We've entered the fourth week of Spring Practice and we're coming down the home stretch before the big night-time Spring game on April 16th. Head Coach Shane Beamer took a few minutes to catch up with the media today about how it's going, some scrimmage notes, and an injury update.

Beamer opened the media session with the note that former NFL stars Randy White of the Dallas Cowboys and former coach and player Mike Singletary spoke with the team today. Beamer explained he was a couple of minutes late because "they both scare the ever-living heck out of me, so I wasn't about to tell them to stop talking."

The Gamecocks had their first scrimmage of the Spring this past Saturday, and Beamer had a few words to say about how it went: "I thought it went well, defense played great. Way too many turnovers offensively...but credit our defense, they led the SEC in takeaways last year and they did that and then some on Saturday."

Despite the offensive struggles, the staff and players are excited about the Spring Game in two weeks and Beamer emphasized how integral it would be for the players and recruits on campus to have a big crowd for that one. "We need Gamecock nation to show out next Saturday night." Beamer emphasized at the end of his opening statement.

Saturday's scrimmage was closed to the media, so we've only gotten a few snippets from how it went, but Beamer took some time to talk a little more about the scrimmage throughout the press conference. "I thought defensively we really tackled well...open field tackles you know?... On the other side of the spectrum, our guys offensively have got to do a better job of making people miss because they didn't win a lot of battles from a one-on-one standpoint." Despite his criticism of the offense, Beamer did note that the pass protection, which the Gamecocks struggled with in 2021, looked good on Saturday. When speaking about the offensive line he said, "I'm really pleased with their progress and what they've done so far." He later mentioned the offensive line definitely took a step forward in the scrimmage.

Beamer went on to mention how few mental errors there were in the scrimmage, with very few pre-snap penalties and no substitution mishaps. All in all Beamer noted: "It was a good scrimmage...the defense got the upper hand so I was eager to see how the offense would respond today at practice and I thought they did a great job."

QB Spencer Rattler comes in with a good bit of acclaim and with that comes a little bit of pressure. Beamer was asked how he would grade his transfer QB's first scrimmage and Coach Beamer gave a nuanced answer:

"Spencer was good...I thought he was great. He didn't look like a guy that was lost out there by any means, but there were a couple of passes he'd probably like to have back...but I thought he did a good job of commanding the offense...and we all saw the areas, coaches and players, where we have to be better...it was a good learning experience for all of us."

The South Carolina offense, which ranked 109th in points and yards per game last season, has upgraded talent at nearly every skill position, but the question still remains if they can be more consistent with their bevy of new weapons.

- Beamer also heaped praise on DL T.J. Sanders who he said he's had stock in since "last October because I saw what he did on the Scout team...he's a guy who continues to impress"

- On the heated Kicker competition: "Right now [Mitch] Jeter and [Alex] Herrera are getting most of the reps...and it's certainly a battle...all those guys did a nice job [in the scrimmage] and Herrera had a big kick at the end of the scrimmage...it was a lot of distance and he didn't flinch...we're excited to continue to see those guys as they develop."

- Beamer did acknowledge that defenses are usually ahead of offenses this time of year and also updated some of the key players the offense missed on Saturday due to short-term injuries. "The offense is always going to be behind, there's no doubt about it...you know Dakereon [Joyner] didn't scrimmage, JuJu [McDowell} didn't scrimmage, E.J. Jenkins didn't scrimmage, Xavier Legette wasn't 100%...there were a lot of key players that weren't out there." But he emphasized that none of those guys are out for the Spring or long term.