To be sure, Notre Dame had its share of losses and arguably can claim one had the biggest impact on either team: All-American tight end Michael Mayer, who led the team in receiving with 67 receptions for 809 yards and nine touchdowns but decided not to play in the bowl game to begin preparing for the NFL. In the Gamecocks' 63-38 victory over Tennessee, Joyner scored two touchdowns rushing, gained 21 yards on six carries, caught two passes for 13 yards and completed a pass for 15 yards. He's got a bowl game MVP trophy as a quarterback on his shelf at home but he's got the capability to do the same thing as a wide receiver or a runner. The poster boy for Carolina Creativity might be Joyner, a redshirt senior. Sixteen players have caught passes, including Hemingway and quarterback Spencer Rattler on a trick play.Īnd Kroeger and Joyner have combined to complete 5 of 5 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. With the departure of Lloyd and Bell, it doesn’t even have a 200-yard rusher (Juju McDowell is the current leader with 191 yards).īut consider the diversity: 15 South Carolina players have had carries from scrimmage, including five wide receivers, two tight ends and one carry by current long snapper Hunter Rogers, who was the holder on a fake field goal and picked 5 yards for a first down on a fake field goal against Georgia State. The South Carolina offense doesn’t have a 1,000-yard rusher or receiver. The more things you can do in all phases, the more value you bring to your team.” “And then it only helps them in their future to go to the next level. “When you get into a bowl game, the more you can do, the better, when you have rosters that aren’t quite the same as what they were at the end of the regular season,” he said. 3 receiver Jaheim Bell and leading rusher MarShawn Lloyd. The more you can do as a football player, the better, and these guys are all really good football players, really good athletes.”īeamer touched on another reason why the Irish might face some wrinkles in the Gamecocks’ offense and kicking game: South Carolina lost more than a dozen players to the transfer portal and opting out for the NFL draft, including three of its four tight ends, including No. “And when you have different guys who can do different things it certainly helps you. “We want to be aggressive in all three phases, offense, defense and special teams,” Beamer said on Thursday at the TIAA Bank Field East Club during a news conference on the eve of the 78 th TaxSlayer Gator Bowl (3:30 p.m., ESPN). If they’re hesitating the offense can be that much more effective from its base formations. If they’re thinking too much, they’re hesitating. It’s a strategic ploy that Beamer’s father and late Florida State coach Bobby Bowden utilized to great success: run enough trick plays or use enough players at multiple positions to make coordinators and players think. Or maybe the Irish don’t stage an all-out rush on Kroeger, giving him a split-second more to direct his kicks, and the coverage teams that much more time to get down the field. Perhaps Notre Dame will hesitate to put extra defensive players in the box. In other words, expect the unexpected against the most recent version of Beamer Ball (the name assigned to his father Frank for the combination of offensive creativity and special-teams mayhem when he coached at Virginia Tech for 29 years).Īnd if Beamer holds back, the Fighting Irish should still be wary. Gator Bowl memories: Jacksonville's bowl game has a rich history entering its 78th year Loyal to 'the Brotherhood:' 'Super-Senior' linebacker Sherrod Greene has remained loyal to South Carolina for six years And the Gamecocks have a 295-pound defensive tackle, Tonka Hemingway, who has caught a 16-yard pass leading to a touchdown and scored on a two-point conversion, both out of formations where he lines up as a tight wing.īig day, big crowd: TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, city officials stress patience ahead of large crowd expected for Notre Dame-South Carolina game.Nine of those passes came in last year’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl when he threw for 160 yards in a 38-21 victory over North Carolina, earning game MVP honors. They have a wide receiver, Dakereon Joyner, who has more completed passes in the past two seasons (11 of 11, for 243 yards, 22.1 yards per completion) than he has receptions this year.The 19 th-ranked Gamecocks (8-4) have a punter, Kai Kroeger, who has thrown passes off fake punts and as the holder on fake field goals and completed 5 of 5 for 150 yards (a gaudy 30 yards per completion) during his South Carolina career, three of them this season for 84 yards (28.0 per completion).South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer isn’t about to unveil his game plan against Notre Dame for Friday’s TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. View Gallery: Press Conference for Notre Dame and USC gator bowl 2022
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