Shane Beamer Speaks to the Media Ahead of Matchup vs Old Dominion

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer hosts his last press conference before the Gamecocks take on the Monarchs of Old Dominion.

First and foremost, Coach Beamer was asked about injuries heading into this weekend. As we learned last week, the team is relatively healthy outside of two members on the offensive line.

“He’ll be out,” Coach Beamer speaking on Jakai Moore’s availability for Saturday. “He and Aaryn Parks both. That’ll be a week to week thing for now.”

On the other side of the ball, the defensive line rotation has been a key topic for players and coaches this offseason. Specifically talking about the defensive tackle group, Coach Beamer and defensive coordinator Clayton White have a plan for those guys.

“You’re going to see a deeper rotation than what you had last season. We have more depth and we need to play our guys. We know it’s going to be hot Saturday. Play our players and keep them fresh,” Coach Beamer speaks on his defensive tackle group.

Yesterday, the Gamecocks released a preemptive depth chart for this week. But before conclusions are drawn and hot takes are made, Coach Beamer says it’s not set in stone.

“It’s all personnel driven for us in so many ways, as far as certain plays, certain schemes, how the game’s going,” Coach Beamer said about the released depth chart for week one. “There’s guys that aren’t listed on the depth chart that are going to play a lot on Saturday on offense and defense.”

One of those listed as a backup option for the Gamecocks is running back JuJu McDowell. Though an injury hampered his 2023 season, he’s healthy now and looks to provide a nice change of pace to starter Raheim Sanders.

“JuJu’s [McDowell} a guy that we have confidence in,” Coach Beamer said. “He’s a competitor, he brings great spirit to our team. He knows the offense. We can do a lot of things with him.”

Lastly Coach Beamer took the time to shout out the top player of the preseason. Vershon Lee has been a part of the South Carolina program for the last five seasons. He’s been the “glue” for the offensive line since last season.

“We named Vershon Lee the top performer of the preseason camp. You talk about a guy last year that polayed center, guard, tackle, he had to do it all last season because of the injuries we had on the offensive line. He’s doing a good job of leading the offensive line,” Coach Beamer on naming Vershon Lee the top performer of preseason camp.

South Carolina takes on Old Dominion this Saturday at 4:00 pm.

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