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*** South Carolina took care of business in Shane Beamer's first game as Carolina's head football coach by overwhelming an overmatched Eastern Illinois team. After watching live and diving into rewatch, here's what I came away thinking...
*** Since the Gamecocks had the ball first, let's discuss the offensive side of the ball.
For starters, we were all eager to get a look at Marcus Satterfield's offense in terms of formations, philosophy, and the like. There was indeed a pretty large variety of formations and personnel groupings that Carolina showed. The tight end spot, in particular, was expected to be very important for this team in teams of its versatility and usage. That played out in game one.
We saw the tight ends lined up out wide, in the slot, on the line, offset, or even as a fullback, as we saw with Jaheim Bell. The Gamecocks had some three tight end sets out there at times.
Satterfield seemed to utilize bunch or tight formations on many plays, running the football or running some spacing concepts offensively that schemed players open.
*** Zeb Noland gave the offense exactly what was needed: getting into the right looks and situating personnel, taking care of the football, and administering the game while also making some key plays. There were some instances in which he improvised, and he avoided the type of mistakes that really would have been the only way that this game would have been in doubt.
*** After watching live, the main area I wanted to take a second look at to get some answers in was the run game in terms of blocking.
There were two areas related to run blocking that I was a bit surprised with during this game. One, I thought South Carolina's front would be more dominant against EIU in terms of blowing them off the ball, and secondly, I was surprised that there were not more explosive runs by the Gamecocks' running backs.
Shane Beamer mentioned after the game that EIU heated things up along the front lines, and what he meant by this was that the Panthers were being extremely aggressive trying to stop the run by run blitzing, loading the box and such. Of course, South Carolina will see this much more against much better fronts, so this is an area that will need to improve going forward.
After a rewatch, I don't see anything to be overly alarmed about at this point. I saw it as a combination of some failures in perimeter blocking (Beamer mentioned this during his Sunday teleconference), some runs that were bounced outside that could have stayed inside, some potential assignment issues, and what EIU was doing up front schematically. In other words, it's not as if South Carolina was out-physicaled up front by an inferior opponent.
South Carolina also elected to stick with the run throughout the game, and it paid off as Carolina did tally 258 yards on the ground.
The backs seemed to get more comfortable as the game went on; ZaQuandre White looked like the best back on the field on Saturday overall and was the team's leading rusher and receiver. He broke a long run and looked explosive. MarShawn Lloyd didn't break a long one - yet - but looked dangerous. His early run on third-and-7 featured him breaking a tackle and spinning around a defender, and he showed other instances of his excellent short-area quickness.
*** It was excellent to see Josh Vann producing with a big early third-and-9 catch and run for a first down, plus a touchdown catch in the red zone. That was significant in game one for him to establish some confidence.
Receiver will continue to be a question mark going forward here, although there's some potential. Jalen Brooks looked fast and like a guy that can help the Gamecocks stretch the field. It was my opinion that he likely should have had the early deep ball from Zeb Noland, but he had an excellent leaping catch along the sideline later in the game.
*** Going back to the tight ends, Jaheim Bell looks dangerous every time he touches the ball. His long touchdown run from the fullback position was unfortunately wiped off the board, but he can do a variety of things in this offense. That should be fun to watch going forward.
*** Quality of the opponent notwithstanding, it was a nice start for Clayton White's defense in 2021 to pitch a shutout. As has been mentioned, it was the program's first since 2008, when the Gamecocks blanked NC State by a score of 34-0.
In terms of getting a sense for White's defense, one can see why the players speak highly of playing in it. White usually bases out of a four-man front that features a stand-up edge rusher, and there's some creativity with pressure packages in third downs. For instance, one early third down featured the MIKE and WILL backer blitzing, with JJ Enagbare dropping back to the middle into coverage from his edge spot.
As anticipated, Carolina's front controlled this game, even when backups entered the contest. EIU was 0-9 on third downs.
EIU's typical starting quarterback, Otto Kuhns, did not play in this contest, and he would have brought more mobility and improvisation to the position. Carolina took advantage of that, although I still think the Gamecock defense would have forced Kuhns into some mistakes had he played.
*** A whole bunch of guys played in this game for the defense, which I'm sure was great for the coaching staff to see. Check the full snap count here, if you missed it. The starters also had a light day in terms of snaps, another positive. To illustrate: starters JJ Enagbare and Aaron Sterling played just 17 snaps each.
By the way, South Carolina's two-leading snap getters on the defensive line? That'd be a pair of former five-stars in Jordan Burch and Zacch Pickens.
*** Speaking of Burch, his pick-six was one of the more impressive plays I've seen in person since covering this team. Transfer Jordan Strachan also caused some issues for EIU with his pass-rush. Zacch Pickens also showed that he may be ready to take a step forward. On his second quarter sack, he blew past the offensive guard, shoved the running back backwards, and got to the quarterback.
Carolina did what it should have against this opponent, but the notion remains that this defensive line has a chance to make some plays even against the more top-shelf competition that this team will see in 2021.
*** Another "great to see" selection: Jaylin Dickerson. With RJ Roderick's suspension, he started, and he was also the leading snap-getter overall on defense with 41.
*** I spent a lot of time during the game watching Brad Johnson for a couple reasons. I've always been high on his potential as a defender, and he also was seeing his first game action as a true WILL linebacker. I thought he had a productive day; he had a sack early (he'll be above average as a blitzed because of his power and defensive line background) and held up well in coverage.
*** It was an excellent first night for Pete Lembo's special teams. Opportunities were limited for returns, but blocking two punts in a game (regardless of opponent) is outstanding work. We've pointed to Lembo's track record in the past and wondered if Carolina can get a big play in a key game this season that could be a difference maker.
We'll see, but what we saw in game one made it seem very possible.
*** Shane Beamer clearly wanted to send a message to his team and to the fan base that he wants the squad to play with an aggressive mindset.
Carolina went for it 3 times on fourth down and got all three, including an early fourth and goal that the Gamecocks converted for a touchdown to make it 15-0. Earlier in the game, Beamer elected to go for two on the Gamecocks' first touchdown drive.
Of course, that doesn't set the bar to expect for Beamer to start going for it left and right against teams like Georgia and Clemson, but it was interesting. And, really, not surprising.
*** We know that this game went well for South Carolina, and that adversity was limited. There will be some this season - soon - and how the team responds will be key.
Yet, there was one final thing that really caught my eye that had nothing to do with scheme or on-field production. On the stadium's new board, a video featuring Luke Day and the team's offseason workouts was played prior to the fourth quarter. What I noticed was that everyone on the field (the offense was huddled during a TV timeout) and on the sideline was watching. Players, coaches, support staffers, everyone had their eyes fixed, and many started jumping around and nodding their heads in excitement as the video progressed.
Shane Beamer wants his program to be a picture of a team.
That was a pretty fitting snapshot.
*** Any follow-up questions or something I didn't address that you'd like me to address? Let me know.
*** Today's Insider Report is brought to you by Cornerstone Financial Management. Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Good Life Advisors, LLC, a registered investment advisor. Cornerstone Financial Management and Good Life Advisors, LLC are separate entities from LPL Financial.
