too early for South Carolina to panic, it is definitely not too early to start trying to change things before things spiral any further. The two-game non-conference homestand is a reprieve, but an entire SEC slate plus Clemson is looming after. Beamer’s team still has to get a lid on things defensively, especially given the current injury troubles.
At one point against Georgia, the Gamecocks had four true freshmen on the field at the same time defensively and could be in a similar predicament against Charlotte with Beamer describing his four starters who missed last week as “still questionable,” for the game against the 49ers.
The new players have led to some communication issues on defense, which Beamer cited as the reason for Brock Bowers’ 78-yard touchdown reception on the opening possession of the second half when starting safety Nick Emmanwori was in the medical tent. But with injuries mounting and the games coming thick and fast, there is a tight line between maintaining patience and needing to see growth quickly.
“It’s like we’ve talked to our guys about, we don’t have time to wait. Like we’ve got to go now, guys,” Beamer said. “We want to grow up; we want to get better; we want to do all of these things; well, the time is now. So we’ve got to really improve quickly because time is running out if you will, because this season will be over before you know it.”
It is a tall task for defensive coordinator Clayton White, but one he has already seen some growth on. Gilber Edmond officially made his first start of the season last Saturday and stepped up in run support. TJ Sanders and Tonka Hemingway are seeing more snaps with Alex Huntley still out injured, with Hemingway even getting a few snaps at EDGE away from his usual spot in the middle. Beamer shouted out Bam Martin-Scott’s performance at nickel against Georgia during his Sunday teleconference.
If the offense is able to produce what it feels like it is capable of producing against Charlotte and South Carolina State, it should produce some better situations for the defense. More obvious passing downs will give the likes of Edmond and Jordan Burch an opportunity to rush the passer, and another week of practice reps and live game action will be crucial for the depth still players working into the fold.
“I think the most important thing is you just have to get their attention on the urgency,” White said. “Just because you have time, does not mean you’re going to improve. If I’m trying to lose 20 pounds and I don’t change what I’m doing, I’m not going to lose 20 pounds. During that time of improvement, we have to do things that are going to affect the long term.
"Every single day we’re just trying to chop wood and make sure we’re doing something that is going to affect the end result, and that is us playing better defense, team defense, and if our team needs us in the fourth quarter, we’ve got to be able to step up.”
Right now, this team still has enough time to be patient. But on Saturday, it has to start showing urgency.
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