Why Shane Beamer said South Carolina football had ‘elite summer’ as Gamecocks prepare to open practice

COLUMBIA — South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer knows he isn’t alone when he says he’s excited about this season.

“I know every (football) coach in America is standing before the media right now talking about how great of a summer his team had and we absolutely did, no doubt in my mind, we had an elite summer,” Beamer said Thursday to open his press conference.

Part of what made the offseason so great according to Beamer was strength and conditioning coach Luke Day, who is in his fourth season with the Gamecocks. Beamer praised the work he did in the offseason with the physical transformation of some players and especially this season, injury prevention and physical well-being is a huge priority for South Carolina.

On the eve of Friday’s first preseason practice, Beamer described in detail the adjustments the staff has made since last season in terms of exercises, routines and practice formats that aim to lessen the risk of injury for the Gamecocks.

The most notable change is one Beamer hasn’t even told the players about yet, but is a small difference he hopes will have a large impact. He calls it an activation period, which means instead of sitting down watching film first thing in the morning, then jumping right into a walk through, which he said is more of a “jog through,” the activation period will happen in between.

For roughly eight minutes, the Gamecocks will warm up before the official warmup, get the blood flowing and do more movement exercises after sitting, before they begin “walking” through plays.

This idea came to be when an injury occurred during spring practice when a player stepped onto the field and pulled a muscle. Beamer said that moment was an eye opener, suggesting that non-contact injuries like that can’t happen.

“We’ve (also) made tweaks in the weight room, some things from a physical standpoint with their bodies, nutrition … the schedule, more conducive to taking care of their bodies,” Beamer said.

Whether that’s leaving practice 30 minutes earlier than last season for extra sleep or requiring a recovery stretch before leaving the field, Beamer and South Carolina’s staff has bought in to protecting bodies heading into the 2024 season.

For 45 minutes on Thursday morning, the entire staff watched tape of every single injury from spring practices that resulted in a player missing more than one day of practice, looking for signs of how those injuries may have been prevented. In 2023, Beamer lost six offensive linemen to season-ending injuries, forcing nine different starting lineup combinations in the first nine games.

Rocket Sanders, a transfer from Arkansas, spent the entire spring and most of his 2023 season at Arkansas dealing with injuries. Beamer praised his recovery at SEC Media Days and made specific note of his body weight changing, his physical well-being transforming, in addition to the actual recovery of his specific injuries.

QUESTIONS: Five questions for South Carolina football, Shane Beamer ahead of 2024 preseason practices

“When you see our players, they’re going to look different,” Beamer said. “Our guys have grown and gotten better … but there’s still a lot of work to do in the month of August.”

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin