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Shane Beamer praises team spirit: ‘You would have thought we were playing for the freaking Super Bowl’
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Shane Beamer’s team may be down, but they’re not out in terms of effort.
Beamer highlighted the impact that senior leadership has had on South Carolina at Tuesday’s presser. Dakereon Joyner and Spencer Rattler have stood out by example.
With how the team practiced Tuesday, Beamer said you would have thought they were playing for a Super Bowl.
“You would have thought we were playing for the freaking Super Bowl the way we practiced out there today,” said Beamer. “It’s because we’ve got great kids, man. I love coaching them. I hope Gamecock Nation certainly appreciates, and I know they do, Dakereon Joyner, what he stands for, as well as all of our seniors. We’ve got some great seniors, whether they’ve been here their entire career, or whether they came in last year like Spencer Rattler. They have a great appreciation for this place and love this place.”
The focus is the next game on the schedule. Jacksonville State, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Clemson stand in the Gamecocks’ way of reaching a bowl game now that their record is 2-6.
“Right now our focus, and we talked about this morning, is not 4 weeks from now, it’s what we have to do to have a great week of practice against, to get ready for Jacksonville State,” said Beamer. “No one wants to win more than our guys and no one hurts when we aren’t successful on Saturday more than our guys as well. … I’ll be damned if I’m ever the head coach here and have our guys not have our guys not look forward to coming in this building.”
Things look tough for South Carolina, but the players are still just as excited come in and work each day.
“Does it suck? Does it really stink coming in here on Sundays coming in here after a loss? Yeah,” said Beamer. “Does it really stink being 2-6 right now, yeah. But are our guys still excited to come out here and work each day in practice and be with one another? Yes.”
Beamer ended his comments by emphasizing the importance of togetherness in the locker room.
“Because there’s nothing like being on a team and being in a locker room with guys and having that togetherness, whether it’s in the locker room, in the meeting rooms, those memories, those moments, and certainly we’ve got 4 guaranteed games left and hopefully a 5th one after that,” said Beamer. “We’re going to make the most of every single day. Our guys are really excited to come in this building every single day.”
Grant Bricker was a former freelancer for The News TN in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. He now freelances for Saturday Football. Follow on Twitter @GrantBricker.
