South Carolina is three days away from opening their season in the Aflac Kickoff from Atlanta. However, anyone wanting a depth chart for the Gamecocks will have to wait until about a half hour before kickoff, if that, from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Shane Beamer was asked at his press conference on Wednesday if South Carolina would be providing a depth chart now that it’s game week. He said the media, apologizing to them for doing it this way, would have to figure it out for themselves on Sunday, with GamecockCentralalready giving a go at it this morning. It’s not a ploy either as Beamer said he’s already told Virginia Tech’sBrent Pry the same thing.
“Uh, you’ll piece it together,” said Beamer.
“And, again, I’ve got respect for y’all and I understand you have a job to do,” added Beamer. “And it’s not trying to be any kind of gamesmanship. I called Brent Pry last week and I told Brent Pry that I was not going to release a depth chart this week, because I didn’t want him to release one and then we don’t release one and he’s like, ‘What the heck?’. So, I called him last week to tell him that I was not releasing a depth chart. It’s not any kind of, trying to keep secrets from Virginia Tech.”
The fact of the matter is that Beamer didn’t see any value in a depth chart, as the Gamecocks are still deciding what their lineup will look like and, if they did provide one, it would be mostly undetermined anyways. But, trying not to be too sarcastic, he said anyone who really wanted an idea of what their lineup is going to be should be taking notes come pregame.
“To be totally honest, hell, I’m just trying to avoid unnecessary overreactions, which is what a depth chart is when it comes out,” explained Beamer. “I mean, we’ve still got position battles going on out there on the practice field. And, if I had released a depth chart, it was going to have a gazillion ands and ors on there, because that very much is the case at a lot of those positions.”
“I’m not sure what we’ll do on Sunday leading up to the game. I can tell you – with about, I think we do it with about 28 minutes left on the clock in pregame warmups. The first offense will come together and run plays against the first defense, so that’ll be a great look at it. That gives you a 28-minute head start before kickoff. And then, after that, we go down and we kick an extra point, so you’ll see our starting snapper, holder, kicker at that point. And then we turn around and we punt, so you’ll see the starting snapper, punter and we punt to the starting punt returner. So you’ll be able to knock that off before kickoff as well,” Beamer said. “I’m not trying to be a smart you-know-what. That’s truly what’s going to happen if we don’t put anything out before then.”
Beamer knows that question had to be asked as his program hadn’t provided a depth chart yet. They’re just not going to either as, with what’s still undetermined, he doesn’t feel it’s what’s best yet for the Gamecocks.
“So, again, I’m respectful of the job that you guys have and I’m not trying to make things more difficult on you guys, but that’s what I was just trying to avoid,” said Beamer. “I looked at what’s best for our team right now. It was not putting anything out on paper.”