Shane Beamer Talks Outlook For Gamecocks in 2023, Dealing With The Transfer Portal & What SEC Coach He Would Fight

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to episode two of the Bust and Spring Football Tour South Carolina game Cocks. We got hey, coach, Coach Beamer with us before we get rolling.

00:00:12
Speaker 2: We are going to warring you v the Chevy EV. Yes, sir, all right.

00:00:18
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00:00:56
Speaker 4: Are you familiar with the boys?

00:00:57
Speaker 5: I am familiar with it, not as familiar as I should not as familiar as I should be. I obviously started finding out more and more about you guys last season, know about you guys as players, but then found out about the show throughout the season last year and just when you guys were determining whether or not you were gonna come here and all that.

00:01:14
Speaker 4: I guess last fall.

00:01:15
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the social media on slot to get you guys here.

00:01:20
Speaker 4: I remember thinking like, who the heck are these guys?

00:01:22
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:01:23
Speaker 4: What is this show? And it speaks for itself?

00:01:25
Speaker 1: South Carolina? Super accommodating, like that was a fun time. Like JP, he's a massive fan. He went here, so he was stoked to come and said he had a plug and it was like, you know, we went to like I went to Nebraska, he went to Michigan. So those are obviously easy to go to. Tennessee's in the backyard. So they were like very accommodating. So we were kind of nervous, like getting outside of the box and coming out here.

00:01:44
Speaker 2: But you guys first fucking class, bro.

00:01:46
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.

00:01:47
Speaker 5: You guys are always welcome here, so we got to get you back here more often.

00:01:50
Speaker 3: We are going to hold you to that.

00:01:51
Speaker 4: Sir.

00:01:51
Speaker 3: You talked about social media a little bit, and we as Juice and Spencer.

00:01:55
Speaker 2: Are you already already saying who our sources are?

00:01:59
Speaker 3: We had two players we were talking to earlier in the poetic allegedly, we were like, what should we talk to coach about and they said something about your social media presence, like you tweet like ten times a day. I don't know if it's that much, but you went pretty viral. It went pretty viral with the whole mic challenge.

00:02:14
Speaker 4: Yep, did it all? How has it been You've been.

00:02:18
Speaker 3: In the game for a long time, the development of NIL, the transfer portal, and knowing inevitably that you have to have some sort of presence on social media to get these big name guys there, Like, how have you had to probably change your mindset a little bit?

00:02:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, you have.

00:02:30
Speaker 5: It's totally different, especially in a place coming in South Carolina. When I got hired two years ago, there wasn't a lot of energy and excitement about South Carolina football, and it wasn't just all of a sudden going to market itself, like we had to as a program get out there about what we're about. So that's what a lot of it was. And me as a head coach, like I'm gonna be me. I think sometimes see a lot of head coaches all of a sudden they feel like, well, I got to act a certain way because now I'm a head coach in the SEC. Yeah, Big twelve, whatever it might be, Like, I'm gonna be me whether you like it or not. And I really have just tried to maintain the same activity on social media that I had as an assistant. And it's different nowadays because of Nil and everything.

00:03:13
Speaker 4: But you've certainly got to be able to market your program.

00:03:15
Speaker 5: The players can market themselves now in a lot of ways as well, and that's a that's a big part of it. But you know, most of the stuff that I do on social media is connect with the fans, but the majority of it is for recruiting. We did that Soldier Boy video last summer, and as soon as we finished the Soldier Boy video and I had it hadn't been posted for five minutes. And I bet you I've got twenty thirty text messages from recruits that are just texting me and calling me like, oh my god, this is amazing, you know, coach. And we still have kids a little visit here and they'll like pull out their cell phone and the lock screen or screensaver is a picture of me, you know, doing the Soldier Boy video down the hall and stuff like that. So you realize how many people see it, and then we've got a great team here at Carolina that helps with that.

00:03:56
Speaker 1: Also, it seems like it's paid off because I was reading that you guys have kind of put together the best recruiting class talent wise since twenty twelve. You guys really came on late last season. You beat Clemson for the first time in eight seasons, seven seasons or something like that. Well, since the trophy got since the trophy came about, Yeah, the new trophy.

00:04:17
Speaker 2: But talk about the excitement surrounding the program.

00:04:19
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was huge, a lot of energy and excitement coming off the twenty one season, going to a bowl game for the first time in a few years, beating Florida Auburn, and then North Carolina in the bowl game in the last three of our last five games we won. And then to get a guy like Spencer and Juice here last season. If they were your sources, I don't know if they were not to have Spencer and Juice here in twenty one to two, and then to finish like we did, I mean we had to beat Kentucky, beat Texas, A and M had some great wins midway through the season, and then to come back and finish the regular season with a win over Tennessee and Clemson back to back top ten wins. It was already recruiting was already going really really well for us, but then to finish the season like we did, the recruiting just went to a whole different level and open up a lot of other people's eyes as well, and I think validated, you know, kind of what we're doing. And when young men would recruits come on campus and they get in this facility and they see what we're about, it's a huge thing for us pretty program, but just for then the people that maybe aren't familiar with is it really opened up a lot of oz regionally and nationally about us as a program.

00:05:21
Speaker 3: When you're in the beginning of the season and things aren't necessarily going the way like Spencer wanted to go and your offense wanted to go. When you see that transition, what do you attribute that to In the middle of the season where it's like there seemed like a switch went off. Yeah, you talked about Tennessee, you talked about Clemson. The way you guys ended the season, it was electric. We were here for this for sure. One you guys know you've been around it. The thing we talk about with our team is just just continue to.

00:05:43
Speaker 4: Get better each week.

00:05:45
Speaker 5: And I get it we're judged on twelve Saturdays, but I tell our guys all the time, like it would be a shame if in game twelve or the same team that we are in game two or three. And we we practice really really hard and do a lot of competitive work in practice where we do get better as a team throughout the year.

00:06:02
Speaker 4: And I saw us getting better.

00:06:06
Speaker 5: Spencer will be the first to tell you that he didn't play his best, you know, early in the season, but then I saw him night at practice and I saw what he was how he was performing. So we had to constantly tweak and adjust things as coaches, uh to make sure that we were putting our players in the best chance to be the best positions to be successful. But honestly, I think it was just particularly going into that Tennessee game, it was we just went back. We talked about competition all the time in this program, and we told our players the week at the Tennessee game, look the way that Tennessee plays defense, you're gonna they're gonna play a lot of man coverage. The way that we played defense, there's gonna be we're gonna play a lot of man coverage, and this game is gonna come down to just one on one opportunities, and Spencer give these receivers a chance to go make plays, and DB's we're giving you an opportunity to go match up against their receivers one on one as a winner and a loser and just go compete. And uh, I think from an offensive standpoint specifically, I think Spencer just did a really good job those last couple of games of just giving our playmakers opportunity to go make plays and just kind of had someone of a you know, screw up mentality and just let it all hang out there.

00:07:05
Speaker 1: It's gotta be a testament to your staff though, because I mean, you know, the middle of the year, if you're not playing your best ball, it's so easy for guys to either whether pack it in just kind of be discouraged, like keep feeding this the same bullshit weekend in a week out. So that has to be a testament to the staff that you have.

00:07:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so.

00:07:21
Speaker 5: The one word that always comes up when we talk to people or when people talk to me about our staff recruits players, players, families, is two words real and genuine, and I believe that. I mean, to me, that's a great compliment. Like what you see with us is what you get. And we're gonna coach these guys really really hard. We're to be demanding, hold them accountable, but we're gonna treat them with respect. We're gonna treat them right, and we're the same people each and every day. I'm sure you guys have been around coaches that they're on like an emotional roller coaster and they're high, they're low based off wins, losses, their mood that day. I mean, there's highs and lows throughout the season, but we as coaches really really try and just be consistent and steady throughout and hopefully our players feed off that.

00:07:58
Speaker 3: When you're when you finish this season, that a high note that you did. How do you in the New day and age attack like the transfer portal as opposed to the euro classic basic high school recruiting, Like is there like a difference you go about it or is there like different Like I really don't understand it a lot because when we played the transfer portal was basically you have to sit out for a year and it hardly ever happened. Like you commit somewhere, like you're you're there, and that's what it is, whether you like it or not.

00:08:20
Speaker 2: Like Juice. Like Juice, the portal worked out worked out great for him. I'm from JMU.

00:08:24
Speaker 5: Absolutely, and we've we've had a lot of guys that have come from smaller schools and nobody had ever heard of that we thought were good players, and they came here and it worked out great for us. It always starts with high school recruiting. But as the difference to me now is like when you guys were in high school, if a team was going to take if if Michigan was going to take five, they were going to take two offensive tackles, and in your signing class, and they had five guys that they offered scholarships to and they didn't get any of them, Well, at that point you kind of turn, I don't want to necessary necessarily say to play and B. The plan B would have been high school players six, seven, and eight.

00:09:05
Speaker 4: Maybe that isn't.

00:09:06
Speaker 5: Quite good enough, but we got to take them because we need two offensive tackles in today's time. It's all right if we don't feel like these guys are quite where they need to be high school wise, you can turn to the portal. So that's kind of how it is for us, if that makes sense. Yeah, we go into it right now. If you went in our staff room and looked at our recruiting board, we have target numbers for how many guys we want to sign at each position, and that's going to start in the high school ranks. But you don't have to quote unquote reach for somebody that maybe isn't quite good enough.

00:09:33
Speaker 4: You can go to the portal.

00:09:34
Speaker 5: Or it's a position that all right, we realize that we're losing for us. For example, last season, we knew we were losing off our twenty two team. We were going to lose five offensive linemen, three starters and two backups that were seniors.

00:09:48
Speaker 4: The worst thing there.

00:09:48
Speaker 5: Saying well crap, and we got a really good group of freshmen coming in. We need some experience and some older guys to come in and play offensive line. So we brought into transfer portal guys to play offensive line. And UH, I think it's situations like that where you need uh you don't have to go to the junior college ranks necessarily to get an older guy. You can find somebody in the portal as well, So it's it's definitely changed things. And and it's a lot like free agency in the NFL, and just trying to get the best guys here seems like.

00:10:16
Speaker 1: It's more difficult than the free agency in the NFL because in the NFL you're tied to a contract for a few years, and and in college it seems like it's basically just a frenzy any anytime guys can pick up and leave. How is that is that difficult to navigate? Like, you know, when you're out there, it feels like you got to recruit these guys all year around, you're in and year out. Now even when they're here, right, even when they're here, because you know they're looking like, oh, this this guy you know, might he might have got an NIL deal this other school, and he's like, oh, I played more than him, Maybe I deserve to go do that or go to another school.

00:10:45
Speaker 4: Like how really, really, really, really hard.

00:10:48
Speaker 5: And for a couple of reasons, And on what you just said to me is the one of the issues to a t is this guy heard that this guy got that. Well, the problem is with then iol there's no transparency, so you know, nobody really truly knows what anybody is getting. So guys hear different things. You know, we may have a guy on our team that here is at another team that a teammate of his is getting X, and why aren't I getting that? You know, there's that narrative, and then I can go somewhere else because this guy got this amount of money to go to this school. And you just don't truly know because there's so much transparency and bs if you will out there about what certain guys are getting and and it is you don't have contracts like the NFL.

00:11:30
Speaker 4: And then the.

00:11:31
Speaker 5: Portal windows are big, so they're in college football. There's basically a portal window that's open from like the first week of December to the middle of January where a guy can enter the portal. So, I mean it's one of those like every time my phone rings and it's a player, it's like, oh God, you know, what is he calling to tell me? And then we got anxiety, yeah, no doubt for six weeks, and we've got just a son of a bitch, and we've got the same thing coming up at the end of April.

00:11:58
Speaker 4: After spring practice.

00:11:59
Speaker 5: There's an other portal window opening up for two weeks where guys can transfer. And don't get me wrong, we've benefited from it, Spencer Jews. A lot of guys on our team that we've brought in here is as transfers.

00:12:09
Speaker 4: So it's one of those Yeah, you can frame it as.

00:12:14
Speaker 5: Recruiting your own team, but we're not going to change who we are. And all of a sudden, you know, treat these guys with kid gloves because we're worried about upsetting somebody and him leaving.

00:12:25
Speaker 4: Like we're gonna be us.

00:12:26
Speaker 5: I don't coach any differently than what I did free Transfer Portal, and I don't think any of our coaches do.

00:12:31
Speaker 4: We're gonna care about these.

00:12:32
Speaker 5: Guys and love them and coach them really really hard, and and and day in day out, you know, be real where this is a program that they want to be a part of.

00:12:41
Speaker 4: And at the end of the day, if.

00:12:42
Speaker 5: A guy feels like he can be better suited somewhere else, and wish him well and we move on.

00:12:47
Speaker 1: What about a guy that is in a graiaroa who feels like he's not getting as much of an opportunity as in his mind, he feels like he should be and you see a lot of upside in him and potential, Like what is that conversation or what is that messaging?

00:12:57
Speaker 2: Like like when he comes to your office and he's kind of up in the air about it.

00:13:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, uh, just being honest with them and having those conversations about here's where we see you. I mean, we had those conversations last The transfer portal window after spring practice is good because you know, you guys know there's going to be guys that go through spring practice for us and at the end of spring practice you have a general idea of what their role is going to be this year, and it may not be as impactful as they want it to be. So I had those conversations last spring, and I'm sure I will this year that look so and so we don't want you to leave. You're going to be a senior though this is your last year of eligibility. Here's your role right now. You're the fifth defensive tackle for us right now, or you're going to be our fourth offensive tackle coming out of spring practice. That can change over the summer in preseason camp. But if you want to go somewhere and start and be able to play a lot more, you may want to look, you know, going somewhere else. I mean, I'll always have those conversations with guys and be honest and not bs them and tell them what they want to hear, because I don't want to lose a roster spot. But you also, you know, we just want want to tell guys that truth too and with where they stand and always be you know, transparent.

00:14:04
Speaker 3: Also when you are navigating the nil deals, which I know, like there's rules that the university can't be involved, but you can have third parties. It's really like we said, the Wild West of what's going on in college football right now. But you're sitting in a room full of guys that are from all sorts of different incomes growing up. You have guys that are in the one percent their parents are did really well, and guys that are coming in from you know, government cheese type stuff. And these guys are getting deals, whether it's a six figure deal, fifty thousand dollars something like that. How do you kind of temper jealousy in that locker room when guys feel slighted. Is there a role that you feel like you should take on as a head coach of being like, hey, like if you're comparing it to a thief of joy, Like, let's not.

00:14:42
Speaker 4: Focus on that right now. It's focused on what we can do. Yeah, no, it is.

00:14:45
Speaker 5: It is to me one of the biggest challenges for not just me, but probably any head coach right now is just navigating that. You know, because we got one hundred and twenty guys on our football team. You count scholarship guys, walk ons, everybody. We got one hundred and twenty football players. That a lot of a lot of personalities and a lot of different backgrounds that these guys are coming from. You know, basketball, They're dealing with ten to fifteen players. I'm dealing with one hundred and twenty. So it's it's something I'll be honest with you. I wish I had a great answer for you. I'm still learning each and every day and how to best navigate it. Do you talk about it? Do you not talk about it? Do you have individual conversations with guys? Do you do you talk about it as a group?

00:15:26
Speaker 4: You know?

00:15:27
Speaker 5: But the one thing is we talk out here all the time about you know, the team and old adage, I mean, the most the more success the team has, the more it's gonna be great for individuals as well, and I've been able for me. I've used examples of other teams maybe in other sports where nil or whatever you want to call it, a fractured locker room has really affected the team's ability to perform on the field. You know, great talented teams, and why didn't they win football games all? They weren't very strong in the locker room and they had a bunch of jealousies and things like that as well. So the more examples that we could point out about that and the better. But it's something I'll be honest, and I'm still kind of navigating through and each and every day is different and I'm learning each and every day the best way to handle it.

00:16:16
Speaker 3: Also, it seems like everything you just said send on so much like the NFL, Like Rabel will sit in front of the team meeting room and be like, hey, you guys want more money, win games. Teams want guys who have experience winning, and so it just kind of seems like this is legit turning into the minor leagues.

00:16:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we literally had that conversation NFL in an offensive team meeting where we talked about, look, we won eight games last year and went to the Gator Bowl and that was great.

00:16:40
Speaker 4: Well, it's just like whether it be in IL or whatever.

00:16:43
Speaker 5: You win more games, you go to better bowl games, you go to better bowl games, you get better gifts. You know, you get more in IL opportunities, the more you win if you're on the national stage. So our guys know it. But you know, let's not let's not lose sight of they're here to play football. They're here to get an education, and they need to graduate from this university. And then if they can capitalize on their name, image and likeness along the way, more power to them. And we want to help them, you know, in any way. But let's not lose sight of why these people have given you this, why you have this opportunity, and that you can you know, the best thing that.

00:17:17
Speaker 4: You can do is is go be a good student and go play really good football.

00:17:20
Speaker 1: Right keeping the main thing, the main thing exactly. You guys beat Tennessee, you beat Clemson. You guys, have you guys finished strong? How do you carry that same standard over in the next year so that way you don't get off to.

00:17:32
Speaker 2: A slow start.

00:17:33
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the other one. You know, I got here, I got hired December twenty twenty. I got hired, and when I came into that program, my biggest challenge was instilling some confidence into this football team because it wasn't a very confident team and they did not necessarily expect to win, and you had to build that belief that felt us we're good enough, you know, we can win football games in this league. Now fast forward two years later or two years later, and you're sitting here. I don't want to say tempering expectations, but let's understand all the work that went into winning eight games last season. We sit at a bunch players are probably tired of me hearing it, like, we just can't assume that everything's going to go well this year because it went well last year. At the end of the season, like this is a whole new team in so many ways. Yeah, we got a lot of returning players, but we've also got a bunch of new faces, coaches, players, transfers, freshmen coming in on and on and on. So it's let's let's look back at what we did well last year, continue to build on that with the great players that we have returning, Let's look at the things that we weren't very good at last year, and there's a lot of things that we have to improve on as a football team, and definitely not lose sight of all the work that put that went into us being able to win those games down the stretch, win eight games and make sure that nobody's satisfied, Like I didn't. We have higher expectations here. We're really really proud of what we did last season in the progress we've made. But I didn't come here to be the to be a head coach that was seven and six and eight and five every single season, Like, we have higher expectations than we should, and we're just getting started in our minds.

00:19:11
Speaker 3: When you spoke on tempering expectations with the guys, when you walk into a program as lacking confidence, what was your approach, Like, how did you dissect that, we're all right, we're lacking confidence here? And then how did you approach it of how you're going to give guys confidence.

00:19:23
Speaker 5: I dissected it when I met with I got hired, and when I got hired, I met with every single player on the team individually in my office. So one hundred plus guys just get to know you tell me about yourself, where you're from, tell me much family, what are you majoring in?

00:19:36
Speaker 4: Why'd you choose South Carolina?

00:19:37
Speaker 5: But then I asked every single one of them at the end of the conversation, why are we a two win team? Like why is the coach that you came here to play for no longer the head coach? And why am I sitting in this office? And what needs to change for us to have success? And I wrote down everything that all one hundred plus players told me and then just added it up, and a lot of the same issues kept coming up over and over and over again. Of those was there was a lack of confidence some guys, not everybody, but a handful of guys that didn't didn't believe that they could truly win on Saturdays, and we needed to overcome that. So for me, it was just early on celebrating every small victory and accomplishment inside this building, outside this building, academics, you name it, just celebrating those and then just pointing out the good football players that we had on this team, the individuals, the progress that we were making, and then just also I think, you know, when you enjoy what you're doing and enjoy coming to work, or coming in this facility each day that hopefully builds confidence over time, and that's what we try to get back to as well, where yeah, we work really really hard here, but let's have some fun and let's make these guys or let's hope these guys just learn to enjoy coming into this facility each day.

00:20:49
Speaker 4: And it just kind of took off from there.

00:20:51
Speaker 2: Seems like the boys love playing for you, hope.

00:20:53
Speaker 4: So it's a fun group. You know.

00:20:54
Speaker 5: I got into this for a lot of different reasons, but relationships and just being with the guys is right at the time.

00:21:00
Speaker 4: And I truly it's not coach speak.

00:21:02
Speaker 5: I love coming in this building each and every day, Like we got a bunch of really good dudes on this team, really good people, uh, in this program, and even after a loss, like I can't wait to get back in here the next day and get right back to work.

00:21:14
Speaker 2: So what was I gonna ask? I can't remember. I'm drawing a blank.

00:21:20
Speaker 3: Right from a recruiting standpoint, what's selling point on South Carolina? Like, if we were trying to recruit us, what you didn't yep, that's okay?

00:21:28
Speaker 2: Were we're not good? Big ten? Big ten?

00:21:31
Speaker 3: One of us yeah, I had no SEC offers the best conference in the game.

00:21:34
Speaker 4: Wow, not even Vanderbilt, that's terrible. That was more of a great thing.

00:21:39
Speaker 3: I hope if you're sitting here, got a couple five stars sitting right now, and you want to sell us the dream in Columbia.

00:21:47
Speaker 5: Yep, I will tell you that we have everything that you need to be successful here and for us to win championships. Uh, we can win at the highest level. We got a beautiful city to go to school in. South Carolina is an awesome state to live. Close to the beach or close to the mountains. There's great academics capital city of South Carolina, so there's a lot of good from that standpoint.

00:22:10
Speaker 4: Academics are strong here. It's a great school as well.

00:22:14
Speaker 5: We've shown in other sports women's basketball, currently baseball, about ten years ago that you can win national championships here. There's no reason why we can't do it in football. When I got hired here as the head coach, I wanted to create a program that in my mind like checked all the boxes as far as everything that you needed to be successful. And I feel like we have development in the weight room, nutrition, the facility that we work in and out of each and every day anywhere that you are.

00:22:40
Speaker 4: You want to have a good recruiting base to recruit to, and we do.

00:22:43
Speaker 5: We got a lot of great players in this area and within a five hour radius. And then for me, it's just the challenge of doing something that hasn't been done before. But you can here at Carolina like I was here as an assistant coach before. In twenty ten, we played in the SEC champ Ship game against Aubert and cam Newton and we lost.

00:23:03
Speaker 4: But we got to that game in Atlanta and we did it.

00:23:06
Speaker 5: And we didn't have any of this, this facility that we're in and all the resources that we have here, we didn't have any of that. And now I see what we have. So there's no reason why we can't get back. And as a competitor, you want to compete in the highest level. No disrespect to the Big Ten, but the SEC is the best conference in all the college football. So if you want to play against the best and compete against the best, come on.

00:23:24
Speaker 3: We have no remember talk, We have no room to talk right now. We're talking about after Michigan and Ouse. You're right, it's just nice to have a little bit one thing we do have is there are two Big ten teams in the collegeball playoffs.

00:23:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, little trash talk never hurts anybody else.

00:23:37
Speaker 1: Speaking of trash talk, would it be fair to say that the South Carolina game Cocks are the team to beat in the state of South Carolina?

00:23:44
Speaker 5: Oh, We've got great respect for our rival and that.

00:23:49
Speaker 4: We need to clip. We need to clip, we need to clip. We got great respect.

00:23:53
Speaker 5: And I got told Dabo after the game this year. We were able to win that football game and we played really, really well, and a big part of that was because we knew what it would take to beat a team you know, like that as well. So it's two great programs and it's great for the state when when both teams or both teams are good. I was apart when I was here as an assistant the beginning of a five game winning streak against those guys, So we certainly need to get back to that as well.

00:24:16
Speaker 3: Sorry, do you think could you guarantee there we go game talk fans that you guys will beat Clemson this year?

00:24:24
Speaker 5: Gosh, Ryan, I respect it. I guarantee. It's too makes it real, you know what I'm saying. It's gonna be a hell of an atmosphere across the street and wins Rice Stadium the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And I can promise you we know the importance of that game and and uh uh we got a lot of work to do before them, but we can't wait for that Saturday as well.

00:24:43
Speaker 2: I was reading an article on the onion.

00:24:45
Speaker 1: You are quoted saying, dabbo little weenie Sweeney, can you confirm that?

00:24:49
Speaker 5: Cannot I don't remember saying that. I've said a lot of things. I don't remember that one. That's a new one for me. I like how you threw out the onion though. For that though, I'm just saying, for.

00:24:59
Speaker 1: Anybody are you watching in season here is at least all those people will be like, Okay, he's he stated the onion not even sure.

00:25:05
Speaker 3: I'd just changing gears a little bit. January second, twenty twelve. Was that a first down?

00:25:11
Speaker 4: It was a catch? Talking about yeah, Danny Gold.

00:25:13
Speaker 3: No, I'm talking about Michigan versus Michigan versus Virginia Tech.

00:25:16
Speaker 5: Right, No, oh, I'm talking Well, I was going to bring it up with you. You guys robbed the twenty eleven season Sugar Bowl from Virginia Tech because we caught a ball in the inz and that was a call.

00:25:28
Speaker 4: Yeah it was. It was twenty eleven season.

00:25:32
Speaker 5: I thought you were bringing back up first down January first, twenty twelve.

00:25:35
Speaker 4: Help me were on that one?

00:25:36
Speaker 3: January second, twenty twelve was the outback bull. There was a guy who played here that Yeah, we won't bring that one up.

00:25:43
Speaker 5: The Virginia Tech one is still rawl in my mind as well from the Sugar Bowl that night.

00:25:48
Speaker 4: So we cut that doup and that legit game.

00:25:50
Speaker 2: He was Rginia.

00:25:51
Speaker 4: You're a Virginia coach there at the time.

00:25:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we donkeyed that.

00:25:55
Speaker 4: We dominated that entire game. I wouldn't go that far.

00:25:57
Speaker 3: I mean, we went to overtime, but like you could see the line of scrimmage. The way it was twin, the way it was swaying was very it was very they're running back, you really doing scrimmage. We were moving at ease whatever we wanted we could really is why I was closest we had, you know, a couple of maybe play calls could have been a little bit different.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, coaches were kind of trying.

00:26:15
Speaker 4: To get too cute with it.

00:26:16
Speaker 2: Oh so you're blaming the coaches. Yeah, but we won, so there's no blaming.

00:26:19
Speaker 4: Yes, you know that.

00:26:20
Speaker 3: We were on Bourbon Street that night and the boys were stoked. We had a good time. That's like the literally only bowl game. That's the only bowl game I won. That's the only relevant bowl game we went to.

00:26:29
Speaker 2: Too.

00:26:30
Speaker 4: Well, I wasn't putting the years together with Carolanta Michigan.

00:26:33
Speaker 2: You were you in, you were here.

00:26:34
Speaker 4: You weren't here not for that game, for that hit. I was not here for that. You saw it on TV.

00:26:40
Speaker 2: It was number one play for they had to retire it.

00:26:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, dude, I remember about to play that game and my coaches like it was like the only game I really prepared for in college because everyone was like clown and clown and clown put the film on boys. I played pretty well, And after the game, I'm like, I was hight.

00:26:56
Speaker 1: Those first rounds, guys, Hey, I played pretty well, brother, you in the first everybody everybody.

00:27:03
Speaker 3: Was gone at that point, like no one could stop him. And I had a good game, and I go and I'm like so fired up. I turn on Sports Center and sure, now that's all they talked about for the next two and a half years. Seemed like just leaving your tight end out to dry. The Titans should have made that block. I'm not in the game right now, like I can be. I don't have to be accountable for nothing.

00:27:20
Speaker 1: No.

00:27:21
Speaker 2: Remember when George's dad came on, he was like, no, that's not.

00:27:24
Speaker 3: The Yeah, I mean, anybody who knows ball knows it wasn't my block. So I don't need a George Kittles dad. He don't know takes great accountability. I'm a great. I'm a great. You want me in the locker room. You absolutely want me in the locker room.

00:27:36
Speaker 2: Definitely getting off the bus too.

00:27:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean not now, but like about forty pounds ago, absolutely, yeah, I feel I mean, you still look good. You just told me I seemed like I was bullimic about an hour ago.

00:27:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that was off camera. We're on camera now, Like I'm trying to positive.

00:27:52
Speaker 4: You look great.

00:27:52
Speaker 3: You all see who Will Compton really is? You all see it is so we didn't mean to turn this into us. Is there anything we're missing that we should ask you?

00:28:00
Speaker 4: I think you've covered the gamut on that one for sure. What's your thought on uh on gambling? On sports gambling? Was forced mean y'are hit me with everything right.

00:28:09
Speaker 2: When you guys lost against MISSOO this year and I.

00:28:12
Speaker 5: Was some people had some questions about Yeah, I was really I was really carried.

00:28:15
Speaker 2: I start.

00:28:16
Speaker 1: That's when I started to carry the South Carolina flag. I was like, I think this is because JP Big, he's our he's our game Cock analyst. I was like, hey, there's a lot to be excited about. He's like, I don't know, man, there's always once a year the game Cocks. That was a tough night, tough late afternoon. That one was for sure gambling was I'll tread lightly on that one because I just got the email about do not make sure make sure nobody on your team or your organization is betting on the NCAA tournament and all that as well. So I just got that email from our compliance office. So so you're not right with the women's basketball team.

00:28:44
Speaker 4: I'm riding with them. I'm not a betting on.

00:28:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, legally, my hand up and say the money on Dawn and her team?

00:28:54
Speaker 4: JP, do you got anything? Hm?

00:29:06
Speaker 3: You want to re ask that question?

00:29:08
Speaker 1: JP said when his players, after they get them playing for him for four years, what is the big takeaway?

00:29:12
Speaker 2: He wants them to have one walking away.

00:29:14
Speaker 4: That's a good question. Is a great question, A great question. That is a great question.

00:29:18
Speaker 5: I would hope that when they graduated, you know, for one, so when I sat in their home as a seventeen year old and talked to their parents about the experience they would have at Carolina that included graduating from college, they walk out of here with a degree. But I would hope that they say that myself and the entire staff treated them with respect, treated them right, were the same people day and day out, and got the most out of them as a person and a player, you know as well. And that's what's cool as a coach is as I've gotten older that now I'm going to weddings of guys that I coached, and guys that I was in college with were recruiting their sons and things like that. Just those relationships that you have, that those would they would have such a great experience here that they'd want to continue to have those relationships.

00:29:59
Speaker 4: You know.

00:29:59
Speaker 5: When I were for coach Burrier here, he used to always say, you know, if you had if you were a great coach and your players enjoyed playing for you, they're gonna come around all the time after they're playing days are over, and I would hope that we continue to have guys that come back here all the time because of the experience they had here.

00:30:15
Speaker 4: That is a great question. That's a great question.

00:30:17
Speaker 1: I think that's well said too, because you know, like when you're going back around the program that knows you you fucked with the staff.

00:30:22
Speaker 4: There, Yeah, big time. If you could fight.

00:30:26
Speaker 3: Any SEC coach, nice, nice, And I'm not saying I am saying if you could fight one SEC coach, who would that coach be?

00:30:35
Speaker 4: If I could fight them?

00:30:37
Speaker 1: Or power slap power power slap, power slap one SEC coach?

00:30:42
Speaker 2: Who would it be?

00:30:43
Speaker 3: Two questions this is this is developing. Who would you want to fight? And who do you think you could beat in a fight? This is hard hitting journalism. You're welcome. I hope you're enjoying yourself. Who we really are?

00:30:55
Speaker 4: No, I feel I'm sure I feel like you are. You didn't reciprocate.

00:30:59
Speaker 2: That's okay.

00:31:00
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm having a good time.

00:31:03
Speaker 5: There's a few I'd say that certainly at times, I've definitely uh, I would want to fight with as well. We sit in those head coaches meetings and it's we're all competitors and we're intense, and it's, uh, there's great respect for one another. But there's things that happen outside that room and things like that that you're kind of like, come on, man, I'm not gonna say a name, but there's a few, And who would I Who do I feel like I could take?

00:31:27
Speaker 4: I don't know.

00:31:27
Speaker 5: I worked with I worked with Sam Pittman at Georgia. I worked with Kirby when I was at Georgia. So I mean I know both those guys. Well, I feel like from a quickness standpoint, agility all that, I could probably take Sam. You know, he may be in a beer drinking contest or something like that.

00:31:46
Speaker 4: I'm sure.

00:31:46
Speaker 5: But Sam and Sam and I were neighbors at South Carolina, so and he's a little bit older than me, so I don't I mean, neighbors at Georgia.

00:31:53
Speaker 4: So I don't know. There's a few. I mean, I'm not to toot.

00:31:56
Speaker 5: My own horn, but I stay pretty active and I try and work out regularly and things like, well, I appreciate you saying so, I really feel like I could hold my own and be okay with all thirteen other ones in that room.

00:32:09
Speaker 4: I mean, there'd be.

00:32:10
Speaker 5: Some battles, but but uh, you know, there's a few in particular that I would be a priority at the top of the list.

00:32:16
Speaker 4: Maybe one your schedule.

00:32:18
Speaker 1: Who's a team that you love to obviously be up late in the fourth quarter and grinning thinking I got you, motherfucker.

00:32:26
Speaker 5: My wife and I literally just had that conversation this morning about a team in the sec that goes back to who I'd want to fight right now as well. There's one in particular right now that I'm not really high on. And my wife literally just said, you know, we need this year when we play them, YadA, YadA, YadA. So ask me again, y'all come back during the season and we'll I want to know about.

00:32:44
Speaker 4: Tell us camera, I'll tell you off camera.

00:32:48
Speaker 2: Just recording, like, yeah, I'm juiced up now.

00:32:55
Speaker 4: I look.

00:32:56
Speaker 2: I'm a I'm a bit of a South Carolina fan.

00:32:58
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, Now.

00:33:01
Speaker 3: Be easy on that though, because we became Tennessee fans last year.

00:33:03
Speaker 2: I'm pretty easy to win over as long as we have a good time.

00:33:06
Speaker 1: But hearing his players talk, listening to him talk, I feel like I'm like I'm rooting for the boys now.

00:33:11
Speaker 4: We would, I would play for you. Appreciate you. Yeah, you seem like a great guy and a good coach.

00:33:15
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:33:15
Speaker 4: In all honestly, that's a huge compliment.

00:33:17
Speaker 2: And Coach Eckler speaks highly of you, So I'm like, I'm I'm an Eckler guy. You know what I mean?

00:33:21
Speaker 5: Likewise, well, knowing the respect I have for you guys, for you say that means a lot.

00:33:24
Speaker 4: Appreciate it.

00:33:25
Speaker 1: One last question that I have, can you talk about the development of Spencer Radler since coming from Oklahoma? Obviously had he had a falling out with Oklahoma, can you just talk about how he's developed as a player and a man.

00:33:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, now that he's going into this fifth year.

00:33:39
Speaker 4: He's been awesome.

00:33:40
Speaker 5: I was with him at Oklahoma, so I knew what kind of person he was.

00:33:44
Speaker 2: You were with him at Oklahoma.

00:33:45
Speaker 4: I'm Oklahoma. Two seasons we were together. We were two seasons.

00:33:51
Speaker 5: I think it was great for Spencer because Spencer was there in twenty nineteen and Jalen Hurts came in as a transfer from Alabama and was our quarterback that ou Spencer all that transition, transition with Jalen and how he handled it, which I think I don't know Spencer would say this. I think it helped Spencer when he came here because he had seen somebody high profile like Jalen Hurts come in there and do what he did, and he was awesome when he got here.

00:34:12
Speaker 4: Last year.

00:34:13
Speaker 5: He didn't come in and all of a sudden, you know, I'm Spencer Rattler and act differently. He came in and earned the respect of his teammates with the way that he worked in the weight room, and then he took a lot of crap throughout the season last year, some of it not necessarily justified because of you know, maybe how we were performing and he wasn't playing his best. And you guys know, I mean, the head coach and the offensive coordinator, they're gonna take the most offense coordinator, head coach and the quarterback are going to take the most criticism of anybody in the program. When things are going well, they get a ton of credit. When things are going bad, they get all the blame. And he wore that but never changed and just continued to work and get better. And I was so excited for him to have the success that he had last season, especially towards the end of the year. And then that's just carried over into this year with the way that these come back and it's his team and the leadership that he's showing and the work ethic and all that as well.

00:35:04
Speaker 4: He's been awesome.

00:35:06
Speaker 3: Where were you out in the process when he was thinking about going at the draft, Like how involved were you with him?

00:35:11
Speaker 5: Ah? Very but wanting to give him his space as well, you know, I mean I told him early on that, look, man, I'm not gonna obviously I want you to come back, and I'm not going to lie to you to try and get you to come back.

00:35:21
Speaker 4: I'll get you all the information you need.

00:35:23
Speaker 5: I'll get you on the phone with anybody in the NFL you want to talk to that I've got a connection with a relationship with and let's make the best decision for you. And if it's coming back to South Carolina, great, and if it's not, there'll be no bigger fan of yours in the NFL than me. And I had those conversations with him, I had those conversations with his dad as well, and it was an open, you know, communication throughout and Spencer said it and it's the truth. Like really, in the month of December, he was focused on that bowl game, and we I think I talked to his dad maybe twice, and Spencer wants about it in the month of December, and it was like, let's just get through the bowl and then we'll make a decision.

00:35:58
Speaker 4: And then we did, and all right, we got through the ball game.

00:36:00
Speaker 5: And there were a lot of conversations that were taking place after the bowl game as well about whether he was going to come back or not, and and I just tried to be there to answer any questions, telling him what I thought.

00:36:13
Speaker 4: And how much I wanted him back.

00:36:14
Speaker 5: We were naming we were hiring a new offensive coordinator during that time, so that hire was going to be really really critical because that guy obviously was going to be working with Spencer, and Spencer needed to develop a relationship with him as well and feel like he did.

00:36:27
Speaker 4: So it was. It was a good process, very open and very engaging. Awesome.

00:36:32
Speaker 2: Awesome, man, We appreciate your time. This was this is incredible.

00:36:34
Speaker 4: Guys are awesome. I appreciate you, and I mean that y'all need to come back more often.

00:36:37
Speaker 2: We will, don't worry, we will