Most South Carolina fans don’t know what to expect schematically from the Gamecocks attack in 2021.
They can console themselves with the new Carolina coach Shane Beamer wants to build a unique and aggressive offensive system, modeled after systems that have had some of the most successful races during the last five years of college football.
Head coach of Clemson Dabo Swinney over the years, he has made a point of his schemes being “Clemson” schemes. This remained true as long as the Tigers ceased to be offensive coordinators Chad Morris for Tony Elliott in 2015. Elliott improved the system with some adjustments, but it was the Clemson system. If and when Elliott gets a job as a head coach, the system will remain the same.
That’s Beamer’s plan in South Carolina and that offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield, along with Beamer and the rest of the offensive technical team, will do. This is going to be the offense of Gamecocks. There will be similarities with other systems, but based on everything we’ve heard here, this will be unique.
And it starts with what the head coach wants to do.
Those who think of Beamer only as a coach of special teams (partly because of his last name and partly because he was a special team coordinator at the SEC previously) are a little wrong. Yes, he can train special teams and well. But his passion has been on the offensive side of the ball for some time. That’s one of the reasons he left South Carolina to return to Virginia Tech in 2010 (the Hokies hired him as a running back trainer). This is a big reason why he left Georgia in 2017 to go to Norman, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma Sooners, where he learned from Lincoln Riley.
Beamer considers himself an offensive spirit trainer. South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner, who hired Beamer, made a point of saying when Gamecocks’ last head coach search started that he was looking for an offensive-minded coach. So, it makes sense when you think about it.
Riley’s influence will be there and Beamer brings it to the table. When you think about the Oklahoma scheme under Riley, particularly what they do in the running game and how they use the H-Back position, there is reason for optimism when it comes to the 2021 Gamecocks. South Carolina returns one of the country’s greatest running backers in the running back Kevin Harris, along with a potential five-star backfield teammate in Marshawn Lloyd who missed out last season because of an injury. Rashad Amos is a rising freshman who also looked good in limited service like running back. In addition, Carolina returns five games on the offensive line (Gamecocks really lose Sadarius Hutchersonbut take Jordan Rhodes back) and eight full-line strikers who started at least one football game during their career.
At HB / TE, Nick Muse returns for his third season at Carolina. In addition, there are promising young people on the Jaheim Bell and Keveon Mullins.
So there is a base in place when it comes to these two elements – the game in play and the use of H-Back – in attack. Also, don’t forget if Luke Doty in the end he won the title of quarterback, Oklahoma had a creative execution scheme for his quarterbacks, especially when Jalen hurts had the job for that season.
Riley will not be the only influence for this system, however. There are many things that Satterfield will bring, courtesy of offensive coordinator Carolina Panthers Joe Brady. Contacts indicate that a good part of the passing game can evolve from concepts trained by Brady. It’s a proven plan when you look at the success he had at LSU in 2019 with the passing game. This attack also uses the tight end / H-Back quite effectively, as well as quarterback races at the right time. Obviously, South Carolina needs more players on the wide receiver to effectively do things like perform an empty formation on the first down, etc., as Brady did at LSU, but the beauty of these concepts, from what we have been told, is that they they are more about combinations and equipping staff to your advantage, creating one-on-one situations in which you can win.
Then there is also what Satterfield has done in the past in Temple, Chattanooga and elsewhere. The best way to describe these offenses is multiple. There are many different looks and at the FCS level, it was quite open.
These are concepts that will be combined to form an offensive scheme in South Carolina. Beamer and Satterfield alluded to mixing systems and we confirm that this is really what is happening. This caused some excitement around the football building recently by the offensive players.
Remember, you can run any scheme you want. But if you don’t have players, things won’t go your way. If you don’t execute, then things will not go your way and then there is the problem that the other team has excellent defensive players and coaches, so that can also keep things from going your way.
Nothing about any of this means that Gamecocks will march up and down the field against each opponent next season.
That said, it should be refreshing for fans to know that Riley plus Brady plus Satterfield will be what the “Gamecock” attack will ultimately be. You can credit Beamer’s offensive attitude and creativity for deciding that this is what he would try to bring together and you have to admit that the players currently in the squad are suitable for certain aspects of it.