How South Carolina football, Shane Beamer will get freshmen involved on defense vs Florida

COLUMBIA — After South Carolina football’s 41-20 loss at Tennessee on Sept. 30, Shane Beamer reiterated a point he has made after every defeat this season: The Gamecocks need to play more of their young talent more often.

In four games against Power Five opponents, six true freshmen have combined for an average of 16 snaps per game on defense. That number drops down to 6.35 snaps per game when you remove Jalon Kilgore, who has started at safety since he replaced an injured Nick Emmanwori on the first drive against North Carolina in the season opener.

The Gamecocks (2-3, 1-2 SEC) had a chance to reevaluate both scheme and personnel during their open week before they host Florida (4-2, 2-1) at Williams-Brice Stadium for homecoming on Saturday (3:30 p.m., SEC Network). While Coach Shane Beamer didn’t reveal any lineup changes on Tuesday, he did suggest that both starters and rotations may look different from the previous five outings.

South Carolina has desperately needed depth especially on the defensive front. Beamer noted that the Gamecocks’ second-half collapse against Tennessee was partly because of the sheer volume of snaps key players had to take. As the offense struggled to stay on the field against the Vols, junior Debo Williams and sophomore Stone Blanton played 58 and 55 snaps respectively at linebacker, while senior Tonka Hemingway and junior Alex Huntley played nearly every second-half snap on the interior defensive line.

“We’ve got to get other guys to help those guys,” Beamer said. “You’d love to get that number (of snaps) to where all of those guys are kind of rotating … Not necessarily those guys splitting reps, but if they can continue to play even more defensively, now we’re able to utilize all of them on special teams. Stone and Debo both were core special teams guys for us last year because of our depth at linebacker, and with those other guys being a little slow to come along, we haven’t been using them as much.”

Beamer said biggest challenge for freshmen is learning the full scope of the defensive playbook and building up a strong enough base of knowledge to make rapid changes in response to offensive looks. While the team doesn’t want to oversimplify, Beamer said the coaching staff met during the open week about prioritizing technique and talent over schematic execution in their player evaluations.

“There’s a fine line of saying let’s simplify everything we’re doing so those guys can just get in there and play, but you also want to make sure you have enough defense so you can adjust,” Beamer said. “They’ve got to be able to show in practice the techniques and fundamentals and the effort … but one thing we talked about was, we’re not necessarily going to win games down the stretch because we out-scheme everybody. Schematics are important, but … our best guys, let’s get them out there and allow them to go do it.”

Four-star linebacker Grayson Howard, four-star edge rusher Desmond Umeozulu and four-star lineman Xzavier McLeod are at the top of the list for increased playing time. Howard leads the group with eight tackles over four appearances, while Umeozulu has four tackles in five games and McLeod has one in three.

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Williams said getting the freshmen more reps is more intangible from the player perspective. It ultimately comes down to earning trust from teammates that translates up to decision-makers on the coaching staff.

“It’s just what you’re doing in practice. On a play call knowing what you’re doing, being in the right alignment, and not necessarily always making the play but knowing where you should be and being there,” Williams said. “The other players need to be able to count on you. We should feel comfortable with other teammates on the field, so as soon as we get that feeling, the coaches will see it.”

Follow South Carolina football beat reporter Emily Adams on X @eaadams6 and subscribe to The Greenville News for exclusive Gamecocks content: https://subscribe.greenvilleonline.com/offers.

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