Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecock's fall sports return and general sentiments as we enter the 2026 football season. Okay, here we.
[00:00:53] Okay.
[00:00:55] Welcome to episode 399 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope you all had a lovely week. Gamecocks.
[00:01:11] You know, I was looking outside this week and there was a strong breeze outside and I actually saw a good amount of leaves fall. And I said, God damn it, football is right around the corner. And boy, is it. I mean, really, like the countdown has begun. Fall camp is going fall for the Gamecocks. We are getting those reports, getting those player interviews, getting the coaching, press conferences, all that jazz. Like, we're full swing and so excited for that. And it's a beautiful time of year. We're. We're going to close out summer strong. Never want to wish any time away, you know, enjoy these next couple of weeks of hot weather and everything like that. But it's close. It is so stinking close. I'm very excited for that. Got a few things to touch on this episode. Mainly going to focus on football and just general vibes going into this year. Right. Nothing too specific. We're going to have my season game by game predictions next episode and the following in a two parter. So just kind of setting the stage for all of that here. But of course, before we get into that, I have my Gamecock trivia for y'. All.
[00:02:27] So let's get into it.
[00:02:29] Name the South Carolina women's soccer product from 2011-14 who was named to the Canadian national team and went on to earn a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The former Gamecock's goalkeeper was also a part of Team Canada at the 2024 Paris Games.
[00:02:48] Wow. Shout out to Gamecock. Women's soccer. Actually going to talk about them in a second here, but I have no idea who this is.
[00:02:55] Sabrina d'. Angelo. Shout out to Sabrina. Shout out. Women's soccer.
[00:03:00] I mean, that's. That's impressive right there. That is a resume. Olympic bronze medalist there.
[00:03:06] Shout out to Sabrina d'. Angelo.
[00:03:09] That's sweet, but funny segue because fall sports are picking back up, so we really are starting to hit our stride where I'll bring y' all up to speed on scores from around the athletic department before I dive deeper into the major sports and starting things off with this past Wednesday with women's soccer as they hosted Oregon State and got w. What a way to start the year 2 0, or excuse me, they won two to nothing and are now 10 on the year. That team has had some success lately.
[00:03:46] Going to be fun to follow along as they go through this early part of the season. So shout out to the women's soccer team for starting one. And oh, and then also really quickly here, the men's basketball team went to the Bahamas and played in the Baha Mar Convention Arts and Entertainment center, taking on the Bahamian national team.
[00:04:11] Admittedly, I don't really know a lot of details around this. Like, I saw that they were going down there. I saw that they were going to play in this exhibition matchup. I am full steam ahead on football. Lamont is still very much like prove it to me. But they handled their business in the Bahamas, winning 86 to 46. So first off, shout out to the SEC for beating the national team. I have been to the Bahamas a few times. They take a lot of pride in basketball there. It's a very basketball knowledgeable country.
[00:04:42] And shout out to the Gamecocks, who are getting the off season. W. I mean, that's a hell of a trip.
[00:04:49] You get to go play basketball on the university's dime, presumably, then get to the Bahamas. So that's pretty sweet. That'd be a fun trip. I wish I knew more about this before, like two days ago, because I would have loved to go down there.
[00:05:07] I love the Bahamas and I love Gamecocks.
[00:05:11] Would have been a fun little crossover there, but nonetheless, here, stop date, stop daydreaming about marrying the two things that I really enjoy. And get down to business. So shout out to those two teams. Shout out to fall sports. It's gonna be fun as they all pick up. I think we have men's soccer getting into the swing of things this week as well. And then everything's gonna start clicking. You know, school starts, I think, next week or so. So shout out to the students, study hard and get ready for that as we do.
[00:05:42] We're going to talk Gamecock football here. So, like I said, just really wanted to set the stage for this season. I'm going to get into my specific game by game predictions next week and the week after. But I've touched a lot on, you know, players to watch for, you know, concerns of the team and everything like that. But for have really danced around just like what exactly this season means for the program and beyond.
[00:06:12] And really it's a. It's a put up or shut up year for Shane Beamer coming off this horrendous four and eight season where you had a lot of expectation and you finally got the eyeballs on you, you know, 24, it felt like you broke through. It felt like you had that dynamic quarterback that you've been after.
[00:06:33] You had coordinators in place that you liked and you won the close games and felt like you had a little momentum on your side and you come out in 25 and it completely goes sideways. Like not sideways, where it's like, oh, that was an underperforming. Like, no, you, you won four games, right? So it's been this constant up and down with Shane Beamer. So he needs to get back on the upswing and find a way to stay there because really he's, he is coaching for his job and it's a debate that I've had with friends of what is that win number that keeps him his job. Now, I don't want this early part of the season to be about that.
[00:07:20] I want the early part of the season to be does the team look confident and crisp? Are they starting well?
[00:07:28] Like this shouldn't be dominated by Shane Beamer's status because he came into this year, he got the blessing from Donati. You know, he brings in the staff. Going to get into that in a second here. So you have to assume that like you want Beamer to be successful in this season. But I think anything less than seven, his job's on the line, right. I think six, it's borderline. And if you miss a bowl game, he's obviously done. So there is that lingering in the background here. But it's put up or shut up because this is finally, I think, a staff that Shane Beamer envisioned. You know, there was all this talk when he was first hired of having an all star staff of a staff that could really support this first time head coach who hadn't been a coordinator and everything like that. And he's going to be the CEO and he's going to have these guys that really can handle their units and whatnot. It's all going to bubble up to him and he's going to handle recruiting and culture and it's going to work.
[00:08:32] And we've seen that in bits and pieces. But the fact of the matter is we really haven't.
[00:08:38] And I think it all starts with the addition of Kendall Briles this year because finally you have that coordinator who has the proven track record, period.
[00:08:48] But the proven track record in college to go way back. Beamer tried to do that. If you remember correctly, he tried to retain Mike Bobo and he backed out. So you had to pivot to plan F, which was Satterfield.
[00:09:04] Beamer didn't want to have the quick trigger in year one, retains him, whatever. Then you get Dowell, which was kind of a weird hire. People thought it was going to be Kendall Briles. Then Dowel kind of worked out. Right.
[00:09:18] I think Lenores and his ability to escape and whatnot saved Dowell some embarrassment, but whatever. And then you had Shula, who, yeah, he had some play calling on his resume and he, you know, he did have that great year with Carolina, but if you zoomed out a little bit, the success really wasn't what you needed it to be. So you finally have Kendla Bryous, who has a proven system, who has had success pretty much everywhere he's gone in college. He knows how to install this. Right. This isn't a guy who was somewhere for 15 years and everyone in the building knows the language and now he has to reteach it. No, he's gone to different places and they've succeeded in year one under him.
[00:10:04] But not only that, he's going to be able to adjust his system for the players that he has and their skill set. He's going to be a godsend for Lenores. Right. Lenora still has stuff to work on. Right. He has to work on not taking bad sacks. He needs to be more aware of the situations he's in. Those short to intermediate touch passes he does need to work on. But if we go beyond that, bringing in Coach Clements, I think is going to be invaluable. We have struggled at the offensive line position for basically all of Shane Beamer's tenure.
[00:10:38] And you could point at a few different pieces for that. Right. The first person you have to look at is the former coach, Coach Teasley. Right. Was he under qualified for that job? In my opinion, yes. I think he hung around far too long.
[00:10:53] But then you had him working with different coordinators and figuring out what they like. So the caliber of player that he was recruiting and his coaching style had to change kind of in the middle of what he was trying to do.
[00:11:08] Right.
[00:11:09] And it just felt like there might have been too many cooks in the kitchen there. There wasn't consistency there, there wasn't an identity. And I think Coach Clements is going to bring that because he knows exactly what he needs to do to work with Kendall Briles, because he's done that throughout. Right.
[00:11:26] You bring in Stan Drayton, your running back coach, who has coached some really, really good players in college.
[00:11:34] And I certainly think Brings more to the table than Coach Blackwell did, both recruiting and just on the field.
[00:11:42] So that's great. So offensively you feel like you have really good coaches and leaders in place. Right. Coach Furry, Coach Elliott, that's a cohesive group and those are guys, I think, who understand what Shane Beamer is trying to do.
[00:11:58] And I don't think there's too many egos going on in that group, which I think we had to deal with in the past. And then defensively, what more could you ask for? I mean, Clayton White, yeah, there was the one year where people were not so high on him, but he has been as consistent as you could ask for. Like, yes. Are there games where the defense isn't phenomenal? Sure. But this defense is pretty darn consistent and pretty darn good at creating turnovers. And they've just been the, I don't even know what the word is, the opposite of a beneficiary. Like they've had to fight uphill a lot in the last few years because the offense has been so far behind. Like you think of last year, how many three and outs did the offense have when. Even when they had decent field position?
[00:12:50] So the defense was just tired.
[00:12:53] But you have that group there and you bring in Deion Barnes to replace Lucas who leaves for to coach the edge group. Coach Barnes, this is a fantastic hire for Shane Beamer. One where he really did go outside the box. Kind of like Briles, where he didn't have much of a rapport, if any, with him. He just went off of referrals, references and everything like that. He is a strong up and coming coach. Not even up and coming. He is a strong coach who has a proven track record of development at the power four level.
[00:13:26] So you feel that your entire coaching staff is finally in place. You finally have on both sides of the ball and it's really the offense side of the ball that you may have figured it out and you finally have adults in the room who know what they're doing and you're not going to try to put people into a box. And I think at times Shane Beamer's offenses have been like, we're trying to do this, like we have to mesh everybody into this version that we want them to be. Whereas Kendall Briles, like, yes, he has his system but he's going to maximize the talent that he has. And you've seen that at various stops, whether it's, hey, we're going to be more of a run heavy attack or maybe we're going to Spread them out. We're going to go vertical.
[00:14:12] He's going to be cooler under pressure. He's going to be more steady. Are we going to be putting up 40 points a game? No, we're not.
[00:14:20] But when you look at it last year and the team scored on average throughout the season, averaged, it was 22.6.
[00:14:29] Yeah, I think we're going to do a hell of a lot better than that. So if we can end up right in the middle of the pack, if we can end up 30 points a game, that puts you just about in the middle of the SEC last year, right? So if we can get 30 to 32 points a game and your top half of the SEC, just think of all the doors that opens for you. You are in so many more games and there are games that may have been close in last year that are not close now. Like, think of the Oklahoma game last year, right? Or maybe the Alabama game last year. Like these games where you felt like, man, if we were just more consistent on offense, we could win this game. You know, that might happen this season. And then defensively, and we were 10th in the SEC, but, you know, you're really splitting hairs. You know, it was, you know, average points allowed, 21, Ole Miss, 22, South Carolina. We were ranked 10th in the SEC. Ole Miss was ninth.
[00:15:32] So, yeah, I mean, if you can honestly stay right around there and be middle of the pack sec, but continue to be towards the top in turnovers and giving your offense opportunities, like that's just a winning combination. So you look at that and some of the expectations and benchmarks that you want to hit, and then you look around at the roster like, are there some concerns that I've shared before? Yeah, I don't think there's many teams that feel like they don't have a ton of concerns. Right. Depth is something that everyone wants.
[00:16:13] South Carolina is not super deep in the edge group. I am concerned about the health of Dylan Stewart, but if he can go and you get production from a guy like George Wilson, Anthony Addison, if the back half of the year, Julian Walker is productive, like, okay, you can work with that.
[00:16:33] Linebackers, that whole core, those guys are more experienced, maybe not the deepest, but that was a solid group last year and now they're all playing together again. I like that you have to figure out your winning combination on the offensive line.
[00:16:49] But again, I like the coaching in that room. I think the overall talent level in that room was raised compared to last.
[00:16:57] Shedsera is back. You know, I like Poku pic. I think is going to be ready to go. Maybe he misses that first game, but you feel really good about him. Carter Miller, right?
[00:17:10] Yeah. Maybe there's a little bit question of depth there, but I think you feel pretty good there. And then you just have explosiveness on the outside and you have Lenoris, who I think is really going to benefit from Briles. Feel like. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse there. But then you see these reports that Lenores is in fantastic shape. Really seems like he's dialed in and look like this team in 2024 was under the radar.
[00:17:34] But you had a veteran led defense and a dynamic quarterback who just didn't know when to quit. And we caught a lot of people off guard this year.
[00:17:46] I think generally speaking, like people aren't like thinking South Carolina is this like massive threat. Like maybe I think in 25 some teams did and they schemed us differently. They're still going to scheme against Lenores, but you have a real coach with him now. Right? But maybe I. Some of the expectations crept into the building in 25.
[00:18:07] I don't think those expectations made Mike Shula incompetent, but maybe now this team is hungry and they're humbled and they've been through some adversity. Like you look at the core group on this team, both sides of the ball, you talk about A Stewart, you talk about JR Johnson, Kilgore, Peyton Williams, you know, and then you, and you look on the other side. Nick, Matt Fuller, Lenores, Shed, Sarat, right, Brady Hunt. These guys have been to war together and I think they know that if they can come together this year, it can be special. I think the talent on the roster is there to be special. I think the staff is in place to be special. It's a matter of can it all come together.
[00:18:56] Schedule works out where you got two weeks right off the bat to kind of gel and get those game reps in and then you're home for the SEC opener. So general vibes to put a bow on this.
[00:19:09] I feel hopeful for a solid bounce back year.
[00:19:13] Am I sitting here saying College Football Playoff? I don't know. You're going to have to stay tuned and find out the next couple of weeks. But this is a put up or shut up year for Shane Beamer because he has everything in place.
[00:19:27] On paper, this is a very good team.
[00:19:30] You have a really good experience staff.
[00:19:34] You have playmakers and veterans at those positions on both sides of the ball.
[00:19:40] You do have some concerns. Special teams is also one of them.
[00:19:43] But you got to find a way to overcome that.
[00:19:47] Right. And lean into what you do well and minimize your weaknesses. So the pieces are in place for this to be a good year for South Carolina. I'm excited for it. I can't wait to get that ball kicked off and just get underway with this season. But we'll see how it goes because there's expectations and there's some excitement. But, you know, we've seen what that can lead to. So one game at a time, and let's see what these guys can do.
[00:20:16] But with that, y', all, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecox. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox Talking Gamecocks. And please, like, subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'. All. Go Cox.
