SportsTalkSC show podcast
Shane Beamer 10 - 15
All right, like Steve said, thanks for coming out. I know I mentioned it in the teleconference on Sunday night, but just one more time wanted to send our prayers to the North Carolina football team and the family of Tylie Kraft on that tragic loss, puts things so much in perspective and did not know him, but obviously it's close to home with him being from Sumter and a high school teammate of O'Donnell Fortune and Nate Harris Swainick. So praying for that family and praying for the Tarhill community and hurt for them as well. New week for us, great challenge ahead of us going out to Norman and the University of Oklahoma. Got a ton of respect for Coach Venables. Obviously what he did at Clemson speaks for itself and what he's doing out in Oklahoma speaks for itself. Got a fantastic defense, very opportunistic. I think they're number seven in the country in takeaways defensively. So they do a great job of flying around and creating turnovers. They've got really talented guys at all three levels of their defense offensively. I know they've played two different quarterbacks but both equally talented and they've had some injuries at the wide receiver position, but I see a group on tape. It's really impressive how hard they're playing in all three phases at the testament to Coach Venables and the culture that he's created. And they're coming off at disappointing performance last week and are disappointing outcome just like we are as well. So we need to respond the right way and be ready to go on Saturday morning at 11.45 central time out in Norman. So eager for that opportunity. Our guys had a good day of practice today. Like the way they've responded so far coming off the disappointment of last Saturday and need to finish out the week on the right track and get ready to go play a really good football team on Saturday. Questions? - Shane, you mentioned Brent Venables. He's always been known as a guy who really excels at getting other team signals and deciphering them and used to work to his advantage. So how are you guys planning to combat that and not give anything easy to scout? - Yeah, I think sometimes that can be overrated in a lot of ways. There's no question it happens. I'm not necessarily saying with them but I mean it happens across college football every single Saturday. So it's something that we're always aware of David. We go fast at times, we go huddle at times. We don't huddle at times, you know, defensively. They've got to, I think what they do a really good job of is seeing the formation that you're in and then being able to call defenses based off seeing what you're in. So we got to do a good job of trying to keep them off balance. Their defensive coordinator was at Jacksonville State last year. So we played Jacksonville State last year and now he's the defensive coordinator out in Norman as well. So that's something for us offensively and defensively every single Saturday that we're always aware of. - And one injury question. Jekai Moore, is there any chance who might be able to come back this year? - I would say that's doubtful at this point. We'll see what the future holds but at this point would say doubtful. - Hey, Shane, you guys have had a few of these close losses now, LSU, Alabama. Just how close do you feel like this team is to getting to where it wants to go and finishing off these games? And is there a final step in your eyes that you see that needs to be taken for you guys to get there? - Yeah, I think we're extremely close. Was it two losses? The top 10 teams by a total of five points. I think I'm saying that right. And we have plenty of opportunities in both those games to win it. The thing we've got to do a great job of is finishing. You know, there's a lot of things that are disappointing about those games, but probably the biggest thing for me is just that in both those games, we led going into the fourth quarter. Now, I know LSU scored on the very first play of the fourth quarter and I think they were like on the three-yard line. So maybe there's an asterisk next to that one, but if I'm not mistaken, Steve can tell you that's the, those are the first two times in my time as the head coach that we've ever lost a game that we led going into the fourth quarter and it's happened twice now. So we've got to finish. How do we finish? We play cleaner football and we can look back at Saturday and Tuscaloosa and there's so many opportunities on all three phases, offense, defense and special teams that we had opportunities to, to finish that game and not even let it get to a final drive. And a lot of those things are, you know, self-inflicted, whether it be penalties, turnovers, you name it. So we got a, I saw, I'm a big, you guys know, I'm a big fan of Mike Tomlin and somebody sent me his clip at halftime of the, I think it was the Cowboys game a couple of weeks ago in his post-game interview where he, they asked him, what do you got to do in the second half and he said something along the lines of we got to quit kicking our own butt before we worry about kicking somebody else's. And, and we've had a lot of that this year and we've got to just continue to be better and grow and learn and get better each and every week. And I see a lot of signs of that. So to answer your question, I think we're extremely close, but we also know that the margin for error in this league especially is extremely small. - I know you've talked about it and said it's a business trip and there's bigger fish to fry than going home to Norman, but what are the emotions like if any and would you be surprised if maybe you're riding in and you see like an old street sign or something that just reminds you you used to live and work there? - No, it'll be, it'll, they'll be, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't gonna be emotions. I mean, the hotel that we'll be staying in is the hotel that I lived in for like the first three weeks until I found a temporary place to live or actually I'll buy a living there for more than that. Now I got too expensive, so I had to find a cheaper hotel to live in. That's what it was, I stayed in there for a week, but the MSC suites, their rate was a little bit higher than the, I think the courtyard Marriott is where I moved into after that for a month or so. But we're staying in that hotel. The first time my family and I ever went to Norman when I had taken the job is the hotel that we're staying in. So I'm so appreciative of my time there. I'm thankful to Link and Riley giving me an opportunity, thankful for the great players that I was around. Made so many friends that we still, you know, keep in touch with for sure. And then Joe Castiglione, the athletic director was so good to me during my time there and really poured into me as an assistant coach. It had goals of becoming a head coach and I can't thank him enough for how he poured into me during my three years there. And Joe Harris, the president is just awesome. I mean, I still get text messages from those guys and phone calls and whatnot. So just really, really good people, friends for life that we made out there. But yeah, it'll be, there'll be a lot of memories. I mean, Norman's a small college town and it's flat. So pretty much every hotel room, I'll be able to look out the window and see things in Norman that I've been bring back memories. But once the game starts, it's about that. But I think the biggest thing for me, Lulu is just the appreciation and gratitude I have for my time out there and the people that I was around. - You mentioned that Oklahoma defense being seventh in the country in takeaways and obviously ball security is probably gonna be a major emphasis going into this game. But how do you kind of ramp up that preparation to make sure you take care of the ball, especially against the defense? It's really good at just taking it from you. - Yeah. One, they're seventh and I think we're twelfth in the country in takeaways. So it's gonna be a battle of, you know, we gotta get some takeaways ourselves because I think turnovers in a game like this are huge. We saw that last week in Tuscaloosa. So for us, I mean, we always emphasize it every week in practice, we do multiple things about it. So you don't really change what you're doing, but you certainly just continue to just coach it and the details of how we wanna get the ball out and how we wanna protect the football as well. Not just on offense defense, but special teams. I mean, we knocked the ball out on the kickoff the other day against Alabama and when we going into that game, Alabama's kickoff returners had fumbled the ball three times on returns this year. So we challenged our guys to go get number four and we knocked it out and we just weren't quite able to recover it. So I think it's emphasizing it like we're doing, but then I think on Saturday, it's gonna be about just straining and finishing plays. And that's the thing that jumps off the tape when you watch Oklahoma's defense. It's just how hard they play and I mean, they're flying around and so many of their sacks, so many of their turnovers have come on just unbelievable effort where a guy gets blocked twice and just refuses to stay blocked. And he gets off two blocks that they're basically double teaming him and he sacks the Auburn quarterback or sacks the Tulane quarterback or whoever it might be. So we've got to play with great effort and play with great technique on all three phases. - Shane, going back to your return to Norman, you've worked at some big time college programs in your coaching journey. Can you look back at your experience at OU? Is there anything that stands out to you that made you better prepared or more prepared to become a head coach? - Great question. Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me was one, it was just a really cool three years being around a program with just such story tradition. And you know, you right outside their stadium across the street or across the field from the press box that you guys will be in is where they've got, I guess they're up to seven, eight, Heisman Trophy statues. And I mean, that's eye opening. And then you just see all the conference championships they've won in big eight, big 12, whatnot. So just a level of respect for the tradition. That was really cool. I think two, being around so many legendary coaches, Barry Switzer lives three blocks from the football stadium. And you'd see him around and just being able to like see him around the football program. And coach Stoops, Bob Stoops was great to me during my time there. And when I took this job, some of the advice that he gave me when I was coaching there about becoming a head coach for the first time, that made me better. And then I think just being around Lincoln Riley, I think I know being around Lincoln Riley was really helpful for me because that was his very much like when I was with Kirby at Georgia. When I was a Lincoln, that was his first really true year as the head football coach. He got hired in June and then he coached that season, but then he hired me right after that season. So really his first off season as a head coach, I was with him. So just being able to see how he did things as a first time head coach was really beneficial for me. And then just being able to be exposed to a different style of offense and different part of the country, different conference. There was just a lot of new, that was a big reason I took that job was to get out of my comfort zone, if you will, that I was in, not that I was comfortable, but just being exposed to a lot of new. And it's the old expression is true, you got to get out of your comfort zone in order to grow and making that move personally and professionally got me out of my comfort zone and really helped me grow as a coach. - To turnovers aside, that was probably the best game Lenore's played of his college career. What do you attribute that to? Is that just him returning from the injury, getting comfortable? Is it the scheme, the receivers, for him to complete 70% of his passes against Alabama? - Yeah, I thought it was a heck of a performance to be able to go on the road in that stadium. And Joe D. Camillis and I were talking about it last week. Like go back and look at the quarterbacks that have won in that stadium. There's very few, Johnny Manziel, Joe Burrow, Quinn Ewers. I'm not even sure. There's not many after that if there are any. So Lenore's was right on the verge of being able to add his name to legendary quarterbacks that have won in that stadium. Cam Newton as well. So he was right there. So it says a lot about him. It says about a lot about the people around him, the way that Mike Schueland Dow logins have coached him, the way that the receivers and the running backs and the tight ends continue to get better around him. You give credit to Lenore's, the kind of kid he is, the young man, the competitor he is, his poise. But I think it's also probably the biggest thing Jordan is just the experience. I mean, you think about it. He started Old Dominion. He got knocked out of the Kentucky game. So he missed time in the Kentucky game. He got knocked out of the LSU game. He didn't play the whole second half. He missed the Akron game and then he came back against Ole Miss and then obviously Alabama. So he's still young and hasn't played a ton of football this season. So I think it was just a natural progression of just him continuing to get experience and being comfortable and making plays without a doubt. - Hey coach, speaking of young quarterbacks, looking like Oklahoma is gonna roll out. Michael Hawkins, true freshman. What stands out about him when you're watching the film and then dealing with an offense that has so many injuries, especially at receiver. How much more difficult does that make getting a game plan together when you don't know really who's gonna be out there on Saturday? - Yeah, it can be a challenge. I mean, you look at it. Jackson Arnold, the previous quarterback has did a lot of really good things this year. You watch his tape and he made some big time throws and is a good athlete. And then you watch with Michael, the new quarterback, he's able to make throws. And obviously he brings an athletic element to the position being able to run as well. So it's a challenge when you face a running quarterback that can improvise and get out of the pocket and make plays and they've lost some receivers, some of their bigger receivers size-wise. This group they have though is still talented though. They're twitchy, they're athletic. They can make people miss. They're really athletic at tight end and can run and they rely on those two guys a lot as well. So they present a lot of problems, one, personnel-wise and the uncertainty of some things, but two, they've got, it's Oklahoma. They haven't lacked for like really good recruiting classes and I don't think anybody said that Oklahoma's ever not been talented. So yes, they've had some injuries, but they're an extremely talented and well-coached football team on all three phases. - We look at the stats and Kyle Canard had like 13 sacks his first four years combined, on pace to break that this year. And people just look at that jump and say, "Man, something must have happened." In your eyes, like what contributed to that? What did he do in the off season? What has Clayton White done with him that has allowed him to have this season so far? - Yeah, I did not realize that. I think it starts with certainly Kyle and his work ethic and focus and maturity and understanding that he has an opportunity during his one year here at South Carolina to really make something happen and change his life in a lot of ways from a football standpoint, financial standpoint as well. So it's his commitment to that without a doubt. I think sometimes a change of scenery is good and nothing against Georgia Tech and he's had nothing but positive things to say about his time in Atlanta. But I think sometimes a fresh start is good for people. We had some guys that left our program after last season. I don't think 'cause I was everyone happy. One guy just said, "I've been here and I just need a fresh start." And I don't necessarily agree, but I get it as well. But I think that's one thing with Kyle. And then I think just the way we play defense here, the coaching from I think Sterling Lucas is fantastic and the coaching he's given him, the positions that Coach White has put him in from a schematic standpoint has done nothing, but accelerate his development. But it starts with Kyle and I think you give credit to everyone in our program. Start with Kyle, but strength and conditioning, nutrition, training room, Derek Moore and player development and on and on and on. - You spoke about the atmosphere in Tuscaloosa, Oklahoma, another place that has an electric home atmosphere. What do you hope your young players like Lenore's can take away from Tuscaloosa and how can it help prepare them for, what's sure to be another electric road SEC game? - Yeah, where's the base coming from? Legets here today, so I don't know if it's him, like I feel like it's back in '23, I don't know. Sorry, yeah, you went from a hostile environment and one of the great story programs of college football and one of the great stadiums in college football last week in Tuscaloosa to now we get to do that again this week as well, and we talked about it this morning in our team meeting, just 'cause none of our guys have been there other than what Davis Bevel who transferred from there, but just the tradition and what the stadiums like and all the great traditions that they have there, the sooner schooner and the roughnecks and the end zone that shoot their shotguns and everything. I mean, it's just a really cool place, but I would hope that last Saturday, never once, and this is, I'm not knocking Alabama, but never once did I feel like our team was affected by the crowd noise in the environment. I never felt like there was a time where our guys just looked up and were like, oh my God, if they did, they did a great job of disguising it and I would hope that Saturday would be the same thing, we know it'll be another hostile environment, they sell out every home game, every year, Saturday will be no different, but I think just the experience of okay, we've been to Kentucky, we won, we played in front of a, you know, went to a stadium Saturday that was a lot more people than what we went up against in Kentucky and Lexington, just the size of the stadium, we did okay from handling the crowd for the most part, and I think just kind of going back to Jordan's question with Lenoirs, it's the same thing with the whole team in regards to just the experience of being on the road and being able to handle road environments as well. - I know you briefly mentioned it on the teleconference, but Spencer Rattler, making his first start, did you get to go back and watch like any of the highlights or anything of his game and then have you gotten the chance to talk to him since then? - No, I did not, it was, when I was, I saw, I had it on a little bit, the television in my office on Sundays, after we have a team meeting on Sundays, 145, and then we have special teams meetings, offense, defense meetings, and before we go to practice or before the teleconference with you guys, so in between meetings, I had it on my office and saw a little bit of the game when it was live, which is just when I was between meetings and walking back and forth, texted with him and his dad last week leading into the game, I haven't talked to him since the game, I think Dow did, he was telling me this morning, but I haven't, but proud of him to be able to, you know, put up some points in his first start, the vice president of the Saints, this was actually here today for practice, just to watch with all the other NFL personnel who we allowed at our practice, and I know he was excited about him and the progress that he made on Saturday, and he goes up against Nate Atkins on Thursday night, I know as well, so a big Thursday night, showdown with the Broncos and the Saints from New Orleans, so that'll be a fun one too, I gotta figure out how to get the, what is it, Amazon Prime or whatever, I gotta figure out how to get that on my television, I'm a little bit more old school, but my son knows how to do it, so we'll have to tune in Thursday night and watch that one. Perhaps it's not even something that needs to be said to your team, but how do you strike the balance of telling them how great of a job they did of keeping it close against Alabama and also letting them know that losing a tight game is not to be celebrated? - Yeah, just that, I think, whether it's, you know, every, you can learn from every loss and you can learn from every win, and I'm sure people get mad at me because we've had losses and I find the positives in them instead of going in there and just going scorched earth on people after losses and there's a time and place for that, don't get me wrong, but you build up on a lot of the positives and the progress that you made, but this group, Jordan, is an older mature group where I don't have to tell them that, like they hurt, they're disappointed, they're not into moral victories and, you know, give LSU and Alabama, you know, both credit, but, you know, a lot of Argos realize that we could easily be sitting here five in one right now if we just finish games better and there's great hurt and disappointment that we haven't been able to do that, but no one's happy about being three and three and that's what I told our players, like last week everybody thought we stunk and this week it's a bunch of pats on the back about how hard you played, a man you almost had on the water response and all that as well and last week we didn't listen to it, this week we don't need to be listening to it, you know, we need to do everything in our power to find a way to win a game this Saturday as well. - You talked earlier about Michael Hawkins from Oklahoma being a scrambling quarterback his ability to improvise and Jalen Milro in a similar way, elite threat with his legs, you guys still got to him for four sacks and countless pressures, but what makes your defensive line so good at being able to contain quarterbacks who once they break the pocket can do some damage? - Yeah, need to knock on wood on that one for sure. It starts with, you go from the back to the front, certainly the coverage in the secondary. We, they got, Milro got us on one last week on that first drive where he scrambled out of the pocket and hit number seven over there on our sideline for a big play that was a coverage where we should have latched on the people in our zones and he got us on that one, but for the most part we did a good job and that's one key is staying latched on the people when he does scramble. So our defensive line and linebackers can pursue and get to him. So to me it starts with our DBs doing a great job. And I think it's just the effort that we play with upfront. And when I say upfront, I mean the four D linemen and the linebackers that are back there as well, the effort that they play with running people down and just playing with relentless effort. The effort that I was talking about that Oklahoma plays with, I would hope that people would say the same about us as well. I mean, I think you go back and watch the very first play of the year, I've installed a minion, quarterback rolls out of the pocket and D Knight tracks him down from inside the box and makes a sack if I'm not mistaken over there on their sideline, just extra effort like that and refusing to stay blocked. And let's be real, we're good upfront. And we've got multiple defensive ends that can rush the passer and are a handful. And we've got tackles on the inside that are not your big space-seaters. We move and try and be very disruptive with our defensive tackles inside with the movement that we do upfront. And that can be hard for teams as well. I mean, a lot of the stuff we were doing Saturday was, you know, maybe it's, here's an incoming screaming off the back side if it's his own read, but now he pulls it, but here's one of our defensive tackles looping around to be there to tackle the quarterback if he does pull it type stuff. So just trying to be very strategic about how we play mobile quarterbacks like that and trying to keep them off balance would also be aggressive. - With Alex and his missed field wheels from 45 out. Obviously you guys have seen him make plenty in practice out in the same. How do you strike a balance between what you see in practice and scrimmages in the past versus kind of what's happened here in these last three games? - Yeah, you stay the course. We constantly compete. You know, we've got other guys in practice that are competing with Alex, just like all of our positions are competing, but also don't want to lose sight of the kicks that he's made this season as well. He's made a lot of big kicks as well, and it's always a pressure kick if you miss it, but he's made some big kicks as well that nobody talks about also. So I see the positive and then, you know, we can all be better and he'll be the first to tell you that as well in regards to how we perform. We can all be better and he'll himself included, but to me it's looking at the total body of work and realizing that, you know, he's done some really, a lot of really good things for us this season as well with some of the kicks that he has made. - Sorry if you answer this after Alabama, but penalty is obviously we talked a lot about sort of after LSU even week four or five, and then you guys, I think it was six for 49 this weekend. That's the second best since week one, with the next sort of thing to check off being turnovers. Do you think it's just going to be like something where, oh, it's a matter of time. It'll get cleaned up sort of like penalties, or do you think that there's something that can happen in the span of three or four days? - I would hope it's something that can get cleaned up. We had six, but I'm still disappointed because three of those were pre-snap. You know, we had a Alabama's defense got up there and yelled like a lot of teams do and we jumped. And then we had another pre-snap penalty where we were going to send the tight end in motion and the receivers started to go in motion before the tight end went in motion. That was a pre-snap penalty as well. So, and then we got flag, don't get me started, we got flag for delay of game on defense, and that to me is a pre-snap penalty. So we got to get those cleaned up. I can live with some of the penalties. It's the pre-snap ones that are maddening. So we've got to continue to emphasize that and be better. And, you know, I know, and the turnover is, look, you're not going to win games, and I said this after the game, and it's true. You're not going to win games in the SEC on the road at home if you turn the ball over four times. But, you know, also I don't want to like overreact either. Like the two that are extremely disappointing are the fact that we've had two fumbled exchanges between quarterbacks and running backs two weeks in a row. Like that's something you better get fixed in the next three, four days. 'Cause this group we're about to play is really disruptive. And it costs us against LSU and it costs us against Bama. So that's something that, you know, we really did a, tried to really be even better at coaching today and practiced when we had that seven minute period where all we work is just quarterback and running back exchanges, you know. But then also one of the technically the turnovers was a fourth down play where they knocked the ball out of Josh's hands when we were short of the first down anyway. One of the turnovers was obviously the interception at the end of the game. So too many, don't get me wrong. But you also look at it and say, okay, turnovers are going to happen. We've, we're really opportunistic defensively. We got to continue to be, but we also got to make sure that we don't hurt ourselves more than, more than necessary offensively for sure.