Shane Beamer Previews Tennessee
Ahead of a big game in Columbia, this weekend against the University of Tennessee, Head Coach Shane Beamer met with the media and discussed the matchup against the Volunteers.
Beamer opened up the conference by talking about the fans and their impact and how he expects them to impact Saturday's game as they did against Texas A&M.
Coming into this matchup Saturday, Beamer understands how difficult it will be facing the 5th-ranked team in the College Football Committee's rankings. Beamer said it would be a challenge facing a team like the Volunteers, who are:
"Playing well, not just on offense, all three phases. Special teams play really hard. They are explosive. They have dynamic returners that we have to do a great job against. Defensively, you look at everything statistically in our league. They are right up near the top of all of it. They are playing really well; they are disruptive up front."
Tennessee runs a fast-paced, quick-moving offense that can be tough to stop once in motion. When asked how to stop Tennessee, Beamer empathically answered, "tackle." Tackling was somewhat of an issue against Florida this past weekend, and it is clear Beamer has made it a mission to stop any second-chance yards.
Beamer also talked about the Volunteers' star wideout, Jaylin Hyatt. Beamer addressed the difficulties with limiting Hyatt. Beamer said the biggest thing is "figuring out where he is," as Tennessee constantly moves him around the field. He also said Hyatt is "really really, really, really, really fast and has the ability to take the top off the defense as soon as the ball is snapped."
Beamer followed, talking about playing through adversity. He said his teams have to play tough even when they don't score a fumble touchdown on the first few plays as the Gamecocks did against Texas A&M because they will find themselves down.
"We gotta be able to respond when we don't score first," Beamer said. He then mentions the two games South Carolina won last year when they started the game down 14.
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