Shane Beamer wasn’t shy about sharing his frustrations with the media on Tuesday after South Carolina’s latest spring practice.
The Gamecocks head coach made it clear that he holds the local media in Columbia in high regard but isn’t afraid to call out misreporting when it impacts his program. He’s no stranger to stepping up and addressing issues with the media, both local and national, especially when he deems it necessary.
Beamer’s latest outburst was prompted by an article from an unnamed reporter that mistakenly labeled South Carolina’s starting offensive line after just a few glimpses of drill work during spring practice.
“I understand and have great respect for all of you, and know that you have a job to do,” Beamer said during his media availability. “And I try to give you all the access that we possibly can, with also understanding that there’s a competitive aspect, as well. Our practices are closed for a reason but also understand that you have a job to report things. But, it is frustrating for me as the head coach when last Tuesday or Thursday — a lot of you weren’t here because you were with the basketball team already — but we had media availability. And I actually added 20 or 30 minutes to it to try and give you guys even more access. During that time, we didn’t do any 11-on-11 work, meaning the offense versus the defense. Not even full offensive work, where you would see, here’s the group that’s out there with the offensive line.
“So, it was very disappointing when an article comes out that says, ‘Here’s the first-team offensive line, second-team offensive line, third-team offensive line.’ I mean, that’s horse crap, guys. We don’t have a first-team, second-team, third-team right now. We don’t. It’s freaking April. So for a reporter to come out there and say, ‘Here’s the third-team offensive guard.’ What are we doing? So if you come out there and it’s 11-on-11, and you watch the offense 11 people versus the defense 11 people, and there’s [starting quarterback] LaNorris Sellers. Yeah, that’s probably our first group,p if there was such a thing.”
Beamer clarified that what reporters observed during the session was just drill work, with offensive linemen working on fundamentals with coaches like Lonnie Teasley and Greg Adkins. There was no team versus team action, just players rotating through drills. He specifically pointed to sophomore Josiah Thompson as an example of how a player might appear in what looked like the “first group” due to his position in a drill, not because he was a locked-in starter.
“We didn’t do any of that,” Beamer said.
Beamer also stressed that the coaching staff doesn’t assign specific labels like “first team” or “second team” during the spring. Instead, players are grouped into A, B, and C categories, with a focus on development and rotation.
“And again, this isn’t Shane sitting up here, telling you what to report, but how you sit there and break down, ‘Here’s the first-team, second-team, third-team,’ and put that in writing in a drill,” said Beamer. “Not even against an opponent. Not even the tight ends lined up next to the offensive lineman. Not even a running back behind the offensive lineman. [It’s] a drill, which I don’t even know what they’re doing in the drill, but they sure as heck aren’t doing, ‘Here’s the first-team, second-team, third-team,’ because I wish I knew that, who it was.
“So, it’s disappointing and frustrating for me. When we’re talking when we’re talking to our players, I’m not using the word all spring, ‘First group, second group, third group,’ with our players. You got an A group, B group, C group. And guys that might be redshirting this year are getting work with the A group. Guys that might be a starter for us are getting work with the B group. We just rotate it through that way. So then an article comes out that here’s the third-team offensive guard when I’m sitting here telling the players we don’t even have that because we don’t.”
Beamer then asked reporters to check with him if they were ever unsure about what they saw before publishing anything that could mislead fans.
“So, if you got a question about something, just ask me, before we report: ‘Here’s the third-team left tackle, as well,” Beamer said. “Again, try to give you guys access and try to make your jobs easy, but also just make sure we’re smart with what we’re reporting, as well. Plus, I love all the ‘Insider Reports’ from our scrimmage last weekend about [freshman wide receiver] Jayden Sellers. He didn’t even scrimmage. Someone’s going to ask me about Jayden Sellers today and how great a scrimmage he had. He was sick. He didn’t scrimmage.”
He wrapped up his introductory diatribe by making a broader point about media access to practices.
“I know there’s a lot of information out there, and everybody can say, ‘Well, Shane, just open up every practice, and we don’t have to give bad information and things like that.’ Well, I don’t,” he says. “Until every other school in America opens up spring practices and we’re all out there reporting what everyone’s doing, great, I’ll do it then.
“But right now, we have a lot. We have a new offensive coordinator [Mike Shula]. We’re doing some new things offensively. We’re doing some new things defensively. We’re doing some new things special teams-wise. So, I don’t want the whole world seeing what we’re doing, as well. And again, if you come out there to practice, it’s your job. I’m not telling you what to report and what not to report, but be smart about reporting, ‘Here’s the first-team, second-team, and third-team,’ based on what you saw 17 offensive linemen doing a drill by themselves with Lonnie Teasley.”