How Does South Carolina Get More From Josh Vann?

South Carolina wide receiver Josh Vann has gotten off to a lackluster start this season, but what has led to this slump?

Author:
Andrew Lyon
Publish date:
Sep 15, 2022 3:55 PM EDT

Wide receiver Josh Vann garnered hype entering the 2022 season and was poised to contribute to this Gamecock offense significantly. However, he hasn't quite yet produced at the level some expected.

South Carolina was one of the worst passing offenses in college football in 2021, finishing second to last in the SEC in several major categories. Vann was a lone bright spot, having a breakout season where he hauled in 43 receptions for 679 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Based on his 2021 showing, it would be fair to call Vann's lack of production so far this season quite surprising, as, in two games, Josh Vann has caught only one pass for nine yards and has yet to find the end zone.

The concerning part about Vann's stat line is that Rattler tried to deliver the ball to him on multiple occasions in both the Georgia State and Arkansas games, but Vann, more often than not, has had a defender draped all over him.

When Shane Beamer was asked on his Sunday night teleconference call about why Josh Vann was seemingly behind some other receivers, coach Beamer was extremely blunt with his reasoning.

"You gotta practice, and the guys that practice the best are the ones that are gonna play on Saturday," Beamer said. "I mean it's not like we had a plan to throw the ball to [Antwane] Juice Wells like we did [against Arkansas]. Juice Wells practices his ever-living rear end off, and it shows on Saturdays. I'm not saying that Josh doesn't, we had some things in the game plan for Josh [versus Arkansas], specific packages for Josh. We had him one-on-one on a deep ball down the sideline, he's one-on-one with their corner and we weren't able to connect."

As some coaches like to do, Beamer used this as an opportunity to send a message to his team, signaling a struggling key contributor and defending him.

"Everybody on our team, last year is over. So whatever the crap happened in 2021 with our football team, you don't just get the right at any position, offense, defense, [and] special teams and automatically just assume that role," Beamer stated. "We talk about competition in this program and we compete every single day in practice, and the guys that earn it in practice, they get the opportunities to play on Saturdays. With the guys we brought in at receiver and tight end, we got more weapons, we got more depth, we got more competition and every single person's gotta elevate their game... Josh will continue to be a key part of this offense... we're proud of all those guys and they're all working to make themselves better."

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